Trap. My brain screamed it.
Back then, he was my prince. Not because he was rich and handsome, but because he saw me.
Or so I’d thought.
“You were so…different,” West continued. “That night we didn’t even kiss—”
“Because it was all a bet,” I cut him off. “So why would you?”
The muscle in his jaw feathered. “Do you remember how it started?”
Of course. It was burned in my blood. It all started with broken glass. During another Crowne party, glass pierced the thin leather slippers Tansy made us wear, imbedding in my heel.
West came down to the servants’ quarters to help me, even though I insisted I was fine. At the time, I was sharing a room with three other girls, and the place was a mess. I was ashamed of my living quarters, and so nervous, because I liked him. With my leg in his lap, he sat on my bed, and we talked for a while.
Then a pile of books fell from a rickety shelf above, and he lunged before they could hit me.
Suddenly West was on top of me, and he didn’t move. I didn’t move either, and I didn’t ask him to. He looked like he wanted to kiss me and I remember wanting that so badly. I’d never been kissed, let alone by someone I liked.
It started out magical.
But he didn’t kiss me, his hand slid up my inner thigh.
“You were so different,” West continued. “You were so shy and so…not. Your eyes grew so wide when I slid my fingers inside you. I lost my mind a little. I couldn’t think beyond seeing every look, every sound. I didn’t pay attention to anything else.”
He looked down, brow furrowing.
Shame?
No. That’s not right.
“Was I your first?” I asked.
The vulnerability vanished from his eyes, and he came to me, shadowing me over the vanity.
He reached down, thumbing my cheek. “The night you let me fuck you”—I jerked away but he tore me back with his other hand, gripping my chin.
He continued to stroke down my cheek, softly, like his grip wasn’t bruising.
As if his words weren’t cutting.
“The night of the masquerade, when he came in the room, your eyes grew again in the way I’ve dreamed about for years.”
My eyes watered. “Stop.”
I had no choice but to look at his eyes. It was either there, or his thighs, where he’d grown hard.
“Then you let me come in your cunt without a condom.” His eyes dropped to my thig
hs, like he was picturing it. And then I couldn’t not.
He licked his lips. “How did it feel?”
Twisted and dirty and like I’d given power to something I didn’t even know still existed inside me.
I would never tell him that.
Nostrils flared. “He fucked you out of me.”