King of Sloth (Kings of Sin, #4)

by Ana Huang

Yes. ...

“L...

“A suitor shouldn’t call the object of his wooing a liar. It...

“I’m honest when the situation calls for it, and you’d die of boredom if someone simply agreed with ...

“You think you know me so well,” I whispered, even though he was right.

“Only parts of you.”

“But we’ll get...

It was only when the witch movie ended and the Christmas one began that I realized I’d watched a rom-com without writing a review for the first time in five years.

If I had my way, I’d spend the next two months focused solely on Sloane. We ended our movie date Saturday night with nothing more than a chaste kiss on the cheek, but it was the best damn date I’d ever had. She was warming up to me, and that was what mattered.

Were it anyone else, I would simply let them go. But she wasn’t anyone else, and I was already making plans for our next date. We had two months, so I needed to make the most out of them.

Vuk was perfect for the job. He was the current chairman of Valhalla’s management committee, which arguably made him the most powerful man in the city. He had over a decade of experience under his belt and a sterling reputation for being fair but ruthless when the occasion called for it.

Technically, he didn’t say anything at all; the questions came in the form of written notes. No one knew much about him beyond his business dealings, but according to rumors, his non-verbalism wasn’t due to medical reasons (legend had it he’d once said “thank you” to a Valhalla attendant). He just really fucking hated talking.

Ayana gave me a brief smile in passing. With her luminous dark skin and high cheekbones, the supermodel looked even more ethereal in person,

Sloane and I had kissed once, and she’d already ruined me for other women.

You know what comes after happy hour?”

“A shower.”

“Dinner.” My mouth curled into a grin. “Though I’m not opposed t...

“What happened to slow and steady wooing?”

“Get your mind out of the gutter, Luna. All I proposed was sharing a shower. It’ll be perfectly PG-13 except for the two very attractive naked people in it.”

If someone had asked me a year ago what my favorite thing in the world was, it would’ve been a cold drink on a hot beach. Now, it was making Sloane laugh. Seeing her lower her guard and actually be herself never got old.

“I’ll be right back.” Xavier got out of the car fully. “If traffic somehow disappears in the next five minutes, my baby is in your hands.” He patted the top of his Porsche.

“What are you…?” I twisted around to watch as he walked down the line of cars behind us and knocked on the window of the last one. The driver rolled it down, Xavier handed him something, and after a short exchange, the car reversed and turned onto a side street. Thankfully, there were only three cars blocking us, and Xavier repeated this process with the last two until we were clear.

“Change of plans.” He slid back into his seat and followed the others’ lead in reversing and rerouting. “...

“What did y...

“Gave the drivers three hundred bucks each to go the opposite direction.” Xavier frowned at the side street, which was als...

“We need to talk about the dangerous amount of cash you carry— shit.” I clutched the door’s armrest, my heart leaping into my mouth as the Porsche swerve...

“I’m aware.” He plowed forward, two of the wheels on the sidewalk and two on the street, past a queue of blaring car horns and angry curses. “There are no peop...

“You’ve lost yo...

Note to self: never get in a car with Xavier behind the wheel again.

“You need to get to the hospital. This is the fastest way we can get there,” he said calmly. He drove with one hand; the other closed around over mine, interlacing our fingers. I stiffened with surprise. “Don’t worry, Luna. We’ll make it.”

I missed sex because I hadn’t had it in a month, but I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed this. Non-sexual touches. Easy intimacy. Connection, in one form or another. Maybe it was because I hadn’t had this in years, if I’d ever really had it at all.

“Neither can I.” The velvety interjection draped over me like a protective blanket. “That’s why I asked her out before those other idiots beat me to it.”

He was the kryptonite to my logic, my inhibitions, my rationality, and everything else I relied on to keep me out of quagmires like this one.

Sometimes, I wished I were the type of person who could forgive and forget. If I swallowed my hurt and anger and pretended I was happy

Fake it till you make it and all that.

I believed in greater accountability for the cheater than the person they cheated with, but in their case, they could both jump off the Brooklyn Bridge.

you have to stop walking around with so much cash. It’s unsafe.”

“Unsafe?”

“Don’t tell me you’re starting to...

“Starting, no.” I’d passed starting weeks ago; I just hadn’t k...

rehashing the memories was too painful. I’d rather lock them in a box and pretend they didn’t exist.

Don’t trust people, and don’t let them in.

They were the ones who should be ashamed, not me.

That was the beauty of the club. Everyone was welcome, and no one judged.

I wanted Sloane to myself as much as possible.

We hadn’t kissed since the library. I wanted to take things slow, but when I was near Sloane, what I wanted was irrelevant. I didn’t want her. I needed her. Desperately. I needed her the way the ocean tides needed the moon, and I would give anything for her to feel a fraction of the same way toward me.

“You said you don’t pass first base on the first date.”

“What about the second?”

Her question sent a shock through my system, the earlier heat igniting into an inferno that razed every other thought I had to ash. ...

“I could be con...