AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her eyes shock wide open. Her body stiffens like a board. Her lips lock up while her neck tries to thrash in my grasp, but I’m too strong. She didn’t think I had this in me.
Think again.
I squeeze harder. And smile.
“It’s true.” She coughs. “It’s true.” She grabs her throat when I suddenly let go and take two steps back before I snap her neck next.
“Gentry can’t even hire a good fucking liar,” I sneer. “Tell him how you caved and pissed your pants.” I can smell it. “And watch your back because I know where you live.”
“Get out of here.” I wanted to say it next, but the words seethe from Redix’s throat. “Now.”
She runs for the hospital entrance, her Louboutin heels clicking fast over the black pavement.
“I’m sorry,” I tell him while I watch her stop in the breezeway and grab her phone. “I’m so sorry she did that to you.”
“Are you?” He looks at me, equally hurt. “Because you looked too thrilled to almost strangle her to death.”
“Damn, right,” I tell him. “She tried to hurt you. She tried to hurt my parents. What do you expect me to do? Get a mani/pedi with her?”
“You didn’t have to do it this way.”
“I didn’t have a choice.”
Yes, I did. And that felt good. And he knows when I feel good. He can see it in my eyes.
“Can you even stop yourself sometimes?” He’s dismayed. “Or does it just take over, and you gotta hurt someone too and make it worse?”
“Listen here, Hollywood. We don’t all get happy endings and justice when the fucking credits roll. I know you’ve been through some real pain, but don’t you dare judge how I handle mine in my world. Or how I do my job. All day long, you earn millions while you’re surrounded by people who love you, who want to fuck you. But me? I sacrifice my life, and people hate or want to kill me. So don’t come at me because you’re angry about her.”
“I’m not just angry about her. I’m angry about a lot of fucking things.”
“Is that so? Well, then bring it. Make me your emotional bitch you gotta take it out on because I’m used to it by now.”
Damn, we’re so close, we go right at it. My mouth knows no edit with him, and he’s not holding back either.
“I wouldn’t take it out on you if you told me the fucking truth.” Yep, he’s not backing down either. “You could’ve told me you planned to get TJ because I know that’s how it went down. That it had something to do with us fixing Ms. Ryans’s dock and your dad’s old boat.” His eyebrow arches up. “See. I’m right.”
How the fuck did he just read that on my face?
Dammit, he knows me too well, and when did he get so smart about covert crime?
“I know you were helping those victims too,” he says, towering over me while his BOUND cologne wafts down. “But I’m mad as hell because you never told me. We never talked about it, and you owed me that. I finally told you everything, shared everything with you. You know my soul, Cade, so why didn’t you talk with me first? That’s what hurts.”
“If I had told you, it would’ve risked you and my parents.”
“Fine. Then fucking let it. Haven’t we been through enough? Don’t we love each other enough to survive that together? But no. You won’t admit it, and I can’t live with secrets. They’ll fucking kill me because they pressure me to drink thinking about how you risked our love for him, for the man who hurt me most. So yes, I’m fucking angry as hell.” He grabs a breath and captures my heart like it’s the last thing he’ll hold. “Because I love you so much, Cade Bryant, and I’ve lost you, and I can almost live without you, but I’ll never be happy doing it.”
My world, my head, they’re spinning so fast. There’s no dark, empty parking lot; it’s just us. It’s just this question. I love him so much, too. Like the tides of my soul are pulled by him, and he’s my world. He’s the boy who saved me. The man who loves me, but he’s just so mad at me.
“You haven’t lost me.” I can’t help the tears. “And you never will. So what’ll make you happy now?”
“This,” he says before crashing his mouth into mine.
His hand grabs the back of my neck, and his other pulls my body into him while his tongue claims our kiss. It’s a rush. It’s a surge over us, and this is where we belong; it doesn’t matter our pain.
We have this love, too, and I grab him, pulling him back into my body and heart with his long hair in my tight grasp. Our breath, lips, tongues, and bodies tumble together as we can’t get at each other fast enough.
“Now.” He lifts my thigh, wedging me against his car. “I’m not waiting anymore.” The smocked top of my dress tears down in his grip, exposing my breasts while he swears, “I belong with you, and I want you back right now.”
