Page 79 of Merciless

Elijah smirks. “We’d actually have to be fucking for them to think that. Are we fucking, birdie?”

“I don’t know, are we?” I clamp my mouth shut and look away. “Don’t answer that.”

His chuckle comes out smooth and dark, like hidden desires wrapped in warm caramel. “We can change that. I want to change that.”

“But we won’t.”

“You’re a terrible liar, you know that?” He tugs a lock of my hair.

“I’m not lying.” I roll my eyes. “Was it really necessary to do all of that in front of our parents?”

“It was.”

“Why?”

He turns his darkened gaze to me, his lips curving into a wicked smile. “Because you needed to see that being with me won’t faze our parents.”

“I told you I don’t date.”

“And I told you I don’t either. I fuck, Eden, and I plan to fuck you until all you can think about is how good it feels to ride my cock.”

I take a moment to find my words. “Do you see me as some kind of conquest?”

“I don’t think you’re a conquest.” He hums in thought, then says, “No. You’re way, way more than that.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Elijah stops walking. I turn to him, and my eyes widen. Asher’s beside him, fuming as he regards the both of us.

How long has he been there?

Shit. He heard everything we talked about, and now he knows the weird relationship between his brother and me.

“We’ll meet you outside,” Elijah says to him, not looking an ounce bothered that his twin listened to our conversation.

He knew?

“I want us to have a little fun tonight,” Elijah says. “Get the keys to the Porsche, and we’ll meet you outside.”

Asher casts one last glare at me, then at Elijah, before he walks in a different direction.

“He heard everything,” I say. It comes out as a weak statement.

Elijah turns his head toward me. He raises an eyebrow. “He did.”

“Aren’t you worried?”

“No.” He walks ahead of me and slips his hands into his pockets. “He won’t tell anyone.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Just because Asher is the quieter, more observant of the twins doesn’t mean he wouldn’t tell someone. He almost looked jealous that Elijah and I were talking about fucking, but that could have been all in my head. Just like Elijah wanting to fuck me is all in my head. He says he wants that, but I think he’s just trying to wind me up.

I follow Elijah into the spring evening. Fireflies dance in the gardens ahead of us, and crickets chirp.

“Oh,” I say as I look up at the sky. “A full moon tonight.”