Heartless Hero (Crowne Point 1)

Once.

“I’ve had to watch you all over the news. With other guys. Naked and showing off.” The last part he nearly bit off.

“Newt, that was years ago…” Dizzy. I was dizzy. My grip was slipping on the railing. “We were kids.”

I barely remember you, I almost added.

“Stop fucking calling me that,” he snapped and snatched my wrist in a violent grasp. “My name is Ned.”

For some reason I couldn’t move, couldn’t fight him.

All my life I’d wanted to be the center of attention, to be noticed and appreciated. Outside of the shadows.

Newt, or Ned, smiled, his knuckles still on my cheek. “I’ll give you the attention a Crowne deserves.”

Then everything blurred.

Fourteen

THEO

I followed Abigail into the party, but she disappeared. So I grabbed a water and stewed as the disgustingly wealthy became more disgusting.

I broke her heart?

I scoffed into my water.

What kind of mental gymnastics was she pulling to think that up?

She’d kissed me, promised she’d never leave me, and then the next day I was sent to California. She knew what it meant to promise to never leave me.

She knew.

Didn’t she?

I sat up straighter, spotting Abigail coming out of a room, her arm around some guy’s neck. Classic Abigail. Pushing me away. Pushing everyone away. Show her a bit of affection, and she runs to a stranger.

“Hey, dog!”

Alaric, Geoff, Khalid, and two other fuckers I vaguely recognized, surrounded me, blocking my view of Abigail.

I raised a brow, lifting my chin at Khalid’s swollen finger. “Looking to break some more fingers?”

“I told you, you’re dead,” Alaric growled.

I looked over their shoulders, finding Abigail again, studying the guy all but carrying her. He looked like everyone else here. Entitled. Soft. Like if we were back in the Middle Ages he’d have an executioner, and that guy would be me.

“Five on one.” I eyed all of them. “Feeling brave now?” They glared. Abigail stumbled again.

“Listen…” I said, eyes still on Abigail. “If you’re looking to get your ass kicked, let’s do it quickly.”

They laughed; then, without further pretense, Alaric swung at me.

I dodged it easily.

Next Geoff came at me, then the two fuckers whose names I couldn’t remember, then Khalid. I dodged, letting them get tired.

All the while I kept my eyes on Abigail. She couldn’t keep her head up, and he was holding a little too tightly to her wrist. How drunk was she?