Cruel King: A Dark New Adult Romance (Royal Elite)

Why is it impossible to hurt you?

When I open my eyes, I have two thoughts.

Where the hell am I?

Why is there someone digging near my head?

I cradle my skull and wince. Apparently, the digging is in my head.

I turn to the side and sit up slowly. On the nightstand, there’s a cup of coffee, a bottle of water and paracetamol pills.

I snatch the water and pills. The water soothes my scratchy throat enough to sip the coffee.

Eww. It’s bitter.

I still sip it anyway because I need to wake up.

Tequila shots — and whatever shots I had afterwards — were a bad idea.

If Dan was going to stop me, he should’ve done it earlier.

I’m adding that to his friendship manual.

I feel like I’m going to topple over and puke all over myself. Oh, and the hangover will last for a week.

My gaze strays to my surroundings. I’m sitting on a king-sized bed with untidy sheets. The open balcony causes curtains to flap inside and into the room.

I’ve never seen this room in Dan’s house before. And since when do they have gold-rimmed ceilings?

I stare down at myself and gasp when I find out I’m only wrapped in a bathroom robe.

With a beating heart, I stare underneath. Shit. I’m completely naked.

I’m not in Dan’s house and I’m naked. Please tell me I didn’t do something I’ll regret.

The clearing of a throat pulls me from my stupor. My head snaps to the other side. I didn’t even realise someone else was in the room.

My breath comes in short gasps. Levi sits in a recliner with his jean-clad legs crossed above each other.

He’s wearing a black T-shirt that sticks to his defined abdominal muscles. His tousled hair is pushed back giving a full view of the sharp lines in his face and the murderous look in his pale eyes.

My stupid body comes to life and tiny tingles shoot straight to my core.

Nope. I’m not going there.

Crossing the robe over my chest, I jerk off the bed, abandoning the cup of coffee on the nightstand.

A stupid little part of me is wishing for a word from him. A touch.

Anything.

But I’m not that girl anymore.

It’s the first time I take the Clifford pride seriously. Levi won’t dictate my life anymore.

Tucking in my headache and my shell of a heart, I stride to the door. The moment I open it, a hand slams it shut from behind.

A large — and a very hard — body glues to my back. And the warmth. Damn him and his warmth.

I dig my elbows into his ribs. He doesn’t back off.

If anything, he pushes his hips into me from behind, pinning me in place.

Angry tears barge to my eyes.

How dare he do this to me when he already wrote me off?

How dare he play with my body and my heart as if it’s some game?

I turn around and punch his chest. “You don’t get to do this. We’re nothing anymore, King.”

His face closes off. “Says. Who?”

“You! We were never something to be over, remember?”

“So you decided to drink with my team.” His voice hardens. “Is that your way to get back at me?”

That was my way to get back at myself. I planned to drink myself into oblivion. But at some point, I started to have fun with Ronan and the guys. For a moment, I was able to forget about this bastard.

“I’m so over you, King.” I laugh with bitterness. “Oh wait. It wasn’t something to be over, anyway.”

“Fuck, Astrid.” He growls, closing his eyes. When he opens them, there’s a chaos of emotions I can’t decipher.

What happened to you?

Why did you push me away?

Those questions slip to the tip of my tongue, but I don’t ask them because deep down, I’m afraid of the answer.

I’m afraid he’ll cut through the fresh wound and ruin me beyond repair.

“Stop acting like you can belong to someone else.” He grips both my hips and pulls me into him. “There hasn’t been a moment where you weren’t mine.”

My fists clench and I hit his chest the hardest I can. “What the hell do you want from me, Levi?” Hit. “What?” Hit. “I can’t do this anymore.”

He grabs my wrists in his hand. “You can’t do what?”

“I can’t pretend like all of this is fine. I can’t plot your demise when I’m aching to see you again. Checkmate, you won. You fucking won. Are you happy now?”

“Not even close.” He spins me around and I fall backwards on the bed. He’s on top of me, his body covering mine. My robe falls open at the bottom and his erection presses against my thighs.

I can feel myself crumbling.

My skin flushes coming alive under the friction of his clothes.

Two weeks. It’s been two damn empty weeks without him.

I’m aching to be filled again and only Levi can make that happen.

My fingers fist in his T-shirt. I don’t know if it’s to bring him closer or to push him away.

“How can I win when I’ve been losing to you since the beginning, princess?” There’s a strange vulnerability in his eyes that hits me in the chest. “Do you know how I spent the past two weeks without you?”

“I don’t want to know.”

“Too bad because you will.”

He flips me around and I gasp when I end up on my hands and knees — very trembling hands and knees. I can’t process what’s happening when his hard body covers mine from behind and his lips find the lobe of my ear. He runs his tongue over the shell and makes a trail down my neck.

A shiver covers my skin and a zap of pleasure trickles down my thighs. Oh. God. Just one touch and I’m a helpless fool.

“No, Levi… don’t… I can’t do this anymore. Stop.”

“Do you think I don’t want to stop?” He growls in my ear as he yanks the robe down my arms and tosses it away.

“I’ve been debating against who and what I am for two damn weeks and guess what?” A zipper sounds from behind me, and I swallow audibly.

“W-what?”

“I can’t win when I’ve already abdicated, princess.”

I throw a glance over my shoulder and suck in a breath. He’s all too hard. His abs, his thighs, and his cock.

A full-body shudder goes through me.

I want him inside me.

No. I need him inside me.

I’m starting to wonder if I’ll ever have this reaction to someone else other than him.

When I’m near him, it’s both frightening and exciting. Even though I know there’s a dark abyss ahead, I keep walking to it all the same.

It’s crazy. It’s reckless. But it’s ours.

Levi and I haven’t started as a fairy tale and I know it won’t be a fairy tale ending, but I still crave what we have.

My breath still catches in my throat and my heart tries to beat out of my chest.

How can I feel this strongly for a monster?

He grips one of my hips harshly. “I see you but I don’t touch you. I hear you but I can’t speak to you. You drove me fucking crazy.”

“Good.” I lean into his hand, rocking against his thigh. “Because you made me crazy for a while now.”

Levi releases my hip and stuffs his index and middle finger into my mouth. I suck on his skin as I keep riding his thigh. I’m probably making a sticky mess on his muscles, but I don’t stop.

I can’t.

He doesn’t seem to mind. If anything, he drags his thigh against my sensitive folds faster, making me frantic.

“You’re soaking me.” His voice is raspy. “Fuck. Do you feel yourself on me, princess?”

I nod.

He flicks his thumb against my nipple, making them harden before he pinches. Hard.

“Do you want me to make you come?”

I moan around his fingers in response. He removes his thigh from between my legs, leaving me empty and aching and so freaking hungry.

“What—”

Words die in my throat when he runs his hard, thick cock up and down my entrance.

Holy shit.

That’s even better than his thigh.

My breathing comes out stuttered and short.

“Tell me you’re mine.”

When he doesn’t remove his fingers, I speak around them. “I’m… yours.”

“I don’t care what fucking happens. You’re not leaving anymore.” He slams into me before I can form any type of response.

I close my eyes at the onslaught of emotions and I feel tears forming behind my lids.

This feeling, this belonging.

I thought I imagined it the other time, but it’s real. Something primal goes through me whenever we’re joined like this.

He’s mine, too.

His harsh breathing. His relentless strokes. His head-turning scent.

All of him.

He belongs to me.

Thrusting into me long and hard, Levi removes his fingers from my mouth to stroke a strand of hair behind my ear.

He wipes a stray tear from under my eye. “I told you no protection next time. I want to feel you bare.”

I smile despite myself. “It’s not about that. I’m on the shot.”

“Thank fuck.”

“And here I thought you were trying to impregnate me last time.”

“Oh, it will happen someday, but you’re not ready for that yet.” He sucks on the lobe of my ear and nibbles down my throat.

I’m too lost in his body against mine to form any opinions about what he just said.

He picks up his pace and I push back into him as his thrusts turn harder and faster and out of control.

With each pound, he hits that sweet spot that drives nuts.

“Oh, God, Levi… more…”

“Mine?”

“Oh please…”

“Tell me you’re mine, princess. Tell me you won’t let anyone else touch you the way I do. Tell me you won’t change or leave me.”

My heart thumps loud at his strained tone and the way he watches me as if my answer will be either his damnation or his salvation.

I open my mouth to say something, but he stuffs a harsh finger into my mouth.

“Don’t lie. If you make a promise, fucking keep it.”

“I’m yours, Levi,” I whisper, meeting his gaze.

And I mean it.

I have been his longer than I’d like to admit.

“Promise,” he growls.

“I promise.”

His thrusts turn animalistic and so do my movements.

His back muscles become rigid and he curses, calling my name.

This orgasm hits me harder than any of the others. Maybe it’s because it’s been so long. Maybe because I missed the freaking hell out of him.

Or maybe, just maybe, it’s because of all these jumbled feelings in my chest.

I’m completely screwed.