Page 124 of The Villain We Tempt

I close the door behind me, scoop the mask off my pillow, and sneak into my closet to stash it in the hidden compartment at the back. I suppose it'snotthathidden, though. The Ghost Prince obviously found it if he brought my own sex toy to our meet-up at the lecture hall the other day.

I take one more look at his mask and trace my thumb over the side of it. Then I stash it behind my clothes, shut the closet door, and collapse back on my bed.

What are we?

I sit with the question for about three seconds before my face scrunches.

Great. I am now asking myself what label I should attach to thesupremelyweird “thing” I’m involved in with a man whose fingers have been inside me and whose cum I’ve swallowed, but whosefaceI’ve never seen.

A man who's gone down on me and made me seeGodas I exploded against his tongue, but whose name I don’t know.

And here I am asking, “What are we?” Really? It’s starting to feel like the better question might be “Which antipsychotic prescription drugs should I be on?”

Somehow, I’ve gone from being literallyblackmailedby him, to willingly participating in what can only be described as “sexual exploration” after being told therewasno blackmail, to this strange new place where I wake up with his creepy mask lying on my pillow as proof that he broke into my room while I was sleeping…and I feelcomfortedby that.

You need to get your shit together, girl.

This isn't a romance novel, and Ghost isn't some brooding love interest on the verge of revealing a devastatingly perfect face and tragic past.

He’s a guy about whom I know next to nothing who makes shirtless, masked thirst traps online and who seems to feel perfectly at ease withbreaking into my room while I sleep.

The fact that I’m not completely scared shitless should be raising alarm bells in my head.

And the fact that instead it brings a smile to my face should get me committed.

20

GALINA

“I need your help with something.”

I look up from the books and notes spread out in front of me on the table in the middle of Ravencroft Library and up into Bella Drakos’ gleaming green eyes.

“Oh, hi,” I smile. “I didn’t even hear you walk?—”

“Are you free?”

My brows knit. “What do you need help with?”

Bella shifts her weight nervously from one black leather Doc Marten to the other, sucking on her teeth. Her dark hair is piled up in a loose bun, with tendrils hanging down and framing her elfin face. Her pixie-goth makeup today involves extra dark blood-red lipstick paired with heavy retro glam winged eyeliner. She’s wearing a hoodie over her uniform with an illustration of a screaming raccoon holding fists of trash and the words “First of all, I’m a delight” across the bottom.

“Just…a thing.” She lifts a shoulder. “You in?”

“Uhhh…”

“I don’t, um…” Bella frowns. “I don’t have atonof female friends? And I know we’re just in one class together, and that doesn’t make usbestiesor anything, but I’m kind of out of options, and I just need someone to?—”

“Bella.”

I gently cut her off as the words start to tumble faster from her mouth.

“I’d love to help.”

Her brows arch. “Really?”

I shrug. “Sure. And wearefriends, for the record,” I smile.

“Cool.”