Page 48 of Drawn Blue Lines

Brody was silent for a minute, and I thought I’d said too much until he shifted closer. I didn’t move. I didn’t even blink until he lifted his hand and reached for me. All the breath left my lungs in one hard exhale, but instead of returning to my chest, his fingertips brushed the scar on my neck.

“No one has ever really seen you, have they, Adriana?”

I shook my head because speaking the words would’ve been too intimate. This was the man who uprooted my life and destroyed my future, then tried to stain the only name I had left with false accusations. I hated him, and once I was accepted into this family, I planned to return the favor.

So why did I want his lips on me more than I wanted my next breath?

“I see you.”

“Don’t…” I shook my head, trying to pull away, but his long fingers curled around the back of my neck, holding me in place.

“You fight dirty, Carrera. You want everyone to think you’re this heartless bitch who’ll eviscerate anyone to get what she wants, but that’s a role you play just to get noticed.”

“Stop.”

“You dominate and exploit your enemy’s weakness because that’s the only way you know how to feel wanted.”

The air felt heavy, clogged with tension so thick I could taste it. As much as I wanted to throw every vile and hateful word I knew at him, the self-assured stare in his darkened eyes held me hostage, crashing through my barriers and holding me immobile.

He was right. He did see me. He saw right through me to the core of something I couldn’t rationalize, and it both infuriated and calmed me.

Why him?

Why did the man who ruined me, understand me?

My chest rose and fell in arduous waves as his hand slid up my neck. It was pure torture, a disturbing sensuality that resonated within the darkest depths of my soul.

Up my throat. Across my chin. Brushing my cheek.

I shivered the moment his hand dove into my hair, his fingers tightening to the perfect amount of pain.

“There are better ways to feel wanted, princesa.” The deep timbre of his voice was rough. Low and controlled, yet still hinging on the brink of destruction.

It was me he’d destroy, and God help me, I wanted it.

“Adriana,” he whispered my name again, and it sounded like a wicked prayer. He was breathing so hard my hair fanned across my face. This was wrong. So wrong. But I craved more, hating myself for it, but unable to stop.

Until the door slammed and the perfectly fucked-up bubble we crawled into burst.

“Well, I sure as hell didn’t expect this.”

Chapter Fifteen

Adriana

I had no idea who moved first. All I knew was that Brody and I sprang apart like two ends of a snapped rubber band. The fire that moments ago had my blood boiling extinguished, leaving nothing but withering smoke.

I knew who was there without turning around.

Brody’s eyes widened as he stared over my shoulder. All the color drained from his face, a sudden discord etched across it. Like he’d suddenly found himself trapped between two worlds without any means of escape. Maybe it stemmed from coming face-to-face with the living embodiment of torture. Either way, the sadistic craving that almost seduced me into trading vindication for gratification faded leaving only a bruised ego and a renewed will.

“Eden…” Brody murmured her name with such reverence I twisted my fingers together to stop myself from putting a fourth dent in the wall. “We, uh…I didn’t know you were back.”

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

“Obviously,” she quipped.

I barely refrained from rolling my eyes.

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