Page 244 of Mayhem and Minnie

“Twenty hours of driving?” Her eyes widen. “That’s so far, Marlowe…”

“We’ll drive for another five to six hours until it gets dark. Once we find a good place to park, we’ll sleep the night and be back on the road in the morning. As long as I get a good sleep, I’ll be able to drive nonstop tomorrow.”

Minnie purses her lips.

“Can’t you teleport us, Kai? With the car? Pretty please?” she asks in a sugary sweet voice. But as she turns to look at her brother, her mouth drops open in shock when she realizes he’s no longer there.

I tsk at her.

“Your brother is an odd one.”

“Tell me about it.” She shakes her head. “He might be willing to help me, but that doesn’t mean he’ll make things easy for me.”

“At least we have a name. It’s a start. So what if it’s twenty hours away? Think of this as a road trip. Me, you, one bed.” I wiggle my eyebrows suggestively at her.

She gives me a pointed look as if she just remembered she’s still supposed to be mad at me.

“I’m not talking to you,” she suddenly says and turns with her back to me.

“But you’ve been talking to me until now,” I protest.

She shrugs. “It was necessary. Now it’s no longer necessary.”

“Minnie,” I groan. “What the hell…”

“But if you’re going to apologize… Maybe I can find it in my heart to forgive you,” she murmurs, though she’s not looking at me. She’s gazing out the window. “Then I’ll be more amenable to me, you, and one bed.”

Goddamn it. She’s playing a tough, tough game.

How the hell am I supposed to resist the temptation of me, you, one bed when it’s all I’ve been dreaming about? Even so, I cannot bring myself to ask for forgiveness for something I’m categorically not sorry.

Fuck you, Lucien! If I could stomp on you again, I would.

I clear my throat.

“I’m sorry I was insensitive,” I say, choosing my words carefully. “I didn’t think about your feelings, and for that I apologize.”

She turns briskly to me, her eyes narrowed.

“Are you really sorry?”

I swallow.

Nope. Not sorry. I’d kill, desecrate, kill again, and desecrate again that fucker.

“I’m sorry I made you sad. It wasn’t my intention. I hope you know that,” I speak in a low voice. That much is true. The mere fact that she shed tears because of something I did tore me up on the inside, and for that I can’t even forgive myself.

“I don’t like to see you cry, Minnie,” I reluctantly add. “It physically hurts me when you cry.”

She blinks, probably surprised to hear that.

“Then why did you do it?” she asks in a small voice.

“Because I’m a fucking jealous bastard who wants to be the sole object of your affections,” I grit out roughly. “I want to be the only one for you, Minnie. Past, present, future. Hell, an eternity to come. The mere fact that you were in love with someone else before… It guts me,” I admit.

A frisson goes down my back as I feel myself more vulnerable than I’ve ever been. I don’t even dare look at her, keeping my eyes on the road for fear I might see pity in her eyes—pity that she’s never going to feel the same about me as she did about Lucien.

Fuck that. I don’t want the same. I want more.

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