PLAYBOY PRINCESS (gxg) ✓

20. Rory Preston

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                  DECLAN'S FIRST VICTIM HAD BEEN BILLIE. BILLIE LARSON.

                  (No, not Billie Eilish, although Rory had once fucked her in the palace throne room, while she had been wearing nothing but a crown.)

                  Billie Larson was the first girl to tell the world that the crown prince of Valeria had raped her—and the world had laughed in her face.

                  But she hadn't been the last girl.

                  There were seven in total, and one of them . . .

                  Rory should have believed Paris.

                  She should have believed her, and she hadn't, and she had fucked up. There was no way to make this right, but she could make it better.

                  Declan Preston had been Rory's idol.

                  He had been the one to bike with her down Devil's Road.

                  He had been the one to teach her to snowboard.

                  And he . . . he had been everything a little sister could want in a brother. He had never pushed her away.

                  There had always been a drink in his hand and a woman on his arm. 

                  She had grown up to be him, in a way.

                  Rory knew what she was—a player, a heartbreaker. An addict.

                  It had taken a long time for her to admit that. 

                  Even to herself.

                  But if there was a way to heal . . . if there was a way for her to put herself back together, she was going to find it.

                  Helping Tasha had been a start.

                  But there was so, so much more she could do with her life, and Rory saw that now. Thanks to Paris, she saw what she could do.

                  Rory had made a real impact on someone.

                  Someone had smiled because of her. 

                  And that . . . that had been such a thrilling feeling.

                  Better than a high.

                  Better than a drink.

                  Rory knew, now, what she would spend the rest of her life doing. It might be fucking hard, it might want to make her want to give up, but with Paris . . . 

                  She had made a promise.

                  She was a fighter.

                  And for the first time in her life, she wanted to be more than a playboy princess. She wanted to be more than a spoiled, arrogant, conceited heartbreaker. 

                  For the first time in her life, Rory wanted to be worthy of Paris.

                  Rory wanted to be someone who deserved love.