Page 289 of Power Play

“Ryan, please don’t say that.”

“You want me to make this easier for you?” His mouth curved into something too sharp to be a smile. “Fine. Let’s make it real fucking simple.”

He gripped his cock over his slacks and tugged.

“You wanted my thick Chicano cock and a little rebellion against Mommy and Daddy. You got both. Congratulations, mamacita. I hope it was worth the trouble.”

The vulgarity struck hard enough to make me flinch. “That isn’t what you were to me.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

“You know me better than that.”

“I thought I did.”

A sob broke through my lips. “You don’t mean this.”

His eyes flashed. “Don’t tell me what the fuck I mean.”

“I know you’re hurt.”

“You don’t know shit about what I am right now.”

“You love me.”

“Yeah, I fucking love you.” His voice cracked before rising through the apartment. “That was the whole fucking problem. I loved you enough to walk into that house after telling you exactly what would happen. I loved you enough to stand in front of your father and hand you every ugly piece of me he tried to use against us.”

His chest heaved as he stared at me.

“I told you who the fuck I am when I’m done, and you thought what? That you were different? That I would keep backing myself into a corner and begging you to choose me?”

“I never wanted you to beg.”

“You let me.”

The accusation stopped my breath.

Ryan’s eyes shone, but he refused to look away. “I stood in that room and asked you to tell him I mattered. You stared at the fucking floor.”

“I was afraid.”

“Chale, so was I.”

His voice broke again. He swallowed hard, and when he spoke next, the coldness returned with a precision that made his nickname feel inevitable.

“I was terrified, Charm. I stood there anyway.”

I reached for him because I couldn’t bear the distance between us. My fingers closed around his forearm.

“Ryan, please stop.”

He ripped his arm from my grasp so violently that I stumbled backward.

“Get your fucking hands off me!”

The shout filled the apartment and struck the walls hard enough to come back at us.

I froze.