The Kiss Game: Dark New Adult Bully Romance (Twisted Games Book 1)

by Esme Devlin

  “Grace,” I tell her, holding out my hand.

  She takes it and opens her mouth in a gesture so fake it’s almost comical. “Oh you’re freezing!! You get stuck in that awful rain? Mal, let me take her to the toilet and help her get freshened up.”

  Mal?

  I remember Lucia calling him that, too.

  She takes my other hand and Malachy drops the one he has, probably thinking I want to? Fuck knows. Either way I’m crossing the room with Dani to where I can only assume the toilet is.

  She pulls me inside and it’s not a toilet, it’s a huge-ass bathroom filled with a walk-in double shower, and a massive eight person obsidian jacuzzi.

  “Wow,” I say under my breath, taking in the room.

  “I know right?! He’s so fucking lucky. I swear the first time he brought me back here, I thought I’d died and won the lottery,” she giggles, heading straight for the sink and opening up the cabinet that’s fixed to the wall above it.

  What she’s looking for I do not know, but that’s not the question that sits right at the front of my mind. Why did she use that wording? She said Malachy brought her back here. Not his friends.

  I want to ask her, but I get the feeling she wanted me to pick up on it. So I stay silent. For now at least.

  “Yeah, it’s lovely,” I agree, following her over to the sink.

  “We keep some lippy and shit in here for toilet breaks,” she says, winking at me.

  “Oh, I’m good. I just want to get dried.”

  She raises her eyebrow at me, as if not wanting lipstick is a crime against drunk-girl-bathroom-code or some shit.

  “So, are you and Malachy… a thing?”

  I shrug, grabbing a towel from the warmer and flipping my hair over my shoulder. “I don’t really know,” I tell her. “He asked me to come tonight, if that’s what you mean?”

  “Hmm. I was under the impression Malachy didn’t really have things,” she says, taking a seat on the side of the jacuzzi. “Wait, are you the girl from years ago?”

  I stop drying my hair and stand up straight. “What do you mean?”

  “Well we were here weeks ago, and he was in a hella black mood. We asked him what was wrong, and he said something about some bitch from when they were kids.”

  Was that the day he walked into my shop? Some bitch? I was nice to him that day. In fact, I went out of my way to try to break the ice between us.

  Very fucking interesting.

  “And you were…” I nod my head towards the room we just came from. “Here with your friends from through there?”

  She nods enthusiastically. I don’t know if I trust this girl.

  I shake my jacket off and hang it over the towel warmer to dry off a little. “I think I’m done now, are you coming back out?”

  “Sure,” she says, hopping off the bath and following me to the door.

  Chapter 24

  Malachy

  “You want something to drink?”

  Craig’s turned the music right down now but I turn around, in case she didn’t hear me. She’s sitting across the bar from me looking unsure. I forget she’s only seventeen.

  “You do drink? I’m assuming?”

  “I’ve drunk alcohol before, I’m just not sure I want to drink alcohol around you,” she says, eyes narrowed.

  I can’t help smiling and I’ve been doing that a whole fucking lot tonight, which is unusual.

  “I’m not going to let you get drunk and jump on me,” I tell her.

  She rolls her eyes. “What do you have?”

  “Fuck, what do I not have? Rum, vodka, gin, wine… Lager? Whiskey?”

  She screws her face up at the last one.

  What do cunts have against whiskey?

  “Wine’s good. Rose or white.”

  I pull out a bottle from under the bar and fill up a large glass. She can have one to chill her out a wee bit, but that’s her lot.

  “What are you drinking?” She takes the glass and presses it to her lips.

  “I’m not.”

  “Is this it then?” She looks around the room. “Girls, pool and alcohol?”

  She’s just about nailed it, except for the tits. And the stuff that comes after the tits. But I’m not going to tell her about that yet — she’d run a fucking mile.

  So instead I shrug. “What were you expecting? Blood rituals?”

  She laughs at that one. “Nothing would shock me when it comes to you.”

  “Aye, the longer you keep that attitude, the better.”

  I watch her while the glass gets emptier and her cheeks get rosier and her body relaxes. I get the feeling she doesn’t go to parties much. In fact, I’m going to shoot that she doesn’t get out much at all.

  But that’s a fucking sin right there. She’s funny. She’s got a quick wit, and I like that about her. And when she laughs, it doesn’t matter how much fucking highlighter the rest of them have on — it’s Grace’s face that lights up the room.

  “Madison Blake’s mum was in my top five MILFs in primary school,” Craig tells her.

  She flips her head back laughing. “How the fuck can you have a list of MILFs in primary school?”

  He shrugs. “Fuck knows — seen it in a film once and thought it made me sound like the big man.”

  “It makes you sound like a pervert,” she tells him.

  He chuckles. “Nah but seriously, how is my wee milfy? Is she aging well?”

  “She looks after herself,” she tells him. “She had that expensive smell about her, you know the type.”

  “Expensive smell?” I ask her.

  She turns to face me. “Yeah like… when no one knows what the scent is because no one can afford it and it’s probably imported from France or some shit. Not like you, Mr Armani Code.”

  Craig almost spits his drink out and even the wee girl sat on his knee is giggling and watching my face for a reaction.

  “I’m sorry darlin, I didn’t know I was going out with a fucking master aromarer.”

  She giggles. “Aromarer? Are you okay? Do you mean perfumer?”

  “Aye, that,” I tell her, nodding my head.

  “What have I told you about making me laugh when I’m taking a draw?” Ross says, talking about his fucking dildo vape again. “That shit turns to hellfire in your throat-pipe.”

  “Fuck, Ross — maybe try putting it down for thirty seconds, eh? Or have a fucking real one. We’re all going to hell eventually.”

  He laughs as Redhead strokes the back of his hair affectionately.

  I look behind them and see Josh over on the sofa again with his little Blondie.

  “I’ll have another one,” Grace says, pushing her glass over the bar.

  “Not tonight, princess.”

  Cunts I barely even know have already started spewing in the bathroom, and as much as Grace is growing on me, I’m not at the holding her hair back over the bowl stage yet. I reckon I could go my whole life without needing to be at that stage with her. And by the way she reacted to that one glass, I’m going to take a punt and say she was lying when she told me she drinks.

  “Fucks sake Malachy let the wee lassie have a drink,” Craig says. He was tongue deep in Brunette One’s mouth a second ago.

  Not a chance. I want her sober for this. I want her to remember.

  “Come and sit with me,” I tell her, coming out from behind the bar and taking her hand. I lead her through the crowd gathered around the pool table and sit down on the big arm chair near the sofa with her.

  She sits beside me, a few inches apart and I lift her up, so she’s sitting on my knee.

  “Malachy!”

  “Don’t fucking act like this bothers you,” I whisper in her ear.

  She turns around on my chest and looks up at me. “Why did you want to come away over here?”

  “Do you see that girl?” I point my head towards where Josh is sitting with Blondie. He’s got his hand up her dress.

  But she doesn’t look long enough to notice. “W
hat about her?”

  “Watch,” I tell her.

  She looks again and a few moments later she looks back at me. “Don’t they see us?”

  I shake my head. “They don’t give a fuck about anyone other than the two of them.”

  Josh catches my eye and I give him a look that only Josh would know the meaning of.

  Chapter 25

  Grace

  If someone had told me an hour ago that I’d be sitting on Malachy Hunter’s lap in the middle of his games room I’d have bitten them clean in the arm.

  Oh wait, I said that in his car, didn’t I?

  The wine’s gone straight the fuck to my head.

  He told me to look at the couple on the couch, and I looked. She looked like she was enjoying herself. Good for her. But I don’t want to look at them. I want to look at Malachy.

  I turn around and let my feet hang down over the side of the chair. He’s rubbing the back of my neck and it feels so good after a whole day of college and work after it.

  I’m kinda tired, kinda relaxed, kinda tipsy.

  Whatever I am, I’m not scared of him anymore.

  He asked me to come to a party, and he brought me to a party. He didn’t lie. Maybe my little plan worked, and when I told him I wouldn’t be intimidated by him anymore, he believed me.

  Who the fuck knows, and who the fuck cares.

  I look up at his face and he nods in that couple’s direction, indicating I should look. I turn around and see him ripping — yes ripping — her dress off. That’s cheap synthetic fiber for you.

  “I don’t want to look,” I tell him, turning back around. It’s making me feel weird. Not weird, I’m not a prude, I’ve seen tits before. But like they’re having an intimate moment and I’m somehow intruding on that.

  “I want you to watch them,” he tells me, right into my ear.

  “Why?”

  “Watch and you’ll find out.”

  He’s pawing at her now and if I wasn’t looking at her, I would hear her. Someone turns the music back up and the lights dim away to almost nothing.

  “What the fuck is this?” I drag my eyes away from them to ask Malachy but he just nods towards them again. No. I don’t want to see this shit.

  So I keep looking at him. The faint dark stubble casting shadows along his tight jawline. His eyes are hard and unfeeling. There’s a crowd gathering behind us and sitting down on the seats in front of us.

  He glances down and catches that I’m not looking. “Grace you need to watch, princess.”

  “Why?”

  He looks at me with amusement in his eyes and nuzzles my ear. “Curious little kitten.”

  I turn around and she’s naked now. He’s biting down on her nipple and from the look on her face I’d say it was hard. Just like Malachy did. A rush of something trickles through me at the thought of it.

  I glance towards him again, my cheek running across his rougher one, and he catches my lips with his mouth. Just a quick one, but a hard one nonetheless. His hands were on my thighs but now they come up to the sides of my head and he turns my head around, forcing me to stare at them.

  He’s on his feet now, pulling her up with him and my head moves involuntarily, following them across the room. He takes her to a post that I hadn’t even noticed was in the corner — it’s dark and the wood fades into the wall.

  Metal cuffs lock around her wrists and she bites down on her lip, eyes dancing in anticipation for whatever is about to come.

  I don’t want to see them fucking.

  My hands reach up, covering Malachy’s larger ones, and I try to force my head free but he just runs his lips down my shoulder, and makes noises like he’s trying to settle me.

  I’m too hot.

  The man picks the girl’s leg up and I get a front row view of all her bits and then he does something that shocks me.

  He slaps her with his free hand, hard, right across her face.

  I can’t turn my head but I can move my eyes, and now they wander back over to the sofa. People are sitting there, half watching, half chatting, like what you do in the movie theater before the good adverts start.

  No one at all seems phased by this.

  And then he fucks her. Just like that. In broad fucking daylight. Okay, not broad daylight but still. And he doesn’t go slow either, nor does he stop the vicious slaps on her face, her thigh, her tits. He does it again and again until I’m almost sure she’s crying.

  I want to tell him to stop. I trying to thrash my head, trying to make him allow me to turn it around but he holds me still in place. I can’t tell him with the music so loud. It would be like pissing into the wind.

  But then she lets her head fall back and her eyes almost roll and her mouth gapes open.

  And I realize she’s enjoying it?

  My eyes wander again and now other people are making out on the sofa beside us. Pulling clothes off of each other’s bodies while they kiss and touch each other and gulp down alcohol.

  I brush my fingers along Malachy’s thigh and he finally lets go of my head, allowing me to turn around.

  “Why would you make me watch that?”

  He looks at my lips when he answers. “So you know what’s coming.”

  I look at his eyes, half closed as he looks down, obscured by his long black lashes. “You would do that to me?”

  They dart back up, quick as fuck, and he stares at me with a gaze so intense I feel like I’m losing a hold of myself. “Not like this. You’re mine. No one else will ever get to see you the way I do.”

  I swallow the lump I’ve just realized is in my throat. “You want to hurt me though?”

  “Hey,” he pulls me in close to him, as if I’m upset and he’s trying to pacify me. I’m not upset. I’m not scared. I’m curious. Intrigued. I just want to know what he is? “I’m going to hurt you so good, you won’t be able to fuck without it.”

  His words and the way he’s looking at me should have my blood running cold. But it doesn’t. It’s hot. Too hot. So hot that I think I might burn up.

  I’m not scared though.

  Why doesn’t he scare me?

  Chapter 26

  Malachy

  She’s so fucking innocent.

  Her green eyes are wide but sparkling and she’s biting down on her bottom lip. She’s innocent, but she’s curious, and that was the goal.

  “It’s hot in here,” she tells me lazily, her eyes floating down to my lips.

  “It’s cold in my bedroom.”

  Her eyes flick back up and she puts her hand on my shoulder. I can almost hear Blondie screaming over the music now. Things are about to get fucked up. Probably too fucked up for the little princess.

  She’s thinking about it. Weighing up her options.

  “If you want to go home, say the words and I’ll take you right now.”

  I’ve absolutely no intention of taking her home, but letting her think I do might put her at ease again. After a few long moments she shakes her head.

  “It’s okay. I want to stay.”

  I dive in and catch her lips, and she shifts on me so she’s facing me, legs spread over the sides of my thighs. I run my hands down over her back, her hips, her little ass.

  My kisses trail along her cheeks and down her neck and I survey the room as I nip at her soft skin and she moans in my ear. A random guy I don’t even know has Brunette Two sprawled along the sofa, hand around her throat. Her heads tipped back so far, but even upside-down there’s no mistaking her eyes on me.

  “Come on,” I murmur in her ear, getting up off the chair with her still in my arms. She wraps her legs around me and since she doesn’t argue, I figure I have a free pass.

  I carry her across the room, one hand on her head so it’s pulled in close to me and not witnessing more of the depravity going on around us. Then I take her to my bedroom, locking the door and sitting her down on the bed while I light the candle on the far dresser.

  “You look beautiful,” I tell her when I turn arou
nd and watch her in the glow from the candle. “I never told you that earlier but I should have.”

  She smiles but rolls her eyes. “You’re just saying that.”

  I shrug. “Think what you want, makes no difference to me.”

  “Will that go on all night, up there?” She glances to the floor above, the room we just came from.

  “Probably.”

  “You do this a lot?”

  “Do what a lot?”

  “Bring girls back here?’ She looks around the room.

  I shake my head. “Never. Just you.”

  Chapter 27

  Grace

  “I don’t believe you.”

  He lifts his shoulders in a shrug again. “Think what you want, makes no difference to me. But I can tell you now I don’t even let Maggie in here. You’re the first girl to cross the door, never mind sleep in my bed.”

  “Why?”

  He smiles. “There’s eleven bedrooms, fuck would I make a mess of my own one?”

  I let out a half a laugh. I guess he has a point. “I mean, why me?”

  “I figure you know all my secrets anyway, and the ones you don’t know you’ll find out soon enough.”

  Secrets? I’m assuming he means what happened. “I’m the only one who knows it’s not true.”

  He crosses the room and sits down on the bed. “You’d think it would put people off, wouldn’t you? Don’t go near Malachy Hunter — he’s fucked up. He’s a predator. He hurts girls. Almost killed a girl before he had his first wank.”

  “It doesn’t?”

  “No.” He turns around to face me. “It didn’t put you off either though, and you’re the one I almost killed.”

  “That was an accident,” I tell him.

  “But the stuff everyone always thought came after wasn’t. And still you never came across as being scared of me. Why?”

  I don’t know. I was scared of him. A part of me still is. But the scared part isn’t as big as the curious part. The part that wants to know him. The part that wants to understand him.