Insatiable

At his fifteenth birthday party in Scotland, Kade Mitchell escapes to his balcony to smoke and spots a dark-haired girl sitting alone by the outdoor pool, feet in the water, gazing at the stars.

At his fifteenth birthday party in Scotland, Kade Mitchell escapes to his balcony to smoke and spots a dark-haired girl sitting alone by the outdoor pool, feet in the water, gazing at the stars. He's never found anyone beautiful before—she's the first. He goes down to confront her; she ignores him, then steals the cigarette from his lips and smokes it herself before introducing herself as Stacey, a new student in his twin sister Luciella's dance class. He tells her to stay away. She fires back with the same words, barges into his shoulder, and marches off. Just before vanishing down the path, she turns and gives him the middle finger. Kade can't stop smiling.

Two years of silence shatter in Kade's passenger seat at dawn

Six years after that poolside meeting and two years since Kade told Stacey she was dead to him, Luciella sends her twin to pick up Stacey from a Tinder date at dawn. Stacey climbs into his Audi smelling of someone else, and Kade drives without a word, jaw locked, music blasting. She can still identify his cologne—Tom Ford Noir, unchanged for years. At her stepfamily's gated estate, their eyes collide. She whispers thanks. He surveys her disheveled appearance, shakes his head in disgust, and tears away. Inside her darkened bedroom, Stacey barely gets through the door before a hand closes around her throat. Her stepbrother Chris slams her into the mattress, demanding to know who drove her home. The violence is familiar. The question is new.

Chris shows up high at the gate; Kade shields Stacey and growls a warning

At Luciella's house party, someone reports a man shouting for Stacey at the front gate. She goes alone—it's Chris, wasted, slurring that she belongs to him. He yanks her wrists through the metal bars and cracks her face against the gate. Before she can break free, Kade appears behind her, wraps his arm around her waist, and tells Chris to walk away before he regrets it. Chris retreats, unnerved. But Kade doesn't release her. His nose traces her ear, his lips graze her neck, and she tilts her head to give him access. Then he grabs her hair, asks if she just wants a quick fuck, and scoffs—walking away and leaving her breathless, caught between the man who terrorizes her and the one who once loved her.