The Demons We Hide (Scorpion Kings #2)

by Lucy Smoke

Alex turns and looks at me. His hand finds one of my fists, and he forces it to uncurl as he links our fingers back together. I sigh and let the hurt go. His smile turns him from merely pretty to absolute perfection. He looks like a prince from a storybook with his dark hair and gray eyes and that one little curl that hangs over his forehead. Daddy always calls me his princess … I wonder … if I kiss Alex, will he become a prince? If I marry him, will I be able to save him from his dad?

💜

At five years old, I wanted to marry Juliet Donovan. At nearly nineteen, I’d slit the throat of anyone who thinks to take her away from me.

💜

Anger is a slow acting poison. You don't even realize that it's killing you until it's too late, and by then, you don't care about anything but the reason for your wrath. I hate the way Lex makes me feel because it's not just him, it's all of them. Every single one of the Scorpion Kings has this effect on me. Each time I look into one of their eyes—eyes that are far too open for the kind of men that they claim to be—I feel as if I'm falling for another one of their traps. The biggest reason for my anger is simple: I trusted them and they let me down.

.

“Feeling good?” he asks, a wicked grin on his lips. I frown. “I…” Do, I realize. I do feel good. I feel relaxed and calm even though I haven’t had an orgasm. Then I remember the chocolate he’d given me. I was right. It wasn’t just candy. “Did you drug me?” I narrow my eyes on him. Lex’s hold on my wrists tightens at the question. “I only gave you a little something to take the edge off,” he says. “You liked it, and so did I.” His words remind me of how he’d eaten his straight from my cunt. Heat burns through me hotter than ever. Gasping as my skin comes alive and my head fogs over with lust and need, I try to focus on something, anything to keep myself sane. “What was it?” I ask, breathlessly. “An edible,” he answers easily enough. “Small dosage.”

Lex🥵❤️‍🔥

Mothers are supposed to warn their daughters about boys with eyes like Gio’s. Dark. Wicked. Hot.

💙

“They are me,” he whispers against my face. “I am them. Everything I do to you, they will do too. You make this choice and that’s it for you, Jules. We will own you.” “Yeah?” “Yeah.” He nods. “Even with my demons?” I ask. “Princess…” I close my eyes as his fingers graze my cheek. “I’ve been wanting to fuck your demons since the first day you set foot on Silverwood Public’s campus.”

Nolan❤️‍🔥

"Right now? All I need to know is one thing." My throat clamps tight. No. I can't tell him. Not yet. Maybe not ever. I don't care if that means my monster remains free and my nightmares continue. It's hard enough to admit it to myself. Through glass coated insides, I respond anyway. "What's that?" His eyes never leave mine. "Do I need to kill anyone?" I cough, surprise shocking me out of the automatic lockbox I'd been slowly sending my emotions back to. "What?" "Do I need to kill anyone?" I gape at him. "You can't be serious." Lex's expression doesn't change, doesn't shift. He merely stares back at me waiting for an answer. "No!" He sighs and leans back against what I realize is the back tire of his SUV. "Fine," he mutters. "But if you ever need me to, you tell me." "You're fucking insane."

💜Lex😁

Isn’t this what most women want? A man who would kill for them? Burn the world for them? Set themselves on fire to keep you warm?

Yes!

Gio. Jesus… fuck. The man in front of me is not a man I recognize. I always thought it odd that Giovanni Vargas was known as the heir of Silverwood’s most notorious crime lord and yet, he’d always acted so nonchalant. I see it now in the blood staining his hands, reaching all the way up to his elbows. The droplets on his cheek as he glares daggers at the three men before him. A sex god turned killer, that’s what he is.

.