Page 162 of Thorns of Malice

I pull back. "I don't understand why Cooper would do that."

Dax squeezes his eyes shut, then opens them, revealing a pool of pain. He merely says, "He's a Carrington. He was playing a game as well."

The truth hangs in the air, reminding how naive I was.

Dax adds, "But he also has always wanted to take me down. I never took him seriously. I'm sorry, Ivy. This was about my brother getting back at me, not you. I'm so sorry that you were part of it."

I don't say anything. I'm too shocked to form any coherent sentences. I sit down on the bed.

Dax stares at me, his face swollen and covered in blood, just like Cooper's.

I blurt out, "You need to clean your face up. You're bleeding."

He glances down at himself and doesn't say anything. He turns and goes into the bathroom.

I continue to sit there, unsure what to think, wondering how Cooper, someone I never thought would hurt me, could have done something so damaging.

I can't fathom it, and I realize that the game played me more than I even knew. It makes me wonder what else is coming at me that I'm once again too naive and gullible to realize.

28

Dax

It was after five in the morning when Ivy and I stopped making love and she finally fell asleep in my arms.

I'm too charged up to get any rest. There's too much to do, and the sun has risen. So I kiss her on the forehead and try to slide out of bed, but she grabs my arm.

"Dax," she says sleepily.

I turn back and stroke her hair. "Hey, go back to sleep, gorgeous."

"Where are you going?"

"I have a lot of work to do today. I want to get into the office and get it done so I can come home at a decent hour. I thought we could stay in for dinner tonight."

She smiles. "Okay, but..." She stares at me.

"But what, baby girl?" I question, sliding closer to her.

She studies me and then states, "I forgot to ask you something last night, but we can discuss it at dinner."

I shake my head. "No, ask me now."

She chews her lip for a minute, then asks, "Whatever happened to Marcie and Cindy?"

I arch my eyebrows. "What made you bring them up?"

She shrugs. "I don't know. I just thought of them and was curious."

I inform her, "The last I heard, Cindy's been in and out of rehab. Avery showed me a video someone had sent her a few years ago. Cindy was in New York City, living on the street, addicted to heroin."

Ivy gapes at me in horror. She recovers and blurts out, "That's horrible."

"Yeah, it is, but Cindy always had a lot of issues with substance abuse, so I'm not surprised."

"Whoever took the video didn't try to help her?" Ivy asks.

I grunt. "Of course they didn't. They just took the video and sent it to anyone they knew so they could gossip."

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