“I’m in control.”
“Lying is unattractive.”
“Good thing I’m not trying to attract you.”
He smirks.“No, you’re trying very hard not to attract a certain traumatized blonde upstairs.”
My vision flashes black at the edges, and Cruz’s expression shifts instantly.
“Careful,” he says.
The word sounds wrong.Aldron said it last night.Briana snapped at him for it this morning.Don’t careful him because of me.
I still hear her voice.Fierce and furious, standing between the vampire who owns the damn building and me, like she has any chance of stopping either of us if we lose ourselves.
She has no idea what that did to me.Or maybe she does.Maybe that’s worse.
I drop my hands and step back.“I’m done.”
Cruz blinks.“We just started.”
“I said I’m done.”
He studies me for a long moment, then nods.“Good.”
That irritates me.“You wanted me to stop?”
“I wanted you to choose stopping before I had to make you.”
I bare my teeth.“You think you can make me?”
“No.”His mouth curves.“But I think I can annoy you long enough for Aldron to get involved.”
That’s, unfortunately, true.
I leave the cage and grab a towel from the bench.Sweat slicks my chest, and the claw marks from last night have already faded to thin red lines.My knuckles are healed beneath the bandage, so I take it off too.
Cruz steps out of the cage behind me.
“Krishka’s waiting,” I say.
“For what?”
“Our charming company in Red Hook,” I reply.
“No.”
“There it is.”I sigh.“You know I’m going with you, right?”
“You heard Aldron.Krishka and I go.Quiet questions.No pressure.”
“I can be quiet.”
Cruz looks at the cracked support beam near the far wall.The one I broke two months ago during a disagreement with a wendigo.
I glare at him, but he says nothing, and that’s worse.
“I am going,” I repeat.
