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He steps around me, my back now to him. “You killed a man, Riley.”
I’m not sure he’s ever referred to me as anything but Trouble, but I’m not complaining. What I am getting really fucking annoyed with is his need to keep bringing up my past. “Yes!” I blurt out. “We both know I did. So what the hell do you want from me?” I turn around, surprised to find that he’s so close. Our chests collide, and when I take a step back, he pulls me right back in with a hand pressed firmly to my hip.
“Do you regret what you did?”
I gulp, not wanting to revisit that day. “No.” It’s the truth. I don’t regret killing the governor. I saved the world from a heinous man.
“Then why do you shiver every time I bring it up?”
“I don’t wanna talk about this.”
His hold on me tightens and I’m forced to breathe in the scent of his mint gum that smacks between his teeth. His other hand wraps around me and his fingertips dig into my ass. My head turns, neck tilted back as I avoid looking at him. “Let me go, please.”
“Not until you tell me why this conversation makes you so nervous.”
“Because!” I spit out. “Because it’s not a conversation that I care to have. Yes, I took a life. No, I’m not proud of it, but I also don’t regret it because it had to be done. I didn’t kill those other men, though.”
“I know you didn’t. Never thought for a second you did. But here’s the thing, Trouble…”There it is again. That stupid nickname.“I know who you are. I know who your family is. And I know what you’re capable of. I’m not talking about murder in the first degree. I’m talking about your position in The Society. You’re a Guardian, right?”
I bring two hands to his chest, ready to push him back if need be. “How do you know that?”
The vibration of his chuckle rattles against my breasts. “Don’t you know by now that the only way secrets are safe is to not have any?”
When I don’t respond, his hands dig deeper into my ass.
“Answer the question.”
His lips ghost my ear and goosebumps trail his breath on my neck. “Do you know what my position is, Trouble?”
I swallow hard, shaking my head in response.
“I’m a Punisher and if you fuck up, I’ll make sure I’m assigned to you when you’re banished from The Society for killing all those men.”
Lev’s a Punisher? I had no idea. I would have never even guessed that was his role in The Society.
“But. I didn’t…”
“Try telling them that as the evidence keeps stacking against you.”
My breaths hitch as I struggle to breathe. “Cade did it. He set me up.”
“Did he, though?”
“Yes. He did. He did it and Ridge took care of him. He sent him away, so it’s over now. There’s nothing to punish me for. Case closed.”
“The case will close when I’m ready for it to close.” His teeth drag across my lobe before he sucks it into his mouth, biting with enough tenacity to make me shudder. “And I’m not ready for it to close.”
Tears sting the corners of my eyes, threatening to break free. “Why are you doing this to me?”
My eyes widen with horror as Lev grinds his erection against me, proof that he’s turned on by my misery. “Because my body reacts to you, and that hasn’t happened to me in a very long time. I want you to slice me open, Trouble. Show me what it’s like to feel alive again.”
I’m still not sure what that means. Lev seems to think I can bring back the emotions he’s suppressed all these years from whatever traumatic experience he had that shut them down, but I think he’s got the wrong girl.
“I’m not sure what you expect me to do, but I’ll fail, Lev.” My voice cracks as I exhale the words. “I’m barely hanging on myself. I don’t know how to save us both.”
His back straightens, and when he looks into my eyes, I wince because I know whatever he’s about to say is not what I want to hear.
“A deal’s a deal.”
