Page 12 of Filthy Twisted Devil

Those eyes scan the room as she walks toward the elevators. She was supposed to meet the winning bidder in the suite upstairs, but she seems to sense there’s someone here waiting on her.

Then her eyes land on me.

She freezes midstride, her mouth hanging open, her mind clearly calculating how this is possible. She knows—I’m JAL29871.

Or maybe she doesn’t, based on the way she spins on her heel and speed walks to the elevator like she doesn’t want to be seen.

I swear under my breath. Of course she didn't assume I was the buyer. She just saw Brinley’s brother, sitting in the bar of the hotel where she’s meeting an anonymous man to trade her virginity for $1.3 million. She panicked and ran, hoping I hadn't seen her.

I’m on my feet before I even think to stand. I jog across the lobby, my longer legs eating up the distance between us. Eden jabs at the elevator button. The chrome doors open immediately for her, and she steps inside, her shoulders sinking in relief.

My hand darts between the doors before they can close. She stares at me with wide, horrified eyes.

“Get out,” she hisses. “I’m meeting someone.”

“I know.”

She huffs. “You don’t know anything, and I don’t have time to explain. So just⁠—”

“No, Eden. I know.” I take a step into the elevator. "I kept hoping that I had it wrong and someone else would walk in. But it's you. You're PrairieSmoke."

The elevator doors close, leaving us alone together.

5

EDEN

This can’t be happening.

I shove my back up against the elevator wall. Maybe if I push hard enough, I could make more space between Luke and me. He stands against the opposite wall, only three feet away from me. It’s too fucking close.

My mind scrambles to make sense of everything that happened in the past three minutes. Seeing Luke and the lobby and panicking, wondering if he’d tell Brinley I was here. Him chasing me into the elevator. His lips forming the words Prairie Smoke.

Holy shit.

Luke Windsor bought my virginity.

My best friend’s brother. The first boy I ever had a real crush on. He knows I’m a camgirl, and he’s watched me do—oh god, I don’t even want to think about all the things JAL29871 watched me do.

Maybe I was delusional to think that nobody in my life would find out about it, but it was a necessary lie. I wouldn’t have been able to go through with the shows except by thinking of my audience as strangers. Anonymous faces who’d never know the real me. I didn’t let myself imagine someone I know might watch it. Well, someone did. And not just anyone.

The last person on earth I’d want watching me touch myself.

My eyes dart up toward Luke’s. His ocean-colored eyes are completely shuttered. I have no idea what he’s thinking, whether he’s judging me or laughing at me. He’s not looking at me with desire, that’s for sure. His eyes don’t dip down to my body, to the stupid dark coat I wore over a minidress and heels, like I’m someone’s mistress in an old movie.

No, Luke doesn’t want me. He never has. Which means he was only following PrairieSmoke to feel superior to me.

Fury fills my mind like wildfire, burning through fear and humiliation and taking over everything.

“Six weeks,” I snap. “You spent six weeks sitting in the dark, watching me strip for you. You saw my body. You heard my voice. You seriously expect me to believe that you just figured out it was me tonight?”

His mouth opens. Whatever he wants to say, I don't want to fucking hear it.

“You sat next to me at your sister's birthday and Maura’s gallery shows, and the whole time, you were getting off to me without me knowing. That's sick. It's disgusting, and it's fucking wrong. You sat across from me at Friendsgiving for hours, knowing you were going to buy my virginity and pretending you didn’t know who I was. Pretending you were normal, instead of some pervert taking advantage of his sister’s best friend!”

“Eden.” He's about to try and charm me out of being mad at him, like he charms everyone. Well, that's not happening.

“No, you don't get to talk,” I say loudly, before he can say anything other than my name. “You don't get to be the calm one when I just walked into this hotel to lose my virginity to a stranger, only to find out that the stranger was Luke Windsor, trying to humiliate me.”