Introduction

The highest stakes...

My father gambles every night, falling deeper and deeper into debt. When he hits the bottom, he places a new bet: his daughter. I'm his entry bet to the biggest underground poker game.

Every kind of danger circles the velvet-covered table, but only one man makes me tremble.

A trailer park princess.

The son of a criminal king.

We don't belong together, but I'm caught in a twisted game.

His eyes meet mine with dark promise. And when he puts down his cards, I know I'm going to lose more than my body. I'm going to lose everything.

Editorial Review

No editorial review at this time.

Excerpt

Shock holds me paralyzed on the sidewalk. A dangerous prospect considering it’s late in the evening in the west side. Made even more dangerous because I know exactly who this is.

I know exactly what he’s become.

There’s a storm inside me. A whirlwind of surprise and fear, threatening to drown me. Why are you back? That’s what I want to ask. From somewhere deep inside, another whisper. Why did you take so long?

“It’s so much more interesting than a princess, don’t you think? A pretty face has its appeal, but a sharp mind is a goddamn aphrodisiac.”

When I turn to face him, he moves behind me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He makes a tsk sound, keeping pace as I try to confront him. “That’s not true, Penny. But I understand. You’re so used to playing dumb, aren’t you? It’s more than a habit now. It’s a veil, keeping you hidden.”

“I can’t believe you’re talking to me right now.”

“You don’t have to hide with me.”

“I’m not trying to hide,” I say, and with him at least it’s the truth. “I’m trying to look at you.”

He stops moving, and I finally face him.

I must have turned one too many times, because the air leaves my chest. Nothing could have prepared me for the sight of his dark eyes—black like night. Like inky depths I could never hope to enter. Never hope to escape. He looks so much like his father it steals my breath.

Some logical part of me knows they have differences. Jonathan Scott already had silver threading his dark hair when I met him years ago. He was taller, leaner, more severe in every way. It’s my heart that’s somehow breaking, seeing in him the whisper of evil.

With his perfectly disarranged hair and the evening shadow on his jaw, he bears little resemblance to the wild boy I knew once. His lips have filled out. His chest has filled out too, fitting into that dress shirt and tailored vest perfectly. Only the eyes prove it’s him, at once knowing and curious. Pitch black, like the night sky above the city, no stars at all to light the way.

I think I loved him once.

About as much as I despise this handsome man. He’s everything my mother would have chased after. Everything I’ve learned not to trust.

“You’re right,” he says softly. “We should go up.”

“You’re not going anywhere with me.” I glare at him, giving him my meanest look. It doesn’t seem to worry him any. A smile flickers on his lips, making him look dashing.

I don’t trust men who look dashing.

Amusement flashes across dark eyes, as if he knows. “Where are your manners?”

“They’re reserved for people I actually like.”

“Like Brennan Chase?”

I struggle to remember if I said Brennan’s full name. I dub thee Sir Brennan. Go forth into battle. My heart squeezes, imagining Damon keeping tabs on me. “How do you know his last name?”

“It’s my business to know people’s names. Their likes and dislikes. Their addictions. Do you have any addictions, baby genius?”

“Do you?”

“Many. Some worse than others.”

An answer that admits nothing. “What are you doing here?”

“I may not deserve a warm welcome, but I didn’t expect hostility. You invited me inside once.”

“That was before you were your father’s puppet.” I still feel guilty for that, but it doesn’t change the fact that he can’t be trusted. He didn’t only survive his father. He became him.

“Ah.”

“That’s all you have to say for yourself?”

“Would you like me to deny it? Fine. That’s not true, darling. I was most definitely my father’s puppet before we ever met.”

The seductive tone almost draws me in, even as his words confirm my worst fears. “You did what you had to do when you were a child. You’re a grown man now.”

“Thank you for noticing. Though I don’t work with my father.”

“Everyone says you do.”

“They say that?”

“They say you deal in money and drugs and women.”

He pauses meaningfully. “Not with my father, I don’t.”

It’s an admission.

He does every horrible thing he’s accused of doing. Every single thing I raged against in my mind. How could the sweet boy I once met be so horrible? How could someone who once risked his life for me be responsible for hurting other girls?

All the street lamps have blown out here, maybe on purpose. The only light is the moon, and when it shines over his dark eyes, the reflection makes them look silver.

He may not work with his father, but he’s become him.

“And that’s supposed to make it better?” I manage to ask. “That you do them for your own gain instead of working for your father?”

“Better? No, but it’s definitely more lucrative this way.”

It’s upsetting that he looks so clean and crisp and beautiful standing beside a run-down tenement. Upsetting that he looks so good when he’s clearly a bad man. That his movie star smile hides a terrible broken soul. “You’re not the boy I knew.”

“No,” he agrees. “Are you the girl I knew?”

“You’ll never find out.”

He tilts his head to the side, as if demurring. Too much of a gentleman to tell me I’m wrong. Except he’s no gentleman. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to speak to your father.”

My heart thuds. “Why?”

“He owes me money.”

Oh God. Daddy, what have you done? “He doesn’t.”

I’m only delaying the inevitable, but I can’t think right now. Can’t deal with the fact that we have rent due in two days and barely enough money to cover it. How will we pay back hundreds of dollars?

Damon looks to the side a little. As if he’s embarrassed by my horror. Or maybe bored. He straightens the cuffs of his fine white shirt, perfectly tailored to his broad chest and narrow waist. He might be waiting in the eaves for an opera to begin, so casually refined.

“How dare you?” I whisper, waiting for him to meet my eyes, daring him.

He glances back at me, one dark eyebrow raised. “Pardon?”

“You know he doesn’t have a way to pay you back. How dare you loan him money? Charging insane interest rates he’ll never be able to afford. How dare you?”

A small laugh. “Would you have preferred I told him no? He would have gone straight to my father, who would have charged him higher interest than I did.”

“I hate you,” I say, tears stinging my eyes. “I hate you both.”

“And it’s not quite true that he doesn’t have a way to pay the money back.”

The silence spins out in brutal possibility. “How?”

“He has you.” view abbreviated excerpt only...

Discussion Questions

1) One of the guiding forces in Penny’s childhood is addiction—her parent’s addiction to drugs and gambling. Discuss how this shapes her ideas of strength and weakness.

2) Penny has a unique ability with numbers, as represented by the Rubik’s cube. It’s also one of the only gifts given to her by her father. What does it tell us about her desire to learn and be challenged? As a metaphor what does it mean?

3) What Penny dislikes most is addiction, but Damon doesn’t gamble or drink. What is it that she sees in him that scares her? What is it that draws her in?

4) A major theme in The King is water—the depths of it, her fear of drowning, Damon’s strange ability to stay underwater. Describe how that fear shapes her growth throughout the novel, how it holds her back and propels her forward.

Weblinks

»	Author's web site

Book Club Recommendations

Recommended to book clubs by 0 of 0 members.

Member Reviews

There are no user reviews at this time.
Rate this book