Deviant King (Royal Elite #1) by Rina Kent

“You like the power, sweetheart?” Aiden watches me intently as I fight the strange rush of excitement.

All the thrill fades away when I recall that I’m riding with the devil. “Pull over.”

“We’re not there yet.”

I face him with an incredulous look. “You really think I’d let you drive me to school?”

“I told you yesterday that you’d regret ignoring me.”

“You honestly believe I would reply to your crude texts?”

He lifts a shoulder. “But for future reference, I dislike being ignored.”

“I don’t care about what you dislike, Aiden.” My voice rises.

The stunt he just pulled and Aunt’s disappointed face makes me sick to my stomach.

“You should or…” He reaches over and clutches my hand in his. “I will continue dropping in unannounced and make your adoptive parents fall in love with me.” He lifts my hand to his lips and brushes a kiss to my knuckles.

To an outsider, the gesture would look gentle, almost chaste. But this is Aiden fucking King. The malice in his eyes twists me in knots.

“The look on your face when I stepped into your house was priceless, sweetheart. I should’ve caught it on camera.”

I jerk my hand free. My automatic reaction would be to scream and make him drop me off, but things don’t roll that way with Aiden.

He gets off on anger and strong emotions. Since I’m almost sure he’s a psycho, and therefore lacks feelings, he uses them to antagonise others.

If I give into his trap, I’ll never find a way out.

I just saw first hand how he manipulated Aunt and Uncle, who’ve known me for my entire life, into thinking I was hiding a love affair from them.

The only way to escape his intricate manipulation web is to be level-headed.

I square my shoulders as I face him. My voice is calm. “I don’t know what your obsession is with me, but it’s not going to work.”

He squints an eye. “Let me worry about that, sweetheart.”

“Iʼm not your sweetheart, Aiden. I’m just a girl you bully and I hate to say this, but I prefer the days you had your minions bully me over this unwanted attention. I don’t want you anywhere near me or my family. It’s one more year and everyone will go their own way, so let’s pretend these last couple of days never happened.”

“Pretending was never my thing.”

“Oh, please. You just pulled off a Broadway-level performance about how much you care about me when we both know you don’t.”

“I do care about you, sweetheart. Maybe not in the conventional term, but I never stopped caring about you. It’s becoming tiresome and fucking irritating.” His dark eyes shoot a path into my soul. “The time has come to do something about it.”





Chapter Thirteen





The time has come to do something about it.

The car ride has been silent since Aiden said those words.

I’m at a loss for words.

Trying to find a crack in Aiden’s wall is like hitting thick steel; it’s hard, painful, and maddening.

As the car cuts the distance with high speed, a crazy idea barges into my head.

Maybe I’ve been using the wrong method to find that crack. Not only does strength have the opposite effect on Aiden, but he’s also getting the upper hand whenever I display it.

If I try to be logical and push all my prejudice aside, the crack might be as simple as… me.

Aiden King never shows interest in anyone except for his horsemen and football.

Unlike Xander and Ronan, he doesn’t have girls hanging onto his arm — and it’s not from the lack of trying. He seems to tune girls out — aside from Silver. I don’t know what’s his story with her, but she’s the only girl that gets to ride in his Ferrari.

What? It’s not my fault who I see when Kim and I go home.

Anyway, even with Silver, he usually has a nonchalant behaviour and his infuriating poker face.

The fact that he’s directing all his energy towards me is disturbing, but if I see past the surface and my discomfort, his interest in me might as well be the only chip in his armour that he allows the world — or at least me — to see.

I can use that.

I can pretend to be his toy so I could disarm and then crush him.

Now, I have to decide if I’m strong enough to play his games in order to escape him.

Considering how easily he figures out when I manipulate him, it’d be nearly impossible to fool him.

It’s a challenge to ride with him in the same car let alone to fake I have a genuine interest in him.

But then again, one can’t play with the devil in his hell and pray not to burn.

Aiden is a deviant. A dangerous deviant.

And deep down? I do have some interest in the way he’s wired. If he was in one of the Chinese war books I love, Aiden would be the tactic no general can predict.

I want to know why he’s been keeping his distance for two years, letting his minions treat me like shit, but now decides he’ll get close.

I feel like I’ll never find peace unless I unveil the truth.

You’re still avoiding the truth about your parents. Where’s your peace in that, hypocrite?

The car rolls to a stop in front of an antique-looking coffee shop. I blink, coming out of my haze.