Page 48 of Thorns of Malice

He shakes his head, his voice raising. "I didn't do it. Avery did."

I scoff. "Not very nice to blame your sister. After all, she was so nice to me."

Anger fills him. He seethes, "Oh, sorry, Ivy. Maybe your allegiance is to her since you slept with her."

"I didn't sleep with her!" I hurl before I can stop myself. Maybe he should think I did.

He turns his blazing eyes on me. "So you claimed."

"I claimed I didn't sleep with her because I never did. She tried, and I stopped her."

He snarls, "With her fingers up your pussy?"

Rage fills me, along with embarrassment. It wasn't my fault what Avery did to me, but I still hate it happened. "You know what, Dax? You don't get to judge me. But I didn't do anything with Avery."

"Sure."

My voice shakes when I say, "I never did anything with anyone you didn't encourage me to do."

Guilt fills his expression, but then it turns hard again.

I continue, "I'm telling you, I didn't do anything with your sister. I pushed her off me. I would have told you what happened if you had been at your house that night. And if you had the balls to ask me about it when you saw the video, I would've told you then."

He grips the steering wheel so tight I can see his knuckles turn white even through the darkness.

My voice gets louder. "Why would you think I would sleep with her? I loved you! Only you!" It's more than I should give him, even though he already knows how I felt about him.

He turns toward me, pain evident in his features. "Her fingers were up your pussy. I saw it on the video."

"And I shoved her off me. You, of all people, should know that things aren't always what they seem, now are they?" I point out.

His face falls. He turns back to the road.

Silence fills the air.

I finally ask, "What did you want to talk to me about anyway?"

"Fuck it," he mutters. He pulls over to the side of the road and parks the car.

"Why are you stopping?"

He turns toward me and grabs my hand. He grinds his molars and then blurts out, "Ivy, the worst thing I ever did was what I did to you. I should never have let you do any of those things that night. I should have treated you better. I shouldn't have kicked you off the property."

"And fired my dad?" I blurt out, my eyes welling with tears. I blink hard to stop them, willing myself not to show any emotion to Dax, and pissed that I already am.

He clenches his jaw.

Tense silence fills the air.

"Or do you regret stealing my father's invention and patenting it?"

The accusation hangs between us, but he doesn't look surprised to know I'm aware of what he did.

He also doesn't look remorseful. He chooses his words carefully, claiming, "Your father would never have done anything with it. It sat there for years and years, and not once did he do anything with it."

I cry out, "So you stole it from him?"

Something passes over his expression. I can't say it's regret. I don't know what it is, but it makes me uneasy.

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