AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I blink a few times, not believing what I’m seeing. But each time I look again, my surroundings are still the same. Still familiar.
“How the fuck?”
Pushing up from the bed, I look for evidence of how I ended up back inside the pool house and in my own bed.
Bruce was sent to kill me, or to hand deliver my broken bloody body to Donny, of that I’m sure. He had that look in his eye, so how did I get back here alive?
I know it’s not all a really fucked-up dream—the pain is too real and when I push from the bed, and the sight of my busted up and bloody knuckles confirm that the fight really did happen.
I pad to the bathroom to do my thing before resting my hands on the cold basin and preparing to look up. It’s been a while since I’ve seen my face all fucked up. But I deserve it. All of it.
Lifting my eyes, my breath catches for a second as I stare back at myself. No fucking wonder it hurts so much, although I’ve no doubt it’ll look a hell of a lot better once I wash the blood off my skin.
Both of my eyes are black and swollen, my cheeks are bruised, and my lip is still trickling blood. Looking lower, I take in my darkened ribs, although from how easily I walked in here, I doubt they’re broken, thank fuck.
I brush my teeth and turn the shower on. Images of her joining me fill my head as I step inside and the regret that’s raging inside me only grows.
I shouldn’t have done that last night.
With a towel wrapped around my waist, I stalk back into the bedroom and look around. I picture us on the bed as I selfishly took the one thing from her that she can never get back. She’s going to regret ever meeting me after last night, and I hate myself even more for it.
I locate the camera I set up for the final part of my plan to bring James to his knees and pull the memory card out. There’s no fucking way I can go through with it. I’ve already done too much. I’ve already destroyed her.
And in the process, I know I’ve destroyed a part of myself too.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Remi
“Remi, sweetheart, breakfast.”
“I’m not hungry,” I yell, pulling a pillow over my face. My eyes are sore and my heart aches as the memories of last night hang over me like a dark storm cloud.
He played me.
Ace played me like a fool.
I can still feel him all over me. His traitorous lips, his sharp teeth, and his treacherous, treacherous touch.
He really is the big bad wolf, and I fell for his ruse hook, line, and sinker.
Bile rushes up my throat and my eyes water as I stumble out of bed and crash into my small bathroom. But I don’t vomit. There’s nothing left, not after I spent most of the night with my head down the toilet bowl.
Pulling myself up, I stand in front of the mirror. I’m a mess. My chest is covered in hickeys and I have faint bruises around my hips and thighs. But the physical marks are nothing compared to the invisible scars he’s left behind.
“Remi?” Mom calls again, and I let out a whimper. If she sees me like this, she’ll lose her shit and probably call James, and that is a whole conversation I never want to have.
If Ace wants to use me to hurt James, he’ll have to do it himself.
A violent shiver rolls up my spine as I slam my hand against the counter. “Damn you, Ace Jagger.”
Even now, standing here broken and bruised and no longer a virgin, I want to protect him. I want to march over to the pool house and demand answers. I want him to look me dead in the eyes and tell me I mean nothing to him.
He doesn’t deserve another chance, I remind myself. I’ve given him enough of those.
Maybe Conner was right all along. Maybe Ace is a lost cause.
Tears roll down my cheeks but I brush them aside. I’ve been this girl before—scared, weak, alone. I won’t be her again.
