King of Sloth (Kings of Sin, #4)

by Ana Huang

“So. What’s going on with you and my sister?” I almost choked on my Coke while Rhea tried and failed to hide a smirk.

“No, we’re hanging out.” Pen gestured between us. “You and Sloane are doing more.”

“That wasn’t my question.” Pen pierced me with deceptively innocent-looking blue eyes. Behind her, Rhea’s shoulders shook with mirth. She wasn’t even bothering to hide her laughter anymore. “Sloane has never even mentioned her ex-boyfriends, much less let me hang out with them, so she must really like you.”

“Hilarious,” I said dryly. “When you’re done with your stand-up routine, connect me with Asher. If he’s late to a meeting again, I’m adding a waiting fee to his monthly bill.” “Sure.” She gave a dreamy sigh. “Asher days are my favorite.”

“She’s great. Obviously. Since she’s the first thing you mentioned when you walked in.”

but I couldn’t fix the valve leaking inside me. The one that held back a flood of insecurity, which I thought I’d turned off until little moments like this dripped self-doubt into my stomach. Too cold. Too dispassionate. Too unlovable.

Xavier was the opposite of me—full of warmth, easy to like, and a charmer at his core. He’d been honest and committed since we’d started dating, but a part of me was waiting for him to run. One day, he’d wake up and realize I wasn’t the person he wanted me to be, and he’d leave.

What the hell happened? One second, I was working and smiling so much I scared Jillian. The next, I was on the verge of a breakdown over a man.

Past me was disgusted with myself,

“I don’t care how beautiful or famous someone is, Luna. None of them hold a candle to you.”

I managed a smile over the steel drum of my heart. “You always know what to say.”

“It’s lunchtime, and Jillian said you don’t have any meetings until two.” “Jillian needs to stop telling you my schedule, and I’m not hungry.”

“That was a preview. The next time you doubt how much I want you…” Xavier drew my bottom lip between his teeth and nipped. The sting traveled straight to the emptiness pulsing between my thighs. “Remember this.”

I heard my desk drawer open, followed by the rasp of a zipper and the distinctive tear of tape. My mouth dried. “What—” A piece of duct tape sealed over my lips, cutting me off.

He’d left my hands free, so I could easily tear off the tape—but I didn’t.

How much I liked the tiny loss of control because it meant I didn’t have to think; I could just feel.

“I’ll have to postpone my meeting. I can’t discuss media strategy looking like I’ve…” “Been freshly and thoroughly fucked?”

“For the record, you look beautiful when you’re freshly fucked.” “How charming.”

“When you said you booked the hotel, you booked the whole hotel?” “I like supporting family businesses.”

The romantic in me said to shut up and enjoy the experience. For the first time in my life, the romantic won.

My heart skipped an awed beat. Wow.

but Xavier’s amusement was too infectious, and a smile eventually cracked my frown.

Xavier stared at me, his eyes a hurricane of emotions I couldn’t decipher. “I wish she could’ve met you,” he said, so quiet that I felt more than I heard his words. “She would’ve loved you.”

One, I’m terrible at comforting people. I have no talent or desire to do so, and tears make me uncomfortable. Two, I hate platitudes. They’re fake and stupid.

Some people wallowed after a disaster. Others threw fits of temper. Me? I planned.

“I’m… flattered, and obviously, there’s really only one answer.” “Obviously,” he said with enough smugness to power an entire fraternity house. “Take your proposition, and go fuck yourself with it.”

“One, I would rather sleep with a leprosy-infected ogre before I ever let you touch me again. You are a disgusting, misogynist pig whose brain is inversely proportionate to the size of your giant ego, and you’re lucky I was too young when we met to know otherwise. Two, Georgia has many faults, but she and every other woman who’s unlucky enough to cross your path deserves better than you. I hope the next time she throws a vase at you, she doesn’t miss. Three, Xavier is ten times the man you could ever hope to be. He’s smarter, kinder, and better in bed.”

Your technique is shit, and you couldn’t find a clit if the woman drew you a map and marked it with a giant X.” A burst of laughter punctuated the end of my rant.

or you can put the past where it belongs and move forward.”

I wondered if I’d upended her life the way she had mine, to the point where the pieces would no longer fit if she weren’t there, because she wasn’t a pit stop; she was the destination.

He’s everything that’s wrong with journalism.” “What he does isn’t journalism,” Kai said immediately. I arched an eyebrow, and after a small beat, he shook his head with a wry smile. “Point taken.”

if he cheats with you, he can cheat on you.” I paused, letting pettiness take the wheel. “There’s also another saying: karma’s a bitch.”

“Consider it done.” Jillian worried her bottom lip. “Are you okay? Do you, um, want a doughnut?” She believed sugar was the answer to all problems. I almost smiled, but my facial muscles didn’t have it in them.

I reached for her but stopped halfway, afraid she might shatter beneath my touch.

She disliked sharing her problems, but if she kept them bottled up all the time, they’d eventually explode.

“The Fish died.” “The…” The Fish. Her pet goldfish. My stomach twisted. “Oh, fuck. I’m so sorry, Luna.” She hated platitudes, but I meant it.

I wanted to hold her tight and never let go.

“I’m sad he died. I never even gave him a real name.”

I was too embarrassed to admit I’d been trying to impress him.

“You’re an evil genius.” “Thank you. I’ve always aspired to be both those things.

That was the thing. I was always fine, and it was always the people around me who suffered.

“Listen, this was a good talk, but⁠—” “Go.” Kai returned to his drink. “And if anyone other than Isa asks, this conversation never happened.”

I was frustrated and upset, and I took it out on you.” “I know.” I faltered; I hadn’t expected that. “You do?” “Yes,” Sloane said stiffly. She went a teeny bit pink around her ears. “I should apologize too. I shouldn’t have pushed you so hard right after the fire. That was…that wasn’t what you needed at the time.”

“You kept asking me why I called you Luna. I didn’t tell you because I was afraid it would send you running for the hills. Even before we kissed, before we were anything other than a publicist and her client, you were a light in my life. A persistent, sometimes scary one, but a light all the same.” Xavier’s throat bobbed with a hard swallow. “Luna is short for mi luna. My moon. Because no matter how dark the nights got, you were always there, shining so brightly that I always found my way through.”

“I don’t know when it happened. One day, you were someone I was stuck with if I wanted to keep my current lifestyle. The next, you were…you.” A sad smile touched Xavier’s lips. “Beautiful, brilliant, and so damn caring beneath that mask you present to the world. You can try to hide it, but it’s too late. I’ve seen the real you, with all its perfect and broken pieces, and I love every single one of them.”

that if he kept talking, and I didn’t escape, I would bleed out right here on my living room floor.

“I’ve been falling in love with you day by day for years, and I didn’t even know it,”

“I love you, Sloane. Every fucking inch of you, and I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t feel the same. Tell me you aren’t running because you’re scared of getting hurt again. Tell me you truly believe we can’t work when the past two months have been the best of my life. Even with my father’s death, and Perry, and a dozen things that went wrong, they were still perfect because you were there.”

“My team investigated the fire since I can’t trust those insurance idiots to produce a single ounce of competence,” Alex said.

“You won’t get away with this.” “Please, spare me the cliché villain lines.” Sloane sighed. “I have clients to attend to, and you have advertisers to appease before they all flee your sinking ship.”