Heartless Hero (Crowne Point 1)

I folded my arms, arching a brow. “Did you have something else in mind?”

She cleared her throat, raising her chin. “I don’t want to be within three feet of you, and you want me to stay in this cramped closet? Fuck off.”

She tried to unlock the door so I grabbed her by the elbow, planting her against the many colored wood planks holding up this ramshackle cottage.

I pinned her with one arm.

“Be a good girl and stay fucking still.”

“A good girl?” Abigail started in on me, but a shadow near the window caught my attention, and I tuned her out. The ocean was just outside, as were swans. The occasional hiss or snort or whistling as they feathered their large wings, drifted in.

The life of a Crowne had its perks, but the higher you rise, the deeper you fall. Beryl Crowne received at least thirty death threats a day, and of those at least ten were substantiated. Abigail was a bit too naïve to the darker side of being a Crowne.

“I’m trying to think of another way to say fuck you,” Abigail said. “Because it’s clearly not getting through. Go do some unaccompanied fornication.”

After a moment, once I was sure the only things outside were swans, I turned my attention back to Abigail.

“Someone has to make sure you’re safe.”

It was meant to be cutting, not a confession. Of all her siblings and family members, Abigail received the least attention. At least, that’s the girl I remembered. Sad. Lonely. Like me.

But the girl I remembered was never real. She was always spoiled and privileged; she just did a better job of hiding it.

Her glare sharpened. “And that’s you?”

I ground my jaw, pressed my arm tighter, trying to ignore the way her breasts rose and fell beneath it.

It used to only be me, but like everyone else, she abandoned me. She stomped on my fucking heart. Left me bleeding, lonely—and just like with my mom, for years I wondered what I did to make her leave.

Anger made my voice raw. “Unfortunately. I’m your bodyguard.”

She laughed, blew out a breath that made the dark strands of her hair whisper against my jaw. “You’re the asshole ruining my life. And you know what, I don’t even know why! Why are you doing this? I don’t understand what happened to make you this way. You didn’t used to be like this. You used to want to help people. I remember the boy whose biggest dream was to save kids like him.”

Her words nearly made me drop my arm.

Yeah, I didn’t dream of being a bodyguard. My life’s goal wasn’t making sure assholes like Beryl Crowne could safely keep being assholes.

“Don’t you remember?” She peered at me. “You wanted to make sure no one was left behind, no one was abandoned. What the hell happened to you?”

Abigail didn’t just play games, she played dirty. She really was so fucked up that what happened between us meant nothing.

I pushed her deeper into the wall, her nails clawing the wood behind her, and my free hand wrapped around her neck. Her lips parted, too pretty and fucking distracting.

“What the hell happened to me, Abigail?” I didn’t recognize my voice. It was low and without feeling, venom the only thing left. “You fucking happened to me.”

“Let me go,” she breathed.

I leaned forward until my lips were against her ear, my words singeing her skin. I dug my thumb into the hollow beneath her jaw and ear, torn between the part of me that wanted to mark her and destroy her.

“You’re stuck with me,” I growled.

“What about Gemma?” The bite to her words had me pulling back. There was anger in her eyes to rival mine.

The fuck about Gemma? She had an entire legion of security forces.

A moment later, the head of security came through my earpiece.

False alarm. All clear.