All’s Fair in War & Amor

Prologue

ELLIOTT

Life was a mind fuck.

Take my looks, for instance. I wasn’t being arrogant; it was just a statistical fact. I was a good-looking man. I could walk into any room in Los Angeles and walk out with a girl on my arm before the first round of drinks hit the table.

The mind fuck? Only one girl had preoccupied my mind for most of my adolescence, and like a fever that wouldn't break, she’d spilled over into my adult life.

I’d figured that once I tasted enough variety—once I’d had enough bodies in my bed to blur the memory of her—the desire would fade.

It hadn’t. If anything, the distance had only sharpened the hunger.

The further mind fuck was the reality of us: we hated each other. If given a weapon and an alibi, I’m fairly certain we’d both commit murder just to get some peace. I wasn’t entirely sure what her excuse for hating me was, but I was one hundred percent certain of mine.

She was the reason my parents were dead.

It was unforgivable. It didn’t matter how much I wanted her or how many times I saw her face in the dark. Desire would never outweigh the debt of that night. Hatred was the only thing keeping me upright.

Oh, and the final mind fuck? She worked for me, too.