Sinful ways.
1368 Words
ATHENA
“Listen, miss–”
I didn't let him finish. I stumbled off the stool and stormed towards the VIP section with more confidence than balance. Whether the courage came from rage or the alcohol, I couldn’t tell.
A few people glanced my way as I passed, but I didn’t care. Let them stare. I shoved passed a couple tangled against the wall and kept moving.
The closer I got to them, the clearer the two men became through my blurry vision –and unfortunately, so was their unfair attractiveness.
Goddess.
For a second, my steps faltered.
Twins. That was the first thing I noticed. Not identical enough to confuse but with similarities too striking to ignore.
Dark hair. Tall, broad shoulders, sharp features that looked carved rather than born. They radiated the kind of beauty that didn’t feel natural. The kind that made people stare first and think later.
One lounged lazily against the leather booth, one arm stretched across the backrest while a glass rested loosely in his tattooed hand. He looked relaxed—too relaxed like the world existed purely for his amusement.
The other sat beside him in complete silence, dressed entirely in black. No lazy smirk. No teasing glint. Just stillness. Yet somehow, he was the more intimidating one.
His silver-grey eyes lifted to mine slowly, and the weight of that gaze nearly rooted me in place. It felt like being dissected.
I hated it instantly. But I was too drunk and angry to care.
I stopped in front of their table and slammed my palm against the polished surface harder than necessary.
“Who the hell do you think you are?”
The amber-eyed twin’s lips twitched. “Oh, she’s angry.”
“I don’t remember asking either of you to monitor my drinks,” I snapped. “So next time you want to play heroes, don’t.”
“Heroes?” he repeated with a low chuckle. “Sweetheart, no one has ever called us that before.”
I rolled my eyes. “Not surprising.”
That earned an actual laugh from him this time—deep and smooth enough to make heat crawl annoyingly up my neck. As he laughed, something shimmered on his brow. A piercing.
Gosh! That made him look devastatingly hot.
Athena, stay focused!
I swallowed and kept my shoulders squared. “Can you tell him to pour me a drink now?”
“Moonsbane and alcohol. Too deadly.” It was the quiet one that spoke this time, his voice carrying the same unnerving calmness that immediately threw me off balance.
How did he know?
Before I could recover from the shock, the amber-eyed twin rose from his seat and closed the distance between us. He towered over me with a wicked grin, deliberately taking up space until the room suddenly felt smaller.
His scent wrapped around me instantly—pine, smoke and whiskey.
Through the haze clouding my thoughts, I managed to speak. “Who are you?”
He ignored the question completely. Instead, he leaned closer and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. The brief brush of his fingertips against my skin sent cold shivers racing down my spine.
“Drowning yourself in alcohol isn’t the best way to forget, Athena.” His breath fanned across my face, warm and annoyingly intoxicating. Mint and whiskey.
My name… how do they know that too?
Goddess! I could barely think.
He leaned even closer, amber eyes dragging slowly over my face before settling on my mouth. “There are other sinful ways we can help you forget.”
My pulse stumbled. The worst part? I couldn’t stop staring at his lips.
“What if I don’t want to forget?” The words slipped out before I could think them through. “What if I just want to enjoy this freedom?”
Something dark flickered across his face.
Behind me, the silver-eyed twin finally moved.
Not much. Just enough to make me aware of him.
He leaned back lazily against the booth, one arm stretching along the leather behind me while his cold gaze remained fixed on my face. Calm. Heavy. Predatory.
And suddenly, I realized exactly where I was standing.
Between them.
My heartbeat quickened.
The amber-eyed twin noticed instantly, amusement dancing in his gaze. “You want freedom?” he murmured softly. “Is that what this is about?”
I swallowed hard but forced my chin up stubbornly. “Maybe.”
A low chuckle escaped him. “You walked into Nightshade Den alone,” he said, voice smooth as sin, “drowning yourself in alcohol and staring at strangers like you wanted them to shatter every piece left of you.”
Heat crawled beneath my skin because the worst part was—
He wasn’t wrong.
“You don’t know anything about me,” I whispered weakly.
“No?” His thumb slid beneath my chin slowly, tilting my face upward. “Then why do you look like you haven’t been touched gently in years?”
The breath caught painfully in my throat.
Behind me, the silver-eyed twin shifted slightly, close enough for warmth to brush against my back without fully touching me.
My body reacted instantly. Traitor!
“You’re trembling,” the quiet twin murmured near my ear.
God.
His voice was worse up close. Low enough to slide beneath my skin and settle there.
“I’m not,” I lied.
Amber eyes smirked. “You are.”
I should’ve walked away.
Every sensible thought in my head screamed at me to move, but the alcohol had melted my judgment into something reckless and aching.
For the first time in so long, I didn’t feel invisible. I felt wanted.
The amber-eyed twin’s gaze darkened slightly as his thumb brushed the corner of my mouth. “You keep staring at my lips, sweetheart.”
My cheeks burned. “I’m trying to figure out if you’re always this irritating.”
“That bad, huh?”
“Worse.”
He laughed softly again, and Goddess, that stupid piercing somehow made him even more attractive when he smiled.
Meanwhile, the silver-eyed twin remained devastatingly quiet behind me, but I could feel his attention everywhere. Heavy and intense. Like he was memorizing every reaction my body betrayed.
“You should stop looking at me like that,” I muttered.
Amber eyes tilted his head innocently. “Like what?”
“Like you already know what I’m thinking.”
The amusement in his eyes deepened. “And do we?”
The booth suddenly felt too small. Too warm. Their attention wrapped around me dangerously, making my thoughts blur worse than the alcohol already had.
The silver-eyed twin finally stood behind me fully, and Goddess—
I hadn’t realized how massive he was sitting down.
Now his chest nearly brushed my back, trapping me between them without either man forcing it.
My breathing faltered.
Every instinct screamed at me to move. Instead, I leaned back the slightest bit. Into him.
Silence followed. A dangerous one.
Amber eyes noticed immediately. His gaze darkened with something sharper this time.
“So reckless,” he murmured approvingly.
The quiet twin lowered his head slightly near my ear.
“If you keep looking at us like that, Athena…”
His unfinished sentence burned hotter than if he’d completed it.
I turned slightly toward him. “What?”
For the first time that night, I saw a crack in his control. Tiny. But there.
His fingers flexed once at his side before he answered quietly, “We’re going to forget how to behave.”
My pulse went wild.
Maybe it was the alcohol.
Maybe it was loneliness.
Or maybe it was the way they looked at me like they wanted every broken piece of me instead of turning away from it.
Either way, I was losing this battle.
Amber eyes stepped closer again until there was barely any space left between us. “Still want another drink, sweetheart?”
“No,” I admitted softly.
His brow lifted. “What do you want then?”
I inhaled shakily before my gaze flicked between both men. Then, quietly–
“Take me somewhere quieter.”
- Writer
