Tarnished Crown (Gravestone Elite #2) by Caitlyn Dare (books like beach read TXT) 📕

“You didn’t kill him,” I say, refusing to believe it. “He was still breathing when they hauled him out of there.” Unconscious but breathing. He’s okay. He has to be okay. Bexley isn’t a murderer… he isn’t like Cade and the rest of them.

But the look in his eyes…

“Does it matter? I did that… I…” He jams his fingers into his hair and tugs the ends sharply. “I fucking hate this.”

“James said—”

“James is just as bad as them.” Bexley’s head whips up. “Playing with our lives, our futures. We’re just pawns, Mia. Pawns in a game I’m still not sure I understand.”

Silence settles over us as we stare out at nothing. The trees are dense around us, closing in until I feel a weight on my chest. Then Bexley says six little words that make my heart shatter.

“What happened with Cade last night?”

“Don’t ask me that.” I let out a shaky breath.

“I’ll kill him, Mia. I’ll fucking kill him if he—”

“He didn’t.” I twist to look Bexley in the eye. “And I’m okay. That’s all you need to know.” He told me his truth, but I can’t tell him mine.

“It isn’t…” His fist clenches against his thigh and then his hand shoots out, curving around my neck. “The thought of him touching you…”

I blink, overwhelmed at the intensity in Bexley’s voice. “The Coglio is soon. You need to accept that if I go through with it, I’ll have to be—”

“Don’t,” he hisses. “Just don’t.” His eyes drop to the ground, and it’s like he reached into my chest and ripped out my heart. I need him with me on this.

I need him.

“You need to understand what it means, Bexley. What I’ll have to do. The ceremony at Gravestone Hall is only a formality… it’s the union after that seals the—”

“I can’t. I can’t hear you talk about… being with him.”

Pain snakes through me. “If you don’t want to be with me, I understand.”

“How can you even say that?” His eyes flicker to mine, full of desperation and regret. “I love you, Mia. I’m so fucking in love with you that I can’t see straight. But the thought of letting him—”

“It’s okay.” I press my hand to his cheek and shift closer. Bexley surprises me by scooping me up and dropping me on his lap so that I’m straddling him.

“Nothing about this is okay. I’m your guy. I’m supposed to protect you. I’m supposed to be able to keep you safe.” He brushes the hair off my face and gently wraps his hand around my throat again. “I would kill him for you.”

“Don’t say that. Don’t ever—”

“It’s true. If I thought it wouldn’t start some kind of war, I would end him for ever looking twice at you.”

“You think it’d start a war?”

“Yeah, something still doesn’t add up. If Q are pulling all the strings, why leave Cade to run things with the Electi? He’s a liability. They know that…”

“They need him to continue the Kingsley line.” I shudder at the very thought of ever bearing his child.

“But why does it matter? Q is powerful. We know their reach is far beyond Gravestone… Unless someone else is calling the shots.”

“James alluded to other players,” I say, and Bexley nods.

“What if they want Cade around?”

“And Q is trying to buy some time to figure out their next steps.”

He nods again. “I think we have to assume Q are not the ones holding all the power here, which means their control over Cade is shaky at best.”

“I keep thinking about that list of names… why would my dad have it? It doesn’t make any sense. Not unless…” The words die on my tongue, because there’s no way.

“Unless he was involved,” Bexley finishes for me.

A resigned sigh falls from my lips. “It doesn’t make sense, though. He works security for Phillip. He’s not an… an assassin for Quinctus.”

Is he?

I swallow over the words that have been plaguing my mind ever since I Googled those names. “I should talk to him—”

“No, Mia. You can’t even let them know we know. Not until we connect more of the dots.”

“But he’s my dad…”

“I know.” Bexley levels me with a sympathetic look. “I wish I could take you far, far away from here, little mouse.”

“You can.” My hands slide up his chest as I lean in to kiss him.

“Mia, I’m not sure—”

“Shh,” I soothe. “Give me this, Bexley. Make me forget.”

A low growl rumbles in his chest, vibrating through me as I circle my hips above him, creating the most delicious friction. His hands slide down to my butt and to grind me on top of him.

“You’re playing with fire, mouse.”

“Maybe I like the burn.” I ease back to smirk at him.

There’s something thrilling about being out here with him, surrounded by nothing but the trees and nature. We could get caught at any second, but after everything that’s happened, after the way Cade defiled me last night, I can’t find it in myself to care.

This moment feels like a fuck you to Cade and Quinctus. I’ll probably regret it later, when the lust-filled spell I’m under breaks, but right now, I want Bexley to fuck me like he might never get another chance.

“I need you,” I purr against his mouth, kissing and sucking his bottom lip between my teeth. Bexley groans, his hand flexing over the curve of my hip.

“You want me, take me,” he challenges, injecting liquid lust into my veins. Steadying myself against him, I make quick work of freeing his cock from his jeans and sliding him through my wetness.

“Fuck, mouse,” he hisses as I hook my panties aside and slide down on him until he’s seated inside me. “Nothing will ever feel as good as this,” he rasps, burying his hand into the hair at the nape of my neck. Thrusting upward, Bexley sends little bolts of pleasure shooting through me.

“God…” I pant. “I thought I was in control?”

He chuckles, pulling me down to kiss me hard. Our tongues tangle,