Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
I never should have let him tell me what to do with Eve.
“I followed you,” I tell her quietly, gauging her slow reaction. And it does take her a full three seconds to process that.
“Why?” she finally asks, not pulling away like I was worried about.
“Because Pop wanted to send you out in the open to see if Benny would approach you.”
I feel like someone just punched me in the gut when the hurt in her eyes immediately floods them with tears. Not one tear falls though. She stubbornly reins them in.
“Oh,” is all she says before starting to pull away.
“Shit, Eve. I’m sorry.” I groan, trying to pull her back, but she doesn’t fold against me like she normally does.
“I get it,” she says coldly, stiff in my arms.
“No you don’t.”
I blow out a breath, wishing I had just ended this deal when I had the chance. Now Eve is lying here, bruised and hurt, and feeling betrayed.
“I was trying to shut Pop up for good. If he had everyone focused on you, and something else went down while our focus was strained, it would have come back on him. That and I have a reason for letting him win this one. I promise.”
She stares vacantly at the wall across from us, not acknowledging anything I’ve said.
“Eve? Talk to me,” I murmur, pressing a soft kiss to her neck. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have went along with it. I need to play a part right now. There’s shit going on that I can’t explain, but I will when I can. I promise.”
She doesn’t speak, but I’m pretty sure I get gut-punched again when I raise back up to see more tears teetering on the edges of her lids. One finally falls free, and her lips thin like the feeling of that solo drop sliding down her cheek is pissing her off.
“Eve?”
“Just stop,” she says in a rasp whisper.
This would be a great time to have Snake here. He could tell me what to do. He and Sarah have been together for months, so he probably has the best relationship advice out of anyone.
“I said I’m sor—”
The way she snaps her eyes at me has my words ending right there. No way do I want that glare to make me spontaneously combust.
“I don’t get you,” she finally says in a stronger voice, wiping away the tear that has fallen.
She sits up too fast, and she sways in the bed while gripping her head. I hiss out a breath, moving closer to steady her before she falls off the bed.
“Easy, babe. You have a mild concussion. Shit sucks. I know.”
My last one was a little worse, but I don’t think pointing that out will score me any points at the moment.
She mutters a curse while gripping her head, then wincing when she clutches the bruised area too hard. I. Feel. Helpless.
“You,” she growls, sliding her legs out from under the sheets and standing with a wobble. “You can’t possibly expect sorry to make everything better, can you? Ben was right. I’m just your fucking toy, and I’m delusional if I think anything any differently. I’m just a pawn who gets moved around and sacrificed when you need to keep the king happy.”
Ice chills my veins, and I slowly climb out of the bed as she takes a breath, trying to calm down.
“What was that?” I ask in a deceptively calm tone.
She cuts her eyes toward me, but the fear that was once there when she looked at me a month ago is gone.
“You really need me to repeat it? Or do you just want to see if I have the courage to do it? It’s all a game of intimidation and power with you, isn’t it? Me? This? Us? I’m an idiot. Tell me I’m wrong.”
“You’re very fucking wrong,” I say without hesitation, feeling a tic form in my jaw.
She doesn’t back down. She doesn’t cower. She doesn’t even look afraid. She does, however, look ready to shred me.
“I was so happy that you trusted me to go into town by myself. I was so worried a fed would approach me. I was so freaking terrified I’d do something wrong, that I worked extra hard to do everything right. Eggshells. It’s all eggshells with you. If I step wrong, something crunches, and it could cost me my life, Drex. And you just let me go out to be bait? After I trusted you? You let me be excited to be freaking bait, Drex.”
I run a hand through my hair, back to feeling guilty instead of just pissed. Until she opens her mouth again.
“It’s always going to be this way. Your dad just tells you to play me like a cheap piano and you bang the keys the way he wants. Right? Like the good son.”