Page 25 of Tell Me Lies

I laughed softly. “No, I was watching you that night.”

“Do I dare ask why?”

“Because you’re sexy, you hurt my brother, and against everything that I shouldn’t do or need or desire … I want you.”

“You want me?”

The innocent confusion in her voice propelled me onto her bed. I caged my hands around her shoulders, arcing my body over hers. Not touching her, giving her space to breathe but stealing her air all the same. Enough to be threatening.

Arousing.

“I want to rip half the clothes off your body and fuck you into oblivion. Then take the rest off and do you raw.”

She shrugged away my harsh style of seduction, staring at the ceiling beyond me. “I’m on the pill. And I’m clean. He checked.”

The words came as a slap in the face. I stilled. “The fuck did my brother do to you?” I closed my hand around her jaw, forcing her chin down, but it wasn’t enough. “Look at me, Maddie.”

Her gaze slid to meet mine, taking as much time as she thought she’d get away with before she obeyed me.

“He was … clinical. Cold.”

I laughed. “It’s a family trait.” No hugs served here, thank you very much.

“I tried to help.” Her voice ached, and I ached with her, hating myself for feeling anything for her.

“How did that go?” I mocked, sliding one knee between her thighs.

“Not well,” she whispered back. Her voice broke, the slightest crack in her facade.

I nearly backed off. Almost. But not quite. Her broken brand of strength wasn’t enough to deter me this time.

“Why did you want to help him?” I nudged my knee further between her thighs as she lost herself in memory.

“Because that was my job. I was his girlfriend and I was supposed to be the one who helped him find some sort of humanity.”

“No. You were his regular fuck. The one he came to for bodily needs, not mental ones.”

“You know nothing,” she flared.

“He’s my twin.”

“And he was crying the night I met him!” she shouted in my face. A single tear broke free, clinging to her lashes like a perfect jewel before it tumbled along her cheek.

I rocked back an inch. “What? When?”

“The night before you—I saw you in the kitchen wearing his shirt,” she mumbled, breaking my gaze.

I pressed a knuckle beneath her chin. “Up here, Maddie.”

“I took him home. I wanted to make sure he got there safe.”

“No, he took you home and fucked you.”

“Why are you so damn cruel?” she cried, twisting her face away. “I tried to help! A friend of his d—was hurt and he was upset. I’m sorry you don’t know your own brother!”

I stared at her. “Apparently not.”

“Good. So get off me.”

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