Page 105 of Hate Me

“I’m not relying on them. I have a deal with them so that we all survive this and Caspian’s war against Elijah isn’t jeopardized. We’ve found a way so that we’ll all come out of this, a way through, Jer.”

“You don’t need any deal. I can keep you safe. You’re mine to protect.”

“I’m not a damsel in distress.”

“You need to be taken care of and I can give that to you. Being with these three just puts you in danger. Their world is filled with brutality and darkness.” He sneered at the three of us. “They’re barbarians.”

Sky glared up at him. “Just. Like. Me.”

Caleb and I exchanged a look, grinning. There she was. That was our woman, through and through.

Meanwhile, Cas looked on quietly, in intense observation mode.

That really didn’t bode well for Jeremy.

“No,” the bastard said. “You’re soft and sweet. And after everything that happened, you’re fragile and lost. You need to be looked after and shielded away from all of this.”

“Get the fuck out,” Cas growled all of a sudden, startling us.

“What?” Jeremy bit back.

Cas walked to them and wrapped his arm around Sky.

“It was you.”

“Me? What are you talking about?”

“You preyed on her grief and pain, the upheaval she went through. You reinforced it all, wanted her to feel lost and weak. Scared. You wanted her to need you and even depend on you. You had her believing you were the only one there, the only one she could trust.”

“Jesus Christ,” I exclaimed, as all the pieces fell into place.

“Jeremy?” Sky asked.

He shoved a hand through his curly hair. “Look, what I did was to protect you. You’d already suffered so much, I didn’t want anything like that happening again. And, yeah, I wanted you with me.”

Sky shook her head sadly.

“I fell in love with you, all right? I did what I had to do to keep you with me! Telling you about Jett surviving was supposed to further ensure that, but you reacted in a completely different way to what I’d intended or predicted!”

“Oh my God,” Sky breathed, pulling from Caspian and stepping away from Jeremy completely. “It wasn’t love. If you love someone, you do what’s best for them, what’s really best for them, not some bullshit like you’re spinning to fulfill your own agenda.”

“She’s a free bird, you fucker,” I growled. “Being caged in that safehouse broke her spirit. It hurt her.”

“But you didn’t care, so long as she stayed with you,” Caleb gritted out.

“You’re all bad for her!” Jeremy yelled, losing it now he’d been called out. “And I’ll make sure Frank knows that! He’ll come here and fuck you all up, then take her from you again.”

“Let him try,” Caspian snarled. “Then you’ll both find out why they really call me the King.”

Jeremy paled.

It wasn’t just the words. It was Caspian’s cold, fucked-up delivery, that black look in his eyes promising unimaginable ruin.

“S?” Jeremy called.

She met his gaze and rolled her shoulders, straightening, power radiating off her, as she told him, “I’m not a thing to protect, not a prize to be won. I’m not weak and incapable. Seeing me that way means you’ve never actually known me. The version in your mind doesn’t exist, it never has. Go. We’re done here.”

“But—”

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