Where Cruelty Resides

Leo

I've spent twenty years bleeding in the dark to keep Billie safe. To her, I'm just the boy from next door, the weekend weed dealer who helps out with her deadbeat dad. She doesn't know I control the mortal market for piskie dust. She doesn't know the depths of the violence I carry in my hands, or that the supply is running dangerously dry. But most of all, she doesn't know that I've spent a lifetime throwing myself into the arms of other women just to keep myself from what I truly want; to ruin her. I'm rough, possessive, and entirely consumed by her. And my self-control is about to snap.

Billie

Leo is my anchor, my best friend, and the only beautiful thing in this suffocating town. I've watched him walk away with half the girls in Wisteria while I drown in my father's debts, dreaming of an escape I can't afford. But when tragedy strikes too close to home, the casual lines between us blur. One touch changes everything. Leo isn't the chilled-out boy I thought I knew. There's a beautiful monster lurking beneath his skin; jealous, demanding, and fiercely protective. He says if I give myself to him, I can never look at another man. He doesn't realise I've belonged to him all along.