Page 71 of Ruthless Blade

My gaze narrowed, “What the fuck happened to you?”

The door clicked shut behind him as he stepped inside, a deep chuckle escaping his lips. “I’m fine.”

You don’t look fine.

“So now you’re lying to me? You’re bleeding; that doesn’t seem fine, Kayden.”

"It's not that bad."

The fuck?

I stared at him. Was he fucking serious? If I was feeling better, I’d punch him myself.

"Did you get in a fight?"

He didn't answer right away. He stood there, jaw tight and eyes locked on mine.

"Kayden," I said a little more gently, hoping he would fucking answer me.

"Yeah,” he said, still not giving me any type of explanation. Where’s Hazel when you need her?

My stomach dropped. "With who?" I have a feeling I already know who it is.

"Garcia." Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner. Fuck, he shouldn’t have done that, dammit.

"Why?" I asked, swallowing the giant lump in my throat.

“He fucking deserved it," his eyes went dark and he looked lethal. Like he could kill someone if he really wanted to.

“You shouldn’t have done that, Kayden.” You really shouldn’t have. I could handle myself. I didn’t need him trying to be my knight and shining armor.

“Did you not hear what I said? He fucking deserved it.”

I raised a brow, “And that makes it okay? What were you thinking? Oh, that’s right, you weren’t.”

“Why are you so pissed off?”

“Because Kayden, you worked too damn hard to throw it all away for me. You said I was a mistake, you don’t risk throwing your future away for someone who’s a mistake.”

He flinched like I slapped him. “I didn’t mean...”

“To what? Hurt me? Yeah, I got beat up, so what? What you did to me was twenty times worse.”

“I didn’t mean that.”

“How did you not mean that? I don’t think you have any idea how much harm that actually did to me. How I felt like my heart was going to explode from the pain of hearing that word come out of your mouth. I’ve tried for years, years, to show you that I wasn’t just Jake’s little sister. That’s all you’ve ever seen me as, someone who follows you around blindly, waiting on you to fucking notice her.”

He came over to the bed, and I looked away from him, staring at the wall. Why did I love him? Why did I let myself fall into his arms, knowing I was going to get hurt in the process?

“Lex,” his voice was deep and magnetic, pulling me in when I wanted to back far away.

“The draft is only weeks away, and yet you’re ready to throw it all away because someone hurt me. Who fucking cares? I’ve been hurt before and I’ve survived it. If I’m not dead yet, I don’t see me going anywhere anytime soon. Are you trying to uphold my honor? Protect me? It’s bullshit, Kayden. If you wanted to protect me, you never would’ve had sex with me and told me I was a mistake.”

He shook his head, “You’re not a mistake. Fuck,” he ran a hand through his hair, as if he was struggling.

I didn’t buy it. He’s never shown me he’s cared, not really. I’m done trying to make him love me back.

I leaned my head against the pillow, eyes drooping as exhaustion crept up on me.