Page 58 of Hate Me

He stared at me for a long few moments, then broke eye contact and locked the door behind him and stepped into the room.

“Stop yanking on those chains, you’ll hurt yourself.”

It took me a moment to move past the shock to my system of laying eyes on him again after all this time, let alone being in the same room as him too. I had to clear my throat to get my words out. “Take them off and that won’t be an issue.”

“No can do. You look ready to jump me. And not in the good way.”

“Is that why you came in here? For a hate-fuck?” I shot back.

He winced and it had my gut twisting that my retort had hurt him. But I had to do whatever I could to keep him at bay—especially emotionally. Physically, that became clear was gonna be way harder to do. Seeing him again, feeling that intensity, all that sexuality buzzing between us fucking instantly… it was heating my blood and he’d only just stepped into the room. Jeez.

He came to the foot of the bed and folded his arms across his chest as he regarded me. “You think I hate you, huh?”

“The tide was turning in that direction before I even had to leave. I know you relapsed, that Caspian has been fending off attacks from Elijah constantly, that Caleb left, the brotherhood fell apart. Putting all the pieces together, it’s not a stretch to come to that conclusion.”

“Plus, it’s what you need from me, isn’t it? From all three of us, actually.”

Shit.

“I don’t need anything from any of you.”

“Ouch,” he said, slapping his hand to his heart. “That would’ve hurt my feelings if I didn’t know it was a load of bullshit.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know I’ve had issues with my own feelings, figuring all that shit out, which you tested to the max, that you’re still testing, Sky. The thing is, what I don’t have an issue with when it comes to that is reading other people’s emotions.” He gave me a withering look. “Even through layers upon layers of bullshit.”

“Give me a break. It’s been two years. We’ve all moved on. The only reason I’m here in the house right now instead of some cage of Caspian’s somewhere so he can take me off the board, is so he can try to use false sentiment to manipulate me into standing down.”

“Wow, that’s some theory you’ve got there.” He shifted his weight. “So, you’ve really moved on, huh? With Jeremy Wheeler?”

I started. “What?”

“We know now that your dad is in the wind in a whole other way and that Wheeler is the one who’s been with you in that safehouse. Putting yourself back on the radar enabled Cas to fill in a load of details about your life these last two years. All he needed were crumbs and he was off.”

“Who I fuck around with isn’t your business. It hasn’t been for two years.”

His eyes flashed. “Fuck around with? So that’s how it is.” I saw him struggling to tamper down his reaction, and he walked around the bed to the side. “Fucking your bodyguard… that’s one hell of a cliché right there.”

“He’s not my bodyguard.”

He ignored that and went on, “Isn’t he kind of bland for you? Too straight-laced?”

“None of your concern,” I ground out.

“Hmm. Let me guess, he laid you down and slipped inside you nice and easy, kissing you through it, so afraid to hurt you, treating you like a pane of breakable glass? Was there some cheesy love song playing in the background? Soft strokes of his fingers over your skin as he eased in and out of you nice and slow, maybe gently rubbed your clit too?”

Piece of shit. I needed to shut this line of questioning down, so I went for shock value as I told him, “Actually, it was doggy style, then me straddling him and taking him deep and coming all over his big cock.”

He hissed, his face twisting.

He shocked me, though, as he managed to check his obviously pissed reaction and go on calmly, “Hmm, vivid. More lies, though.”

I moved to speak, but he cut in, “No. Not the fucking part. I don’t doubt you went there with that boring fuck. You were stuck in that house for two years. Over a year of it was just you and him. He was your only point of human contact, I can see it having you snapping and jumping his bones.” The corner of his mouth turned up. “It didn’t work out for you with him, though, did it, Skylar? Like I said, too bland, too careful with you. And that’s not how you like it, how you need it. It’s gotta be rough, depraved and a whole lot twisted to—”

“Stop.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I’m right on the money.” He eased onto the side of the bed right beside my head. “You know Cas has this ace next-level tech division at King, right?” When I just glared, he went on, “Well, he had your phone analyzed by them. He wanted to know how you were getting your leads on Jett’s whereabouts. That team of his works fast, so all that’s been figured out by the way. But Cas will get to that with you soon enough. What caught my attention was the video found on there. Our sex tape.”

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