Page 96 of Anton

“Okay. Fine.” Her hazel eyes twinkle with mischief.

I regard her with open suspicion. “Whatever you have up your sleeve, don’t.”

She presses a palm to her chest, putting on the worst innocent face I’ve ever seen. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Her lips pinch before she turns and heads for another rack of dresses. I don’t know what she’s up to, but I don’t like it.

The last thing I need is Anton finding out about this date and deciding to do something about it.

ANTON

She doesn’t make it difficult to break into her place. The lock is easy to pick, just like every other time I’ve done it.

I don’t even know why the hell I came. Maybe I just need to be near her in the only way I can. I’ve been watching her for the past week, and she barely goes anywhere alone, like she knows I’ll be there if she does.

Moving through the foyer, I stop at the photo of her on the side table, the same one I’ve seen too many times before. I pick it up and stare at her face, my thumb dragging over the glass and tracing the shape of her smile.

A curse grinds past my teeth as my hand closes around the frame. I should get the hell out of here. Instead, I set the photo down and head upstairs.

Her faint scent is still there, caught in the sheets and the air, wrapping around me the second I step into her bedroom. I remain in the middle of the room and let it sink into me, wanting to be buried in it. There’s a bottle of perfume on the dresser, and I pick it up, bringing it to my nose.

My eyes fall shut, and she’s there again. In my bed. In my arms. Looking at me like I’m some knight in shining armor when I’m nothing but the monster hiding in her closet.

When I open my eyes, the rage comes back so fast, it nearly takes me with it. I set the bottle down with enough force to rattle the dresser, my skin stretched over bones that suddenly feel too large for my body.

Then I turn toward her bed and fury tears through me all over again. The hippo I gave her sits on the pillow, left behind like it didn’t mean shit.

“Blyat!” My fist hits the wall, leaving a dent behind.

I cross the room and pick up the damn thing, its one good eye staring back at me, and of course it smells like her too. Everything in this blyatski room is her.

Maybe that’s my punishment. Maybe it’s what I deserve. To suffer.

Lowering myself onto the bed, I pull her pillow against my face while clutching the hippo to my chest.

I should get out of here and keep protecting her from a distance. Instead, I do something stupid. I lie down on her bed, slide the pillow beneath my head, and tuck the hippo against my chest while I stare at the ceiling and breathe her in.

When I close my eyes, I see her. Her fingertips tracing my scars. The tenderness in her eyes when she looked at me like I was something more than the weapon my father created.

I’d do anything to go back to the man I was before her. Before I knew wanting someone could feel this close to pain.

With a growl, I pull out my phone and scroll through her messages. She hasn’t mentioned me once. Not to Blair or anyone else.

Luckily, the day I saw her with Rue, I was able to clone her phone. Too bad I haven’t been able to listen to her calls yet. Her cell has been harder to bug than I expected, and I haven’t gotten close enough to make it work. Not yet, anyway.

I switch to her photos, dragging through picture after picture until I stop on one where she’s smiling. Like she used to smile for me. My thumb pauses over the screen, sketching the outline of her face while I imagine touching her again, feeling her tremble beneath my hands the way she did before everything went to shit.

Then a text drops down across the top of the screen.

Brayden

I’m looking forward to our date tonight. See you at 7.

Brayden? Who the fuck is Brayden?

My pulse kicks, and everything in me goes cold. I sit up, staring at the message, at that fucking smiley face. What kind of grown man sends a smiley face?

My fingers clamp around the phone, sending the hippo tumbling from my chest onto the bed as I rise and make for the door.