Prologue
“I didn’t see you that night, in the parking lot.” I tapped my head, raising an eyebrow. “Forgotten. I made a promise, and I’m intending to keep it.”
With that angelic, gentle smile that I’d never seen leave his face, Elliot pulled out a photo from his pocket, and handed it over to me, like he would a gift.
The air in the car seemed to grow heavier, thicker. I stared at the photo, looked at it again and then again, as if trying to read between the lines of a difficult book.
“You don’t have to keep a promise,” he said, his voice with such casualness and friendliness that I could’ve almost been mistaken about the words that followed.
“You just have to remember how it was for your family the year of the scandal. How it felt to be buried alive by the public and the press.”
His words were meant to hurt, rile me up- or scare me.
But maybe because his intention was so clear, I only grew more determined. To fight. “...You’re making me more curious. About what you’re trying so hard to hide.”
“I’m not hiding anything.” I could’ve almost been deceived by the smile of his lips.
The smile that never reached his eyes. “I’m just trying to seduce you. You just have to fall for it.”
“With threats?” I smiled. This boy put Jekyll and Hyde to shame. “Should I be honoured, to be selected by a Lockwood?”
He’d gotten closer, before I knew it. His breath tickled my ear, and his voice, low and smooth, sent shivers down my arms.
“Feeling honoured might be a stretch... let’s just go for enjoying.”
