Page 21 of Coal Hearts

I was losing control.

I knew I didn’t have the strength to do this.

“Why did you do that?” she yelled over the pumping music. “Why did you lie to Sam about what I said?”

Her voice cut through the haze in my mind.

I snatched that sliver of light, clinging to it with all my might.

“I overheard your entire argument,” I replied, hating how gruff my voice was. How hard it was to speak around the thorns of lust in my throat.

Locking my fingers tighter around her wrist, I dragged her unceremoniously through slightly drunk, mostly high party-goers. “He seemed like a cunt.”

“No more so than you!” She scratched me again, layering pain with pain. “You goaded him into doing something completely out of character—”

“Out of character?” I spun around and faced her.

She slammed into me, and sweet mother of everything fucking holy, I almost ripped open her top and feasted on her nipples that were hard and saluting me. I didn’t give a shit people would see. All I cared about was finding a way to rid myself of this curse before I did something utterly unforgivable. “Let me ask you. How many times has he belittled you? Used your family as a tool of scorn? Put down your job, your hobbies, your life? How many times has he manipulated you into fucking him?”

The girl—Ily—leaped back, stopped short by my hand on her wrist. Her eyebrows shot up to her pink-and-purple-strobe-light-painted hair. “What?” Her nose wrinkled. “That’s...that’s not any of your business.”

“Ah, see. That’s where you’re wrong.” I jerked her close again, our noses almost touching. “I know guys like him. I know how they feed on another’s confusion as they twist words and circumstances. I’m surprised you still have your fight. After the way he tried to keep you under his thumb tonight, I can safely say he’s been doing it for a while. He’s gotten quite used to making you bend to his wishes, and what’s worse is you let him.”

She shook her head, her nostrils flaring as fury painted her pretty face. “I never let him—”

“You did. I heard it for myself. You gave him a blowjob when you didn’t want to.”

Her cheeks pinked, highlighting her stunning eyes.

I froze as I fully took in the colour.

I guessed she was like me. A fusion of lineages. An exotic creature blended with culture and authenticity.

But her eyes?

They were as unique as her inky hair.

The lightest hazel. The faintest honey. A golden brown that bordered on inhuman.

She blinked, breaking the spell she’d cast me under.

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you eavesdropping is poor form?” She sniffed. “And besides, you don’t know a damn thing about me. Even if you did listen—”

“I learned you like rocks.” I grinned coldly. “You’re adopted and adore your family, especially your brother. I know you’re unfulfilled in your work and most likely haven’t figured out what you want to do with your life. I also know you haven’t been properly fucked since you agreed to date that asshole and probably wanted to end it for far longer than you care to admit.”

Her mouth fell open. “Who the hell are you?”

I froze for a heartbeat as her question soaked into my skull.

Who was I?

The bastard son of a monster? The orphaned son of a dead mother? The unwanted half-brother of a trafficker-killing vigilante—

I’m dead.

If the Master Jeweler didn’t kill me for seeing through my lies, then my brother would for seeing the truth.

That truth tainted my tongue, and before I could censor or shut down what needed to be shut down, I snarled, “I’m barely clinging to sanity, that’s who I am. I’m pretty sure my life is already forfeit and you...” I chuckled low and deep. “You are the worst thing to ever happen to me because every time I look at you, I hurt. And when I hurt, bad things happen.”