Page 20 of Dark

“I’m sorry.”

Seeming taken aback by this, Lacey paced a few more steps. “You marked her.”

I said nothing.

Her jaw hardened. “Did she mark you?”

Hayden’s claim burned beneath the edge of my sleeve, her quiet rage simmering through our tenuous connection. I closed my eyes, trying to send back a silent apology wrapped in waves of reassurance, unsure two people who’d bitten each other by mistake could even communicate that way.

“That really what this is about?”

“Yes.”

“Bullshit.”

She released a harsh laugh. “Now you’re calling me a liar? Unbelievable.”

I let that one go. “Whether or not I gave a crap about anything never mattered to you before.”

Lacey looked away, lips set in a thin, colorless line. “Maybe I don’t like getting blown off in a text by a guy I’ve been seeing for over a year. That’s low, even for you, Ethan.”

Even for me.

Yeah. Because everything was all my fucking fault. It was why it wouldn’t ever matter how hard I tried to change, or what sacrifices I made for my family. I wouldn’t ever be good enough for any of them.

And especially not for Hayden Crowe.

“This wasn’t planned. She showed up last night after close, desperate and begging for help. Someone attacked her, changed her by force.”

Lacey flinched. But just as quickly, her lip curled. “And your first instinct was to mark her and take her to bed? I should kick your ass on behalf of women everywhere.”

I ground my teeth. “You’ve got it all wrong. And I’m not getting into this with you.”

When I turned to go inside, her eyes flared topaz. “We’re not done here.”

I let my head thump against the door, wondering where this was coming from. Lacey and I had never gone out, not to a bar, not to a restaurant, not even to freaking McDonald’s. We didn’t spend the night once business was taken care of, and we sure as hell didn’t leave stuff at each other’s places. Implying that this train wreck was some sort of relationship in the making was as screwed up as that sack of cookies.

Maybe I should have seen this coming, should have known a random hookup one night would complicate things, but there was honestly never any intent on my part for either of us to get hurt.

“I’m sorry if you thought we might turn into something more, but that’s not, I don’t—"

I trailed off.

Lacey’s eyes narrowed into slits. “Save it. Because let me tell you, it feels pretty crappy to be told you’re hookup material for a year, only to find out you’ve been a placeholder all along for someone else.”

“That’s not how it was. You’re acting like I planned this.”

She set her jaw. “Everyone told me to stay away. I should have listened when your own brothers said I’d just wind up getting hurt. You’re not capable of anything real.”

It was the truth, and we both knew it. But knowing the warning had come from one of my brothers still felt like getting knifed in the back.

I kept my voice flat.

“So why’d you follow me home that night? Or was I just a revenge lay to get back at Dallas?”

She reared back. There was a second where I was sure she was going to slap me. I didn’t move, pretty sure this time I deserved it.

“Screw you, Ethan.”