Twisted Love (Twisted, #1)

by Ana Huang

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “I’ll get it. You’re not leaving the car dressed like that, even wearing my jacket.”

I already dont like how possessive he is

“Stickuptheassitis.” I’d already called the man an asshole, so what was one more insult?

Stupid

“I wouldn’t ask—I know you’ve got a lot of shit going on—but she broke up with her ex a couple of weeks ago, and he’s been harassing her. I always knew he was a little shit, but she wouldn’t listen to me. Anyway, if you could keep an eye on her—just to make sure she doesn’t get killed or kidnapped or anything? I’d owe you big.”

And you know how worried I am about Ava, especially considering this whole thing with her ex.”

You can eat them, throw them out, feed them to your pet snake Nagini, whatever.”

Lol

“Simple.” Jules pulled a pen and notepad out of her bag and started scribbling. “We come up with a list of emotions, and you try to make him feel each one. It’ll be a test of sorts. Like giving him an annual physical to make sure he’s functioning properly.”

Dumb

But even though I was tucked beneath my comforter in a well-insulated room in the middle of summer, the chill remained—a ghostly specter warning me that the past is never past, and the future never unfolds the way we want it to.

Ai?

“Don’t parade in front of other men half-naked, and I won’t have to.”

“I’m not a toy, Ava,” Alex said, his voice lethally soft. “Don’t play with me unless you want to get hurt.” I swallowed my fear. “You wouldn’t hurt me.”

Toxic

Alex’s hand trailed up my spine until it rested on the back of my neck, leaving a cascade of tingles in their wake. “I feel it dripping all over me.”

Why is she even still on him?! Lol

“I’m talking about your bleeding heart,” he drawled. “What did you think I was talking about?”

Josh: Yo, I’m bored. Guess I wasn’t the only person who couldn’t sleep tonight. Me: What do you want me to do about it? Josh: Entertain me. Me: Fuck you. I’m not your circus monkey. Josh: I woke up my roommate, I snorted so loud. You should def dress up as a circus monkey for Halloween. Me: Only if you dress up as an ass. Sorry, I mean donkey. Me: You’re already an ass. Josh: What a comedian. Don’t quit your day job. Josh: P.S. You think I won’t do it? I’ll do it just so I can blackmail you with the monkey pics. Me: You don’t tell someone you want to blackmail them before getting the blackmail material, dumbass.

Men dont actually talk like this

I tried to leave, but he grabbed my wrist and yanked me back. It was the first time he’d laid a hand on me out of anger.

Why is everyone so afraid of him then?

Most people thought the biggest sacrifice they could make was to die for something. They were wrong. The biggest sacrifice you could make was to live for something—to allow it to consume you and turn you into a version of yourself you didn’t recognize. Death was oblivion; life was reality, the harshest truth that had ever existed. “You want it so much you’d say yes to anything. Believe in anyone. One more favor, one more kind gesture…and maybe, just maybe, they’ll give you the love you want so desperately you’d whore yourself out for it.”

“He won’t die.” I’d controlled my hits so they were punishing but not fatal.

Eyeroll

I turned, smiling a big gap-toothed smile—my front tooth fell out last week, and I found five dollars from the tooth fairy under my pillow after, which was super cool—but I only made it halfway before she pushed me. I pitched forward—down, down, off the edge of the deck, my scream swallowed up by the water rushing toward my face.

Madeline’s smile disappeared. “He’ll be sick of you in a week. There’s only so much sugar a man like Alex can take before he gets a stomachache.” “And there’s only so much bitterness he can take before he kicks it to the curb.” I raised my eyebrows. “But you already know that, don’t you?” I wasn’t sure where my sass came from, since I wasn’t a sassy person, but Madeline brought out all my claws. I hated being the type of girl who fought with other girls over a guy, but she’d attacked me first. I wouldn’t stand here and let her walk all over me.

Dumb scene

“I thought I was going to die because I can’t swim and I have this stupid phobia and I am so sick of it.” Ava fisted her covers, her mouth tight. “I hate feeling helpless and out of control in my own life. Do you know one of my biggest dreams is to travel the world and I can’t even do that because the idea of flying over an ocean makes me sick?” She took a deep, shaky breath. “I want to see what’s out there. The Eiffel Tower, the pyramids of Egypt, the Great Wall of China. I want to meet new people and try new things and live life, but I can’t. I’m trapped. When I was in that pool, thinking those were my last moments…I realized I’ve done none of the things I want to do. If I died tomorrow, I’d die with a lifetime of regrets, and that terrified me even more than the water.” She looked up at me, her big brown eyes wide and vulnerable. “That’s why I need you to do something for me.”

“You asked me to teach you how to swim. I’m the one who worked with you all these weeks. If you think I’m going to let some fucker swoop in and take what’s mine, you don’t know me at all.”

“Kiss me.” His touch stilled, and he stiffened. “Please.” I licked my lips. “Forget about Josh or…whatever else may be on your mind.

You literally said youd stop begging...

“That’s right.” I slipped my fingers out of her pussy and thrust them into her mouth. I hummed in approval when she sucked and licked her own juices off without my asking. “Do you taste that, Sunshine? That’s the taste of you signing your life away. Because from now on, I own you. Body, mind, and soul.”

Ew. Not into this

“Did I fuck your brains out, my gorgeous slut?”

Ew

There. Maybe that was why I’d never opened up to my dad, because sometimes I caught him staring at me like that. Like he didn’t know me. Like he hated me. Like he feared me.

He lifted his head from my chest and watched me with smoldering eyes. “That’s it, Sunshine,” he murmured, his muscles taut as he finger fucked me harder. He was knuckles deep inside me now, the obscene sounds of him sliding in and out of my drenched core creating a dirty symphony that intensified my arousal. I rode his hand shamelessly, drool leaking from the corners of my mouth as I screamed around my makeshift gag. “Come for me like a little slut.”

Clutches pearls

I also suspected my dad didn’t like Alex much. It was a surprise, considering he had a soft spot for smart, accomplished people, and Alex was as smart and accomplished as they came. I’d always chalked it up to the fact that Alex didn’t kiss ass as much as Chinese parents liked—he wasn’t one for flattering words. Plus, I was 90 percent sure my dad knew something was up with me and Alex, though he didn’t say anything. “He knows,” I whispered when my dad excused himself to use the restroom. “I swear, he knows.”

Plot twist? Her dad is the one hes trying to take down

“Ava?” My father’s worried voice penetrated my daze. “What are you doing out here?” I forgot. He came out here every morning to exercise, rain or shine. He was religious about his morning routine. I spun, trying to escape the images flashing through my brain, but they wouldn’t stop. Old nightmares. New revelations. No. No, no, nononononono. My father’s gold signet ring flashed in the light, and I saw his face. And I screamed.

Did he push her? Did he kill her mom?

So angry sometimes I thought they would kill each other.

Prediction

But when I was by the lake a few days ago…more memories returned, and I realized I’d seen more than I’d thought. Before I fell in the water, I saw a flash of gold. A signet ring. MC.” Dread and shock coiled at the base of my spine and flared their wings, enveloping me in their dark embrace. “Michael Chen.” Ava shook harder. “Alex, my mom didn’t try to kill me. My dad did.”

Realization

“It’s a paper about who I admire most?” I twisted my hands, growing more nervous. I wished Josh was here, but he was at his friend’s house. “I said you, because you saved me.”

Guilt

“You look so much like your mother,” Daddy said. “A carbon copy of when she was your age.”

Motive?

“That’s for the best. Makes things easier.” Daddy smiled another ugly smile. “I wonder if you’ll forget this too?” He picked up a throw pillow and pushed me onto the couch.

Second time

But that question paled in comparison to the biggest one of all, which was why he wanted to kill me in the first place. I was his daughter.

Not his?

“The truth is subjective.” Michael leaned back in his chair. “But you want to know so bad? Here’s my truth—you’re not really my daughter.”

Called it

Called it

“In this case, Father—” Josh walked in, his face darker than I’d ever seen it. “I think I’ll believe ‘the punk.’” He slammed his fist into Michael’s face, and all hell broke loose.

Whatttt

Maybe the import of what happened would hit me later, but for now, all I felt was relief mingled with sadness and lingering shock.

Error? Import?

“Be careful.” A shadow of worry crossed Bridget’s face. “There are crazy people out there.”

Important?

“You are the light to my dark, Sunshine,” he said in a raw voice. His lips brushed against mine as he spoke. “Without you, I’m lost.” Our kiss was even deeper this time, more urgent, but his response played on a loop in the back of my mind. You are the light to my dark. Without you, I’m lost. Beautiful words that made my heart pound…but I couldn’t help noticing none of them were “I love you too.”

Don’t trust anyone, Alex. It’s always the people you least expect who’ll stab you in the back.

Like him?

The Count of Monte Cristo

Significance?

A second shot rang out. His body jerked. “That was for my mother. The first was for my father. This”—a third shot—“is for Nina. For Ava. For Bridget. And this”—I cocked my gun for the last time—“is for me.” I fired the bullet straight between his eyes.

Cliche

“Almost,” I said. My voice sounded strange to my ears. Low and hollow, almost lifeless. “I need to talk to him.”

Wtf

“I tried to warn you, sweetheart,” he said, his face impassive. “I told you not to romanticize me, to harden that soft heart. It was my one courtesy for the kindness you’ve shown me over the years. But you fell for me anyway.” His jaw tightened. “Consider it a lesson for the future. Pretty words and pretty faces don’t equal pretty souls.”

Why would he say this?!

Ava. The name sliced through me like a razor-sharp knife. No physical beating could hurt more than thinking of her. Her face before she walked away would haunt me for the rest of my days, and thanks to my fucking cursed memory, I remembered every detail of every second. The scent of blood and sweat staining my skin, the way her shoulders trembled as she clutched the blanket with white-knuckled hands…the moment the faint light of hope died in her eyes.

So dramatic

I was a genius, but I’d been so arrogant I’d overlooked a crucial weakness in my plan.

You keep saying this...

Except I lost her anyway. Because while I may be a selfish son of a bitch, the only thing that would gut me more than not having her by my side was seeing her hurt again. I’d made plenty of enemies over the years, and once they discovered my weakness—because she was my weakness, the only one I ever had—they wouldn’t hesitate to do what my uncle did. Ava would never be safe as long as she was with me, so I let her go.

Insufferable internal monologue

I wanted to tie her up and devour her all day, every day. The rest of the world didn’t deserve her. Neither did I, but she was here, and she was mine, so fuck what I deserved. I took what I wanted.

Ew

Not because I thought I was bad—I was Alex Volkov; I could do anything—but because singing felt too raw, too personal, like I was baring my soul with each note leaving my throat.

A little too late to introduce this new thing...

Michael’s

Weird to keep using first name

I hate to admit it, but you’re the only person with any hope of getting through to her.

They barely know each other