Page 49 of Cruel Lies

Running away.

TWENTY-THREE

HARPER

"Angel leftyou alone out there, didn’t he?"

I didn’t want to rat him out, butI knew better than to lie to Rowan. If Angel was a lousy liar, Rowan was a lie detector. I knew better than to try and fool him.

"It’s fine, Rowan. I’m still all in one piece."

His stern glare as he loomed over me, his eyes boring holes into mine, told me it was not, in fact, fine. "He shouldn’t have left you alone."

Moving his frame was hard when he outweighed me by a lot and was a head and a half taller than me, but he let me shove him off, quirking a brow at the effort I put in to make it happen.

"Well, I did antagonize him, so?—"

"No buts. No excuses. He knows better." His arms crossed over his muscled torso as he stared down at me, not pacing anymore, thankfully, but now more ominous thanks to his demeanor. "You could have beenhurt—"He started to pace again, and I realized with a start that his hands were shaking, though it was clear he was trying in vain to hide it.

Imagine Rowan so scared for my well-being that a few minutes alone in the asylum sent him into a spiral. It sent a shiver of lust through me, just like the one I’d indulged in when he grabbed me after my run-in with Jackal.

I can’t afford to get tangled in this mess of feelings. They’re not the men they used to be, and I’m not the girl they used to know.

But no matter how much my mind fought against the feeling, my heart screamedjust do it, bitch,and I was like day and night, at war with myself and my traitorous vagina.

"Rowan," I tried, reaching out to stop him, but he brushed on past me like he couldn’t see the woman on the sidelines, trying to calm him down.

"That fucking asshole, heknowshow dangerous it is for you here?—"

"Ro," I tried again, stepping closer, my hand grazing hisforearm, but he kept on going, his lips moving as he mumbled to himself, rage contorting his features into a frightening visage.

"I don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to you?—"

"Rowan Blackwood, stop it!"

He jerked to a stop, his head swiveling to find me with my hands on my hips, staring him down like a bull does a matador. He cocked his head to the side, and fuck if my insides didn’t twitch in an oh-so-naughty way at the reminder of the boy I used to fantasize about. That teasing, flirtatious dimple in his cheek, the one that made you wanna touch it with your finger to see if a second one appeared on the other side. The way his eyes flashed, like he planned to eat you alive?—

"Fuck, you’re so hot when you look at me like that."

He sputtered like a car refusing to start, confusion warring with shock as he tried to make sure he’d heard what he thought he heard. "I’m—uh, what?"

The instant regret raced through me, and I tried in vain to backpedal over the fucking word vomit I’d blurted out that had me feeling like a butterfly pinned in a display case. "You know what, I take it back. Just forget it?—"

"I can’t forget it, Harper. Do you wanna know why?" His smile crept over those stony features, and it was like the sun coming out after a thunderstorm, making way for a rainbow. It felt pure and genuine and set my heart to fluttering as I struggled to remember why jumping his bones would be ahorrible idea.

I don’t want to get attached.But I wasn’t committing to anything beyond sex here.I couldn’t trust him.But did I really need trust, or did I need him to devour me like a fucking steak dinner?He’s no good for me.True. But I wasn’t looking for a man. I was looking to get laid. And right now, with his cocksure smile, those dimples in his cheeks, and the way his locs fell around his head and framed those gorgeous, intense eyes, all I could thinkof was what the rest of him would look like without all these clothes in the way.

"Because the way you look at me when you want me to pay attention to you has haunted me for a decade. You get this mischievous look in your eyes that makes them sparkle." He inched toward me, his hands moving to cage me in as we backed toward the work table. "Your lips turn down in this pretty pout, and your nose scrunches up in the middle. It makes you look like a pissed-off little rabbit."

To emphasize his point, he flicked his finger across my nose as he inched his face closer to mine. I couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t form words as his hot breath skirted across my skin, teasing me, tempting me.

I’d been avoiding him since we were teens. Been fighting this attraction since I walked in on him and a girl and found out what he looked like when he came.

A complete and utter accident. A very lucky one, but one nonetheless.

"Do you wanna know a secret, Harper?" he breathed against the skin below my ear, his lips brushing the hairline as his words twisted my insides. "I’ll trade you, one for one."

"You first," I choked out, hoping against hope that whatever he came out with was a million times more embarrassing than anything I might blurt out in my brain-deadness.

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