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“So.” I laced my fingers behind my head and stretched my legs out in front of me, pretending that I didn’t give a fuck that she was there when I did. She’d had some time to think about my visit earlier. “What do you want?”
She glanced away, then back to me, the anger slipping from her expression. Sometimes the opportunity of learning what you’ve been searching for trumped the fury. “Why didn’t you get off tonight?”
I was pretty sure all the color drained from my face. No way would I answer her. I had to redirect the conversation.
“Just because I was blindfolded and tied up doesn’t mean that I didn’t notice.” Her blue eyes remained on me. “How long have you been the leader of the society?”
I shook my head. “You’re un-fucking-believable.” I leaned forward and propped my arm on the table. “You show up after five and a half years, all happy and free from your past, then you have the goddamn balls to think you know my life?”
“Because my life is all fucking roses and sunshine.” She glowered at me and rubbed her hand along her bare thigh.
I slapped my palm on the table, making her flinch. “That’s right. You have bad dreams. Poor thing.” Hatred dripped from my words.
She paused, her nostrils flaring. “I didn’t expect this conversation to go well, but I wanted to let you know that I’d figured it out.”
“What’s that, Sherlock?”
“You … you have a key to my house. It was you that painted my walls and left your little calling card of a scorpion. I almost missed it while I was with you at the society. But the little scorpion is stitched in red thread right beneath your collar. Not sure whose bright idea that was, but it’s what gave you away.”
She pressed her lips together, leveling me with her blue-eyed gaze. “All this time, I thought some crazy person was terrorizing me, or that I was finally losing my mind. But it was you. I’m not clear on something, though. Were the threats part of the society, or was it your vendetta to make me pay for hurting you?” Brie huffed, and anger briefly twisted her expression, but she didn’t come at me again.
My heart stopped beating for a minute while I stared at her. “I want you gone.”
“Why? I have just as much right to be here as you do.”
I rubbed my forehead, wishing this would all disappear. Maybe it would be best to tell her the truth. It was probably what she’d been waiting for, exactly like I had.
“If my past comes to light, I could lose my friends and my career. I was approached by the NFL, and I can’t blow this shot. I’ve worked my ass off for it. I want to move forward and leave it all behind. I deserve to be happy, just like you are.”
Flashes of anger, confusion, then empathy ghosted over her face. “Were you really tortured and beaten?” This time, her expression corroborated the sincerity and compassion of her words.
I looked away, feeling incredibly uncomfortable that my emotions were hanging on my sleeve. “Yeah.”
She swallowed hard, her eyes tearing up. A complete contrast from when I’d arrived home and she greeted me with her fists. “I would be angry, too.”
“I can’t afford for my past to see the light of day. It could ruin my career and everything I’ve worked so hard to build.” I took a drink of my beer. “You’re the only one that knows most of what happened, which makes you the enemy.”
She gave me an awkward smile. “I’ve been in your shoes before, and I won’t tell anyone, Kane. My actions have hurt you enough. I don’t want to do any more damage.” Brie leaned back in her chair, which was a good sign that her cold heart was thawing, and she had other feelings besides anger.
I rolled my eyes. “If you signed an NDA and a contract, then I might believe you. At this point, you ditched me once, so it’s hard for me to trust you.”
She squeezed the plastic water bottle, the crinkling cutting through the momentary silence. “I doubt an apology will be enough for you to move on, but I’m so sorry.” She shook her head as if she were struggling to find her words. “I … I ...”
My jaw tensed, and I found myself wanting to shake her. A lame apology meant nothing to me. “Sorry isn’t good enough. I want to know what happened when you left. You’ve clearly changed your name and built a life. Did it ever fucking cross your mind what they might do to me for helping you leave?” My pitch rose with my desperation and anger. “Did you regret leaving me or think about me at all?”
She pursed her lips together, and the following words out of her mouth reached into my chest and ripped out my goddamn heart.
“No,” she said quietly.
ChapterTwenty-Six
Brie
Kane’s expression twisted with agony as if I’d stabbed him in the stomach, turned the knife, then left him to bleed out on his kitchen floor. I wanted to feel bad. I wanted to feelsomething,but I couldn’t give him what he wanted. Not now, at least.
“Then why would you …” He slammed his eyes closed, and I suddenly found myself wanting to kiss away the pain and make it all better.
As hard as I’d tried not to admit it, there was a pull to Kane I didn’t understand. Once I’d calmed down, my emotions flip-flopped from being seriously pissed to wanting to heal his pain when I realized how much he was hurting. “Kane. What happened … I never meant for it to play out like that.”
