Page 43
“I’ll see what I can do.” I really, really do not want to go to the Southside.
Lex studies me for another second, then shifts the subject unexpectedly. “I also heard Nyx Bank is looking into you. I thought your family paid them back.”
“It’s just interest.”
“Lara… Pay it back as quickly as possible. They are nice until they aren’t, do you understand? I will not be able to protect you.”
“Protect me?” I laugh softly. “We’re long past that.”
“Besides,” he says, ignoring my words, “you have the highest stardust prices in the city. You sell the most expensive shit. How are you broke all the time?”
“I was raised to have taste, Lex. Nobody mentioned it would cost this much.”
It’s partially true. Lex laughs and, for one second, I see ghosts from the past. Us.
The night has been long. Then exhaustion hits harder than expected. My fingers start to numb, and I sink back into the leather booth. Lex notices immediately. Of course he does. He moves closer, takes the stardust, and pours a little onto the hollow between his thumb and index finger. Then he lifts his hand to my face.
He knows I won’t say no. I inhale straight from his hand.
My eyes close as the world softens. The tension slides from my shoulders. My pulse steadies. Silence spreads through me like warm water. I might even smile.
Lex takes his own line. Stardust works through him quickly. His eyes glow a little brighter, and color returns to his cheeks, soft and human again. He runs a hand through his pale hair, then unbuttons the top of his shirt. He looks at me too long. I know that look too well.
“Lex,” I say. “Don’t.”
He reaches anyway, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. His fingers linger against my skin, then slide to the back of my neck. He massages me gently, his thumb pressing into a spot he knows will make me melt. His other hand settles on my knee.
He knows exactly how to push all of my buttons. I hate that. I hate him.
But my body remembers him, and my body is my biggest traitor.
His hand moves higher along my neck, thumb rubbing behind my ear while his eyes hold mine. He doesn’t use vampire glamour on me. He never did. He never had to.
“Lex, please,” I whisper.
The hand on my knee slides under my dress.
“Don’t tell me you don’t miss it,” he murmurs near my ear. “We were good together. So good.”
A cold shiver runs through me, and for one second, despite the stardust, everything comes back. Then clarity cuts through. I look him straight in the eyes.
“Yeah,” I say. “And you fucked it up.”
He has no answer. All his loyalty was to Marcus, and there wasn’t enough for me. I push his hand away, stand, and leave him sitting there in the dark.
CHAPTER 12
WHAT HE WANTS
NERO
There she is. I catch the white of her hair in the crowd before I see the rest of her, and once I do, I can’t look away. Turns out, I am no better than young wolves in the Pit getting addicted to nightrush. I thought I’d stopped surrendering to my instincts a long time ago. But now I’m searching for her with thirst burning in my mouth. How can someone so dead inside set my fucking head on fire.
I remember her from that alley outside Moon, standing there while my brother argued with Marcus’s boys. She barely reacted to the fight breaking around her. At first, I thought it was just her fake confident attitude. But there’s something else underneath. Something darker. And discovering that has turned into an irritating obsession I never planned. She acts like she doesn’t feel anything. I don’t know if that’s her real personality or the stardust she takes. But last night... Last night she felt. She let go.
I touch the side of my neck where she bit me, and the memory moves through my body. Then I remember the taste of her blood. It was something different. I know she is a witch, but the taste of her blood almost made me lose control. And that never happens. Last night she opened a door for me. Just a crack. And all I want is to break it down. I know I shouldn’t. Julian would probably kill me. But he isn’t even here when I fucking need him.
I should be looking for him, but instead I keep tracking her through the crowd. I try to convince myself she knows more than she’s telling me. That she’s just another lead to Julian. But that’s not the real reason I keep watching her.
