Page 89 of Tethered Fates

“Shut up, shut up!” Veins throb in Carter’s forehead. “You had it too easy! You never worked hard for any of your talent! It isn’t fair! I want it, I deserve it. You don’t!”

“I worked hard,” Teagan whispers between clenched teeth. He shouldn’t need to defend himself, but he deserves to say his piece. “It isn’t my fault that everything you create is empty.” He stares down the snivelling man before him, and I couldn’t be prouder. “That’s a reflection of the artist.”

“Shut up!” Carter’s tears and snot mix with the blood smeared across his top lip.

“It isn’t my fault that you’re a hack.”

Carter moves to attack Teagan, but I grab him by the throat and slam him into the wall.

“Should I kill him for you, Teagan?” I get into Carter’s face, show him the sharp edge of my fangs. “It’s been a while since I’ve eaten.”

The scent of Carter’s piss fills the air as he continues to whimper.

“Let him go, Sen.”

I squeeze Carter’s neck.

“He ain’t worth shit.”

Carter’s eyes bulge before I release him, and he crumbles into his puddle of urine. “Thank you, oh my god, thank you—”

His answer is cut off by Teagan whacking his new skateboard into Carter’s head. The board breaks, and so does Carter’s face as he drops to the ground.

I smirk. Apparently, I can be prouder. “Vicious when you want to be, aren’t you?”

Teagan lets out a long sigh, not bothering to wipe away the single tear that escaped. “Is he still alive?”

“Sadly.”

There’s a pause, and then, “The skateboards, Sen?”

I raise an eyebrow.

“Yeah. I painted them all.”

His plush lips curve into a mischievous smile.

“Because I’m fucking awesome.”

Chapter Thirty - Sen

‘Lay All Your Love On Me ’ by ABBA plays as I drive us home. We can’t stop glancing at each other, then laughing when we’ve been caught. So by the time we’re back at the mansion, my blood thrumming with anticipation, we can’t keep our hands to ourselves.

Teagan tugs me closer, his curious fingers pulling up my T-shirt to stroke my abs.

My fingers wrap around his lush curls, my lips on his smooth neck, getting high on his spicy cinnamon scent.

We stumble into a random bedroom, a tangle of limbs. Our mouths are uncoordinated as we explore each other’s faces; Teagan’s lips on my cheek, ear, temple. Mine on his jaw, chin, the tip of his nose.

“Sen.” Teagan’s low, husky voice slips into my pores, heating me from the outside in.

Capturing the sides of his face, I slow us down, gently pulling kisses from him like I’d pluck petals from a tulip.

“Teagan.” I press our chests close, my heart beating against his. “I would wait another nine hundred years for you, love.”

His arms circle my waist, and when I open my eyes, I search his gaze, wet with emotion and more stunning than the night sky.

“I don’t want to wait anymore,” he whispers. “Not for another second.”