Page 108 of Tempting Fate

“You don’t know that.”

“I do,” I tell her. “With my heart and my head.”

Lowering my face to hers, I capture her trembling bottom lip between my teeth. As I softly sink my incisors into the plump flesh, Lily arches her back and her tits press into my chest. I allow myself one kiss, a single taste of the woman who owns my soul before I force myself to pull back from her.

Forehead to forehead, we stare at each other. Breathe each other in. Wait each other out.

Normally, I’d break first.

This time, I can’t.

She needs to stand on her own two feet without me holding her up.

Lily needs to face a reality that wasn’t built on half-truths and lies.

“I lied to you about Alex...” Lily trails off, her throat working as she struggles to say the words. “He threatened to kill you if I didn’t comply with him.”

“Okay.” I lightly shrug, fighting to hide my reaction to her truth. “But why didn’t you tell me that?”

“I didn’t want you to lose your temper and make things worse. I knew there would be a massacre if I told you the complete truth. Saving Sander’s career. Stopping you from getting hurt. Avoiding my father’s disappointment. They were my goals, and it made sense at the time—it was better to have you think it was a club versus mob issue instead of a Sander problem. I thought... I thought I could fix everything before you found out.”

“Because you didn’t trust me?”

“No.” Lily’s face drains of colour, but she keeps her eyes on mine as she admits, “Yes. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t trust you.”

Her honesty makes my chest hurt. It also lifts some of the weight that’s been weighing me down for more than four years. I’ve asked her, more than once, why she didn’t tell me the complete truth that night. None of her answers have satisfied me. Her excuses all rang hollow. Because I never would’ve let her leave with Alex if I’d known the full extent of his threats.

Now, I always understood why she wanted to protect Sander. That came from her vow to her mother and her need to shield the innate vulnerability that Sander tries to hide from the world.

But lying to me didn’t make sense.

She should’ve known explicitly that I’d die to save her.

Turns out that what I thought was an obvious fact didn’t matter to her.

Lily didn’t trust me not to make things worse that night.

The saddest part is that she’s probably right.

I’d touched her, tasted her, felt her body convulse around mine.

Inadale would’ve been swamped with blood the moment I knew Alex was threatening her directly.

“Does it feel good to know that I don’t fully trust you?” Lily asks in a tone laced with snark. “I hope you’re happy with yourself?”

She pushes against my chest.

I step back, but I don’t give her the space to leave.

We’re not done yet.

“Does it feel good, sweet thing, to finally tell the truth?”

“No.” Lily shakes her head then hisses. I scan my eyes over her battered face to see what’s hurting. She’s too bruised to narrow it down to one injury, so I do my best to ignore the damage and concentrate on her expressive gaze. “How can it feel good when it fixes nothing?”

“I disagree. I think it’s a step in the right direction.”

“Good for you.”

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