Twisted Lies (Twisted, #4)

by Ana Huang

If my thoughts were chaos, she was my anchor. They always went back to her.

Twin flames of resentment and frustration burned in my chest. I was weak for Stella Alonso, and I hated it.

There was nothing like cross-promotion and feeding the public’s voyeuristic desire to follow the love lives of strangers.

my brain couldn’t always untangle the difference between a setback and a catastrophe.

“Careful, Stella.” His low warning pulsed between my legs. “I’m not the gentleman you think I am.”

!!!

Green eyes. Green dress. Symbolic of life and nature. Green. Apparently it was my new favorite fucking color.

Some photos were worth a thousand words. This photo said only one. Mine.

She’d sent a screenshot of a Stories poll. A picture of me, back turned and phone to my ear, took up the left side of the screen; a familiar purple unicorn dominated the right side. The question was simple: Who would you rather cuddle with? Mr. Harper or Mr. Unicorn? “You’re losing, by the way,” Stella said. “Mr. Unicorn is beating you 53 to 47 percent.” I stared at her, sure I was hearing wrong and that she didn’t have the fucking audacity to pit me against a raggedy stuffed animal with a crooked eye in some absurd social media poll. I was also sure I couldn’t be losing to said stuffed animal.

“This wasn’t on our calendar, and I’m busy.” I kept my hand on the doorknob, barring him from entering. He couldn’t just show up and demand I go somewhere with him last minute. I needed time to mentally prepare for outings that involved extensive socialization with strangers.

Grown men were truly pettier than high schoolers.

“If you saw yourself the way other people see you,” he said quietly, “you’d never doubt again.” Curiosity and something infinitely sweeter and more dangerous fluttered to life in my heart. “How do other people see me?” Christian’s eyes didn’t leave mine. “Like you’re the most beautiful, most remarkable thing they’ve ever seen.”

“It’s because you haven’t looked me in the eye since New York. Because you’re all I can fucking think about no matter where I am or who I’m with, and the thought of you hurt or upset makes me want to raze this city to the ground.” Soft, almost desperate viciousness coated his voice. “I’ve never wanted someone more, and I’ve never hated myself more for it.”

Too much planning is a form of procrastination.

“You can’t measure your success based on someone else’s progress.

Stella was made to be my queen.

“I want to make a few things clear.” Christian’s lips brushed mine with each word. “Touch another man, he dies. Let another man touch you, he dies. Tell me I can’t touch you…” His grip tightened on the back of my neck as his voice dropped. “And I will fucking die.”

If I were with anyone else, I never would’ve found the courage to do what I’d just done. The fear of rejection would’ve been too strong, even with someone I was dating. But that was one of my favorite things about Christian. I could be who I was and who I aspired to be in equal measure. I never had to worry when I was with him.

spoiling you is for me.”