My Dark Prince (Dark Prince Road, #3)

by Parker S. Huntington

Thanks to him, I’m no longer a rose. I’m a thorn.

Every summer, the von Bismarcks hosted a grand ball to mark their arrival in Switzerland.

“It’s perfect.” I kicked a leg back, then forward. “Thank you.” He dipped us into another twirl. “So are you, by the way.”

“I’m dead-ass serious, Cuddlebug.”

“Hi, BR.” Seb aimed his flashlight on my face. “I see you got rid of those awful braces.”

“If you want to keep your teeth intact, you better watch how you talk to her,” Ollie warned.

“A healthy mix of debilitating anxiety, self-doubt, and delusions of grandiosity.” The bottle swallowed his yawn. “What’s yours?”

Seb saying what his problem is when he’s a teenager.

I couldn’t pinpoint what exactly made her so different than the rest. Sure, she had a pert nose, and delicate brows, and heart-shaped lips, and eyelashes longer than a Dostoevsky novel.

But I knew lots of beautiful girls, and none of them made my knees weak and my neck hot.

Cuddlebug crossed her legs, one foot dangling her slipper in the air.

She narrowed her violet eyes.

Cuddlebug got her name a decade ago when she decided she couldn’t go ten seconds without hugging or touching me.

I didn’t understand why she did that until the summer before middle school. Briar Rose held me whenever she could because she never got these hugs at home. To her, I was the closest thing to family, and it fucking ruined me that her parents sucked so hard.

What’s wrong is I want to kiss you, and I can’t stop thinking about it, I wanted to say. What’s wrong is I hate that you live so far away and maybe you should come and live with us. It’s not like your parents are gonna care.

“Ollie, what am I going to do? It feels like the sky is falling.” “If the sky falls, I’ll hold it up for you.”

Today, she’d introduced me to the dark side of love. A land where every burn she received lashed at my own skin like a whip, her losses became mine, and her aches weighed down my bones.

“I am always going to be here for you.” I tipped up her chin, my eyes boring into hers. “Not just for the summers, Cuddlebug. If you need me to transfer schools and come live here in Switzerland, I’ll do it. I’ll do anything for you. There’s no mountain too high, no ocean too deep, no planet too far for me to reach you. This is my oath to you. You will always have me. You will never, ever lose me.”

And in that kiss, she sealed my fate. I could never love another. Briar Rose was it for me.

My grin dropped, right along with my heart, the moment I came face-to-face with the woman sucking blood from her thumb. She held a needle between fingers I knew too well.

Frankie volunteered herself to be an intimacy coordinator’s assistant that turned out to be Briar Rose. Oliver had to come to the set because Frankie started a fire.

Apparently, my first—and only—love had become a fuck up of gigantic proportions. A hedonistic man-child who only cared about partying, vacationing, and corrupting young women.

He shot me a playful wink, grinning. “Your anger sets fire to my loins.” “That burn is an infection, sweetie. Get it checked.”

“I swear to God, if you make a tent joke, I will have to stab you. And no jury is going to fault me for it, considering our history.” That made him bark out a laugh. “I’ve missed you, Cuddlebug.”

“I have a lot of explaining to do.” “Do you?” I swallowed the yelp wedged in my throat. “For all intents and purposes, we’re strangers.”

“You will never be a stranger to me.”

He’d kept the ten-dollar ring I’d gifted him. My sole possession as a child. Something I’d won at a carnival.

Coincidentally, the color of your eyes.” Ollie dipped his head to kiss the back of my free hand, his gaze never wavering from mine. “And my balls all year-round.” I laughed. “Pervert much?” “Much. So freaking much, you have no idea. And you’re the pervert’s girlfriend.” Oliver plopped down beside me in a heap of bronze, muscular limbs. “What does that say about you?” I arched an eyebrow. “That I have questionable taste in boys?”

“That I’m yours. Completely. Unconditionally. Tragically. I will take your hate over anyone else’s love. Your anger over anyone else’s compassion. Your tears over anyone else’s smiles. A moment with you over anyone else’s forever. You’re the one.”

Finally, he tipped his head back and started laughing like a maniac, slapping his forehead. “You little shit.”

“Do you mind if I pet the kitty?” “Ah…what?” He seemed dazed. Distracted. “You know…polish the pearl. Play the clitar.”

I’d finally remembered my ugly past. Fifteen years ago, Oliver von Bismarck abandoned me. This time, I would be the one to leave. But not before inflicting him with a wound deeper than the one he’d given me.

“Dal mentioned that you love sexual innuendos, so I want our wedding cake toppers to be of us 69-ing.”

I wish I snapped a pic of Oliver’s face when you informed him you adjusted all the clocks in the house because you don’t believe in Daylight Saving.

“Do you want to make it up to me?” I nodded, heart in my throat. “I’ll give you anything you want.” “Anything?” “Anything,” I promised. “I want your happiness.” I blanched, scared of where he’d take this. “Seb…” “Walk away from Briar Rose.” It felt like he’d sucker punched me. “Excuse me?” “You took away any chance at happiness I had. I’m taking away yours. Leave Briar Rose, live your miserable life without her, and remember what it’s like to have what you care most about ripped away from you.”

She wants you to lose your mind and whatever’s left of your patience, I reminded myself. She probably regained her full memory and knows you won’t confront her about it.

“Well, he’s trying to piece it back together, isn’t he? It takes courage and dedication.”

It was becoming clear that Oliver wouldn’t let me go this time. Problem was—I didn’t want to run away, either.

“I didn’t believe I deserved you, Cuddlebug. It’s never been about whether I love you enough. It’s that I love you too much. Nothing I could offer you would ever be enough. You deserve everything, and I had none of it, especially with everything life laid on me. I wanted more for you than…well, myself.”

“Just remember you are the most precious woman in my life.” “Why are you reminding me that?” “Because I’m about to treat you like a dirty whore.”

“If I don’t marry you—and that’s a big fucking if—I’ll make the worst husband in the entire world. Because I’ll spend every second of every minute thinking about you. When I make her laugh, it’s your giggles I’ll hear. When I kiss her, it’s your lips I’ll feel. And when I slide deep inside her, it’s your pussy I’ll imagine, dripping wet around my cock. You’ve ruined me, Briar. Completely and utterly destroyed me for every other woman on this planet. It’s you or nothing.”