"Okay." I nodded.

Syn took my hand into his and I didn't miss the fleeting confused expression that passed his features as he glanced at our intertwined hands. It was almost like his hand moved on its own and his mind caught up afterward-and I almost let myself believe for a second that we were a normal couple holding hands together in an event.

But we weren't.

The stares from the people around us that had conceivably heard of my background and more importantly, his reputation were enough to snap me back into reality. With the harsh reminder, I subtly removed my hand from his and cleared my throat. "We should...go?" I pointed towards the door.

He shoved his hands into his pockets and I noticed the tick in his jaw as he glanced at the prying eyes around us. Please don't cause a scene," I thought to myself, somehow hoping he'd be able to hear me. Whatever words that would be exchanged between us were words that wouldn't remain between us. Everyone may have seemed like they were busy with their own tasks, but people like these were experts at snooping.

Syn's eyes landed down on mine and I switched the gift basket between hands, not satisfied with the way I was standing in the crowded room. Syn himself seemed to notice my discomfort as his eyes trailed over my form, but he didn't provide any help. Instead, he did the last thing I needed him to do when I was trying to hold onto my last string of control.

His tongue glided over his lips as he glanced down at me and I swallowed a lump in my throat as I tried to look anywhere else. "How many favors do you owe me?" he asked in a husky voice as he lowered his head.

His dark hair fell onto his forehead and I itched to move it away, but I plastered a smile on my face and fisted my palms around the handle of the wooden basket. "Syn, can we please leave?"

"You owe me three...give or take."

"Syn..." I warned. A warning that was more so directed towards myself considering that I was losing my mind with the way he was looking at me.

His eyes moved over my shoulder before looking back down at me. "Kiss me."

My head whipped around the room to see more attention on us and my eyes widened, my hair flying around my face as I shook my head. "What? No, I-"

"That's what I'd like to use one of my favors on, Princess," he whispered, his warm breath brushing against my cheek.

Anxiety began to crawl through my skin and for some odd reason my eyes landed on an elderly couple still sitting at a table near us even though the event was over. Their eyes were one of the many that seemed to be glued onto us.

"I can't..."

"If you're not going to kiss me, make sure it's because you don't want to. Not because you care about the opinion of these idiots." His eyes searched mine for an answer and the music in the room began to dwindle away as my focus remained on him. After a moment, he nodded slightly before standing up straight. "If I were someone else, would you react the same way?"

What?

I looked up at him in confusion to see his gaze past me instead of on me like they previously were and I bit the inside of my cheek. His question floated through my mind and a ache in my chest began to surface as I thought about the truth to his answer.

Yes. The truth was yes.

If Syn happened to be anyone else, I wouldn't have hesitated to kiss him in front of the entire world. But he wasn't. He was Syn SinClaire. The son of the Devil, and prompter of nightmares in the realms. The fear in the room when he passed was palpable, and every single shocked gasp and terrified whispers was justified.

Evil could've been his name and no one would've been able to tell a difference...

So how was it possible that I was falling for him?

I was falling in love with him. I froze as the realization began to set in, but my eyes slowly made it back to his face to once again admire the beauty of the monster that everyone spoke about.

I looked into his green eyes, which seemed to shine even when his face showed nothing except his annoyance when I did something stupid. His lips, that never curled up into a smile, but wouldn't hesitate to be the gateway for his rapid arguments and clap backs when we were having a disagreement. Those same lips that could spew poison, would kiss away my worries and whisper assurances that would make my anxiety and insecurities drift away.

The cycling going through my mind of everything he meant to me-everything he had done for me, the way he made me feel, how I felt when I was with him...

I wasn't falling in love with him. Saying that was only to comfort myself in the fact that my heart wasn't completely screwed, but it was a lie.

I love him.

"Fuck," I cursed, making his attention snap back to me.

"What?"

"Nothing," I blurted, shaking my head as if that would make my bullshit any more believable.

He nodded and took a step past me. "We should go."

The familiar scent of his cologne brought a small smile to my face that quickly dropped as I was face to face with his back. I wasn't sure how much he could feel given everything he represented, but I had just rejected him. I did it on instinct and it seemed right, but then why did it feel so bad?

I looked around again at the classy guests remaining in the large room. Fake grins were plastered on their faces as they exchanged pleasantries like it all wasn't for the cameras. In fact, if I recall walking in a few hours ago, none of the people here were even looking twice at one another until the press arrived.

Why did I care what these people thought about me?

They flipped on each other at the flip of a dime daily. The only loyalties they knew were the business secrets that bound them together and the relationships they had with their financial managers. As vapid and shallow as they were, I cared a bit. My parents raised me to.

They would say, 'You're nothing if the elite wouldn't shake hands with you.'

In Heaven, Xyla and I had lived by that quote, but as I drifted away from home, it began to apply less and less-never being a priority yet the notion never quite left me.

For a few moments, I wanted to be like Syn. I wanted to see what it would feel like not to give a fuck about what everyone else thought. To not care about what people would potentially whisper about me-

"Queen."

"Hmm?" I looked at Syn.

"You left for a moment and I was asking you if you wanted me to carry that for you," he said as he pointed to the basket.

"Oh, sure," I mumbled. Our hands briefly touched as he took it from me, and butterflies floated throughout my stomach. He turned to continue walking and before I could think, I grabbed his jacket, halting his steps and making him turn to look at me. "Wait."

"Yes?"

I gently took the collar of his shirt and tugged him down to me, sending him a small smile before connecting our lips. His body almost immediately reacted to mine and his free hand snaked around my waist. His soft lips pressed against mine, deepening the kiss and I wrapped my arms around his neck. The faint gasps in the room and the snapped of cameras told me that this would be the final seal in my casket of social acceptance, yet I didn't care. How could I care about them when I had him?

A clearing of a throat near us made me snap out of my trance, and look for the source of the noise. When my eyes landed on Sebastian standing behind Syn, my heart dropped. "Sebastian..."

"At least I know why you quit," he said. He gave us a curt nod before turning to leave and I pulled away from Syn.

"Sebastian wait-"

"Don't." Syn grabbed my arm to stop me. "Don't go after him."

I looked up at him in confusion, tugging my arm away, but as I looked at his features...I could swear that there was some satisfied glint in his eyes. My movements came to a slow as I studied him, and after a few moments, I dropped my arm. "You knew." When he didn't answer, my thoughts were confirmed and I scoffed. "You wanted to kiss me because you knew he was watching."

"So what?"

"Wow," I whispered. At the moment I was coming to terms with my feelings for him, he was staking his claim on me. "You're an asshole."

Rage began to bubble up at her words, but I clenched my jaw and pushed it down. Nothing good would come out of me having an outburst here. "Calm down," I ordered through gritted teeth.

Instead of listening to me, she pulled her arm out of my hold and marched out of the room. I let out a breath, adjusting the tie on my suit before glancing at the nosey guests. I rolled my eyes as I headed in the same direction Queen went, my legs being propelled by my rising anger.

Of all the women in the world...why did the most maddening one pique my interest?

How could she tell me that she didn't want him but then turn around and throw a fit that he saw us kiss? If anyone should've been mad, it was me. I sat through Sebastian trying to bid on the date with her and didn't even mention the fact that she hadn't let him know that we were together-like she said she would.

The thought of her not keeping her word when it came to something I was so serious about was incredibly pissing me off the more I thought about it. I walked up the stairs to the double door exit and strode through the people lingering around. The cool wind of the night air hit my face and my first thought was that Queen didn't have a jacket. The thought of course pissed me off even more because I didn't want to give a shit right now.

My eyes landed on Queen who was pacing at the bottom of the stairs and headed towards her. Her eyes were glued to the artificial light from her phone, but when she saw me, she rolled her eyes and walked away towards the sidewalk. "Are you fucking serious right now?" I scoffed.

"Syn, I don't want to talk to you right now."

"And you think I want to talk to you?"

"You're the one fucking following me," she hissed, sending a glare over her shoulder. Although I was angry, my body seemed to have a reaction to her that battled my mind and I gazed at the small dress hugging her body. All the ways I could take it off of her flashed through my mind, making the space in my pants disappear as my dick got harder. Sex should've been the last thing on my mind, and it was, but the thought of the dirty things that must've passed through Sebastian's mind when he saw her tonight enraged me all over again.

"Take my jacket," I said, moving to take it off.

"I don't want your jacket."

"I wasn't asking," I mumbled. I knew it wasn't technically fair of me to use my speed against her, but technicalities were the last thing on my mind. I sped in front of her, making her stumble back in shock. "Put the jacket on."

"I'm not cold." She attempted to sidestep me, but I stepped in front of her, earning a shove against my chest that didn't budge me.

"I don't give a shit if you're cold or not."

"God, you're possessive!" She walked past me, scoffing as we bumped shoulders and I blew out a breath.

"What else was I supposed to do, Queen?" I sighed, my annoyance beginning to grow at the inconvenience the small basket was causing. I glanced at the dark street and back to Queen who was still walking ahead of me. "You didn't tell him you had a boyfriend like you said you would, so I took care of it."

At my words, she stopped talking and turned to face me. "What?"

"Think about it," I walked towards her, "how do you think it makes me feel that you hesitated to do something that I do strongly asked you-something that would take you twenty seconds to do yet would give me permanent ease."

"F-feel?" She asked in a small voice. "How did it make you feel?"

"It pissed-it pisses me the hell off. You swear up and down that you feel nothing for him yet you not stopping his advances even when you know he wants you is driving me insane. Call me whatever you want, but when I saw him in there...looking at you the way that he was...I couldn't stop myself. And I didn't want to. I'd do it all over again to see that dumbass look on his face, so if an apology from me is what you want...it's not fucking happening."

She sighed, taking a look around the empty street before stepping toward me. Her eyes remained trained on the floor as she slightly shook her head, and I waited for her to speak. "I've been used as an object to make people jealous, Syn. I've been taken on dates and outings just so whoever I was with could have bragging rights or arm candy," she said. "It was the reason Justin wanted me-and hell, Sebastian did it too! As a woman it makes me feel like crap. The bidding war was bad enough, but I let it go because it was for..."

"For the children," I continued on for her, making a slight smile appear on her face.

"Yeah...I let that go, but then that kiss. It clearly meant a lot more to me than it did you."

"What do you mean?"

"For you, it was something you did to stake your claim over me."

"And for you?"

"Well, it was more than that to me. I realized that..." she trailed off, running her hand through her hair and I moved a few loose strands out of the way.

"Finish your sentence, Princess."

"I'm going to say it, and then I want you to pretend I never said it," she said. "...I had a lot of wine."

"What is it?"

"I l- umm...I really really...like you."

"You want me to pretend that I never heard that?"

She nodded in response, biting the inside of her cheek as her focus remained on my shirt. Was that it? Something else seemed to be distracting her from being present with me, but I wasn't going to unload that basket of surprises tonight. Enough had already happened. "So yeah, you were thinking about one-upping him and I was thinking about how much I like you. That hurts a lot...please don't do it again."

"I'm sorry."

She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry too."

"I don't think I forgive you," I retorted.

"What?" She frowned. "I should've told Sebastian as soon as we-"

"I don't give a shit about him right now," I whispered. "I don't think I can forgive you for trying to walk away from me...in that."

She furrowed her brows, her eyesight following my own down to her chest, and a slow smile spread across her face. "You like the dress?"

"I like what's under it," I whispered, bending down to place a kiss on her neck. She giggled before gently pushing me away and skating her head. A thoughtful look appeared on her face as she bit her lip and peeked up at me, her eyes and long lashes drawing me in.

"Can I take you somewhere, Syn?"

"Where?"

"Trust me?"

"Maybe."

"Give me your car keys."