𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐈𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 | +𝟏𝟖

𝟤𝟤

—

He grabbed ahold of my hand and lead me to a door at the end of the hallway. Following him up a small, spiral staircase, we headed to what looked like a platform with some boxes tossed in a corner. He pushed against the wall before it slowly opened. A secret door.

He allowed me to enter first, a small yellow lamp sat in the corner of the room, the floors planked wood and a small couch in the corner. A bit dusty.

"Hello."

I jumped. Alessandro quickly covered my mouth with his hand, muffling the uncontrollable sound I made out of fear.

"I told you not to do that." Alessandro stated sternly.

"How could I not?" Matteo replied, a grin spread across his face. Although I was a bit annoyed in the moment, I ran into his arms for a hug.

I felt bad, realizing I never hugged Alessandro, I turned around and wrapped my arms around him, too. He froze.

"He doesn't hug, love, come here," Matteo said kindly, my eyebrows raised. Now I felt even more bad for invading his space.

"It's fine." Alessandro said lowly, as he closed the door and locked it shut.

I believed him when he said it was fine, but pulled away anyway.

"This is cute," Matteo said. I turned my head to him. I slowly crept over in curiosity when I saw a white piece of paper in his hand. My drawing.

I felt embarrassed. "You went into my room?"

"To save you," he explained. I looked away, feeling my cheeks flush. I even drew hearts on it. "Why is Elijah taller than me, though?"

"Because he is." I said. Only by the smallest bit, though.

"No, he is not," he stated. Sure. I squinted my eyes at him. "You don't know what you're talking about." I watched as he looked at it before grinning and folding it, putting it back in the pocket of his suit pants.

"What's this room?" I asked.

"This is where the Queen or King would hide for protection when wars started near the Kingdom just incase. They don't use it anymore." Alessandro explained quietly.

"How do you know that?" I asked.

He looked at me, his face still resting in a stern expression. "Because I do."

I rolled my eyes. I liked Alessandro, but come on, give me some answers here. I'm too curious for this.

"I saw that," Matteo muttered. "Rule number nine, too." He added. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"We have rules, then." ... "Because we're in control."

Oh.

I kept my mouth shut and stayed aware of my expressions.

"The way you replied to Elliot was..." Alessandro started, his voice quiet and deep. "Sexy. I like how you stood up to him."

"You were in there the whole time?" I asked, pretending as though he didn't just give me butterflies. He nodded in response.

A few moments of silence went by. I tried to think of things to say to start conversation.

I drifted my eyes to Matteo, stood across the room. He was already looking at me. His eyes bounced between mine and the couch in the corner. I didn't understand what he was meaning until he let a small grin crawl across his lips.

"Really?" I asked in amusement. We couldn't possibly do that. Firstly, we're hiding here. Secondly, Alessandro's right there.

Well...

"I know you're thinking about it, too," Matteo said, his arms crossed as he leaned against the wall. His head tilted a bit while his eyes began to move down my body. "I like those pyjamas."

"Thank you," I replied, feeling the heat drift across my cheeks.

I looked over at Alessandro, who was already looking at me from my side, his eyes on my lower half. My heart rate sped up a bit, I liked the way he was looking at me.

"You wanna sit down?" Matteo asked, his tone changing from flirtatious to curiosity. I shook my head, it looked too dirty for me. He moved to sit on the couch, clearly not caring. "Come on, pretty girl, sit on my lap."

I smiled, walking over and placing myself on his lap. I tried my best to push all my nerves away as his hands brushed my waist.

"We're not doing anything, though." I said, trying to sound stern.

He chuckled, "Alright, love."