Page 42 of Across State Lines

Jax’s hand rips away, and he scoots backward. Which means Jax is gone. And since he didn’t grind on my ass when he woke up...that means he’s Kane.

“Jesus fuck,” he snarls, putting more space between us. “What the fuck!”

I turn over and try to control my widening eyes as I lock my gaze on him. “Jesus fuck what, Kane? I think I should be the one saying that. And what are you so afraid of? Thinking you’re seeing a ghost?”

“I’m not fucking afraid,” he says as he sits up.

I don’t touch him, but I lean closer. “Your breathing is heavy. Your heart is racing. That’s fear.”

“I’m not afraid of you,” he snaps as he goes to push me away, but I grab his wrist. Anger lights up his face. I expect him to hit me or rip out of my grasp, but he only freezes. He can’t handle my touch. He’s incapable of doing anything but sitting there and panting.

“You’re afraid of something I represent,” I say. “Do you hate women? Whores?”

“You don’t know anything about me.”

“I’m well aware, but whose fault is that? I know plenty about Jax and Tobin.”

“Get your fucking hand off me.” Even as he says this, he still makes no effort to remove my hand. As big as he is, he’d only need to move his arm to snatch me loose.

Pup hops off the bed and begins pacing and whining. She stares at us with wide, glistening eyes. Her ears press against her head, and she begins to shiver.

“I’ll let you go if you tell me why you put me in that trailer,” I say.

He swallows and clenches his teeth. “Because you... Because I don’t like how you affect us.”

“Because I give those two the companionship they crave? Maybe if you let me, I could show you what it means to have a friend.”

“I don’t want that.”

“I think you do. I think you desperately want to connect with another human being, but you’re scared.”

This breaks him from his frozen state. He throws me onto my back and raises his fist above my head. I don’t flinch or cow to him, though. I just raise my chin higher because fuck him. I’ve nearly had a corpse party with a dead body in the freezer, so this is nothing.

He slams his fist down beside my head, and it sinks into the mattress. “Fuck you, dropout! The only reason I’m keeping you alive...”

I don’t know what he’s chosen to leave out, but I hope he meant to say he’s kept me alive because of Jax and Tobin. Something deep inside tells me this is only wishful thinking. He’s kept me alive for much more sinister reasons.

Kane leans over me, and his racing heart thumps against mine. “You mean nothing to me. You’re lower than nothing. You’re lower than the gum you chewed off my fucking shoe. I don’t want companionship from you. I don’t want anything from you. The other two may see something in you, but I see nothing but a flunky whore.”

His degrading words should make me recoil, but I play into the hulking mass of madness hovering over me and lift my head a fraction of an inch. His warm breath rolls over mine as I press my lips to his.

Shock and confusion flash across his face as he pulls back, but these emotions are quickly replaced by anger and something else. Embarrassment? Fear? I don’t know. But his pupils dilate and instead of hitting me, I lose Kane in front of my eyes.

“You kissed the big, bad Kane, eighty?” He leans forward and bites my bottom lip. “Are you suicidal?”

I scoff. “He put me in the fucking trailer. I almost died.”

“And that made you want to kiss him? You’re even more fucked up than I thought.” He smirks and rubs a hand down my chest. “Your sweet little lips traumatized him so much it forced a change neither of us expected. Thrust me right into your lap.” He moves his hips against me to punctuate the word.

“I thought I could get through to him,” I say with a shake of my head.

“No one has gotten through to Kane. No one.” He gets off of me and sits on the edge of the bed.

“Has anyone gotten through to you before, Tobin?”

He offers me a sinner’s smirk. “Nah. Just because I haven’t connected with someone before you doesn’t mean I couldn’t, though. But him? He’s physically and emotionally incapable.”

“Challenge accepted.”

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