AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I swear to God, if you finish that sentence, I will fucking shoot you in the head.” Rage and fear pulse in his eyes, and he flexes his fingers on the gun. “Do you understand?”
For a while, we just stand there, staring each other down in silence. I want to keep pushing. I want to drag the truth out of his stubborn mouth and make him talk until he understands what I want him to know. But I can’t. No matter how much it rips my fucking heart to shreds to see my little brother like this, I can’t force him to do anything until he decides that he wants to do it.
So I dip my chin. Just a fraction. Silently acknowledging that I’m not going to force him to talk about the thing that I’m not supposed to know.
A tiny breath escapes his chest and the tension bleeds out of his shoulders.
“I was just going to say,” I begin, and shoot him a highly calculated look of mock annoyance. “That if you don’t want to cut the guy’s hands off when you see him with a girl you’ve fucked, then what, exactly, does that mean?”
It’s a lie. That was not at all what I was going to say because I have already asked that question. I know it. And he knows it. But neither of us is going to acknowledge it.
Blowing out a long breath that is filled with even more relief that I pretend not to notice, he rolls his shoulders back and lets that carefree posture back into his body. His fingers stop squeezing the gun so hard.
“It means that she’s not worth it,” he replies, and lifts his now loose shoulders in a nonchalant shrug.
I narrow my eyes, forcing my mind to block out my worries about Jace and instead once again focus fully on the infuriating enigma that is my feelings for Alina. “Explain.”
“Okay, look. When I fuck a girl, or multiple girls too for that matter, I’m doing it just because it’s fun and to get some stress release. It’s just sex. So if she then goes on to fuck five more guys after me, why would I care?” He snorts and rolls his eyes. “Not that I would ever leave a girl in such an unfulfilled state that she would be able to fuck another guy straight after a night with me. But you know what I’m saying.”
No, I don’t. I don’t know what he’s saying at all. Because I would fucking slaughter every single person on this entire campus if Alina ever left my bed and then went to fuck someone else.
I blow out a long breath, trying to suppress the sudden impulse to kill everything and everyone.
“So,” I begin once I have my emotions under control again. “If you were, hypothetically, to get angry when you saw a girl that you’ve fucked out on a date with someone else, what would that mean?”
“That you care about her.” His answer is immediate, and his eyes are serious as he holds my gaze.
Fuck. Fucking fuck.
He’s wrong, though. I don’t care about her. I don’t care one fucking bit about Alina fucking Petrov.
Jace’s eyes search my face, and when he speaks, his tone is careful. “If this is, hypothetically, about Alina—”
“It’s not.”
“If it is, then just… be careful. Remember that she’s a Petrov. An enemy.”
“I can handle the fucking Petrovs.”
“I know. I’m just saying, if Alina is playing you…”
If Alina is playing me, then that means that she has managed to outsmart me. Me. No one outmaneuvers me. So if she ever managed a feat that impressive, I would fucking marry her on the spot. But she can never outsmart me, which means that she’s not playing me.
“I know what I’m doing,” I tell Jace, my voice coming out harsher than I meant it to.
He sucks his teeth, still holding my gaze. Then gives me a nod.
He knows that I’m lying. Just like I know that he is lying about being fine. I don’t want to talk about it, and he doesn’t want to talk about it.
So we do what we came here for.
We stand there, side by side, shooting at our targets and pretending it’s our demons.
27
ALINA
It has been five days, and I still haven’t been able to stop thinking about that afternoon in Kaden’s bedroom. About the way he pushes me to my limits, knowing that I can take it. About how his lethal body feels pressed against mine. About how he fucks me like he owns me. And more importantly, how he moans and shudders when I touch him, as if I own him too. About how much I love cuddling with him, feeling his strong arms around me and hearing the steady beat of his heart when I rest my cheek on his chest. And the way he holds me as if I’m something precious.
