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I followed him inside, waiting at the elevators. The music was loud when they opened. I couldn’t stop myself from looking for her, just finding her roommate, the brunette who had Finley Salvatore all worked up, lounging in the corner of a sofa all by herself.
But she was looking toward the bedrooms…and scowling. I searched the crowded room for the pretty-boy asshole, and didn’t find him. There was only one fucking place they would be. Finley’s target glanced toward me as I strode toward the closed doors at the other end of the apartment, feeling that savage part of me rise.
She’s not your problem,that voice warned.
But I wanted to change that…and I wanted to change itnow.
16
Kat
You like that? You like to be used?
Revulsion rolled in my stomach. I wanted to be sick. I wanted to run…but I couldn’t, because I’d run here, hadn’t I? I’d run, and like a stupid fucking fool, I thought I’d be able to figure this out. I thought…
What had I fucking thought?
Hoped, more like it.
I’d hoped that all men weren’t cruel, cold, and manipulative. I’d hoped that I might find someone who’d help me. I dropped my hand to my stomach and strode into the elevator. Someone who'd help me decide what to do. It wasn’t too late yet, I could abort the baby. But the moment the thought rose in my mind, something inside me snarled with protection.
It wasn’tHale’s…it was mine.
My body.
My baby.
My desperate need to figure a way out of this.
The elevator doors opened and I lowered my hand to my side, fake smile on. Here was happy Kat. Here was the party girl everyone knew. Here was the mask…
“Hey, Kat!” someone called.
I just waved and kept going, scanning the room for Anna.
“Wasn’t sure you’d show.”
I froze at the sickening sound of his voice and fought the need to run. Fire sparked inside me. The tiny flame I clung to, even as it fought being smothered by fear. Instead, I clutched hold of that tiny spark and turned. “You seem to make it a habit of coming up behind my back, Damon.”
I glared at the sonofabitch. Anyone else would see him as handsome, as the boy next door, high school quarterback, heart-melting guy. But he wasn’t any of those things. He was a liar, a manipulative, cruel, drug-a girl-to-get-her-to-have-sex-with-you piece of shit. The kind I’d known my entire life.
He thought he was a Hale in the making.
But he wasn’t…he’d never be.
Men like Haelstrom Hale didn’t need to drug you to fuck you. He groomed you into thinking it was what you wanted all along. But I stared into Damon’s eyes and saw that raw savagery, that need to consume and control andbreak.
“Maybe you like being taken from behind, Kat.” He stepped closer and my skin crawled. He lifted his hand and brushed the hair back from my cheek. “I’ve waited long enough.”
He moved like a serpent, lashing out to grasp my hand and drag me with him.
Fight!That voice roared inside.Fight him. Yell. Scream. Find the nearest gun andkillthe MOTHERFUCKER!
I caught sight of Anna as she turned her head and saw Damon pulling me past her.
“Kat?” she murmured, frowning.
There was panic in her eyes, fear even. I thought of her, and the friendship we had. If she knew the real me, she’d change. If she knew who I was behind the pretense and the lies, our friendship would change. Agony slammed into my chest at the thought. I couldn’t have that. I couldn’t ruin the one good thing I had.Because right now she was all I had.
