“It doesn’t matter how important you are now. They still have all the power. They’ll ruin you, Heath. Just run. Get away from here, they can’t hurt you if they can’t find you. The gravest mistake you could ever make is to return to Wainscott Hollow.”
Heath tugs at my lower lip and moves in until I feel his halted breath on my cheek. Being this close to him makes my heart accelerate to full speed. His scent, the feel of his rough skin.
Eddie made a quick exit scurrying away toward our home without looking behind him.
Before I can react and push Heath away, his mouth is on mine in a collision of explosive passion. His teeth gently graze my lips before he sinks them into my flesh, and the metallic taste of the blood invades my mouth.
He pulls back, and blood trickles from his full lower lip.
“Thing is, Kat, I don’t run with my tail between my legs anymore. Now, I bite back.”
CHAPTER 10
Heath
Ten years sober of her,and at the first chance of a hit, I couldn’t resist. Because of all the temptations in this world, the only one that can bring me to my knees is Katelyn Shaw. If soulmates are a reality, she’s mine as I am hers, and not time, or distance, not even the devil himself, can truly keep us apart.
I flex my hands, desperate to get the memory of her off my skin. I shouldn’t have touched her. I should have left Eddie there for her to collect and been done with it. But my dreams never prepared me for the pull that surged through my body when I saw the wind tangle her long, dark hair. I wanted to kill Eddie and had she not been there, I would have, but the idea of killing him and hurting her did me in. I don’t want her to look at me the way most people in New York do—with fear and disdain. I want her to see me the way she did when we were kids, to gaze upon me as if I’m her everything.
Everything I’ve done has been for her. To be good enough for her, to show her that I’m capable of giving her whatevershe could dream of. While it’s not necessarily clean money I’ve made, these rich fuckers didn’t get their fortunes by being virtuous either. I’ve committed my share of atrocious crimes to get what I have, including the occasional hit when absolutely necessary. But don’t try to tell me these one percent assholes don’t have blood on their hands for every dollar in their possession. The difference is, I seek out and destroy evil while they slaughtered innocence. Corporate sanctioned murder is still murder.
The entire time I was in the city, all I dreamed about was Kat. I was sure that despite all the horrid shit she’d said to me that she felt the loss too. Our love was forbidden, clandestine, yet no matter what happens in our separate lives, our souls will always belong to each other. So when I saw the fuckin’ wedding announcement, I wanted to burn Wainscott Hollow and all of Montauk to the fucking ground. But that wouldn’t be prudent, so I did the next best thing. I bought everything Kat loves, every inch of space around her, because it was the only way to get close to her. She sure as hell wasn’t marrying me.
If I couldn’t own Kat, I’d own her refuge.
“Heath.” She calls my name.
I’m sure it’s the wind playing tricks on my mind, the dunes flooding me with repressed memories. I keep walking up to the estate to kick Henry out of his bed.
“Heath, wait.”
I stop but don’t look behind me, not caring to see the black void I’ve been living in for a decade reflected back to me. I’m haunted simply by her voice and the memory of her love.
“Heath,” she whispers as she nears. Her sweet touch alights on my shoulder. “What the hell are you doing back here?”
“To recover everything that was taken from me.”
“What was taken from you?” She moves fluidly like the waves and stands in front of me.
I don’t want to look at her because the pain is so acute. Yet, I’m fueled by her beauty, and I breathe her in as if she’s my only source of oxygen, and without her, I’d die a thousand deaths.
“You, Kat. You were taken from me. One day we’re in love, about to run away and start our lives, and the next, you’re telling me you feel nothing for me, that it was all a lie and what we shared wasn’t mutual? My sanity, my peace of mind, my faith in humanity, it all died when you shut me out. You were all I had in this world, Kat.”
“It was my only choice. I did it to protectyou, Heath.”
“Well, Kat, I can protect my fucking self. And I sure as hell could have protected you better than your pathetic husband or your piece of shit brother.”
Why does she still have a pull on me? Why can’t I shake her off like I do everything else? I told myself that buying the land was about Henry, to finally bring him to his knees. To show the pompous ass that the poor, white trash kid from the Bronx could outsmart him and outbuy him despite all his connections and his pedigree. Money might get you far, but you can’t buy magnetism.
But who am I fucking kidding, in the end, if I’m honest, everything I did was for her. To make her see me as worthy so she’d want me again.
“I never believed you were unworthy,” Kat whispers. She casts her eyes down to the sand beneath her bare feet. She has the nerve to look contrite.
She loses her footing and falls to her knees when I push her away from me. Her touch is like poison seeping into my skin. My fingers circle her soft, delicate throat, and I squeeze.
“You ruined me, Kat. You cursed me to damnation. You killed all the benevolence inside me and left an empty husk. All the betrayal, the beatings, all the bullshit Henry and his minions put me through here,was nothing compared to the brutal pain you lodged deep in my heart.”
Kat’s hands grip mine, her nails digging into my flesh. She’s hoping I’ll loosen my hold because of the pain she’s inflicting, but I welcome it. I’ll take anything she’d be willing to give me, still a dog begging for scraps at her feet.
