Page 19 of Bound to a Monster

“Good. I’m glad you understand. Now, we’ll go out there, we’ll smile, we’ll pretend like we had a nice, productive conversation, and you won’t fuck this up. We never met. We don’t know each other. Understood?”

“You don’t have to be such an asshole about it.”

“Actually, I feel like I do.” His jaw works. Is that a little emotion from the ice king? I don’t give a shit if I pissed him off.

“That night wasn’t about you,” I snap at him, letting loose now. He wants to be enemies? Then we can be enemies. “I just wanted something for myself. All I wanted was to lose my virginity to someone I chose, and I had the bad fucking luck to end up inyourshitty bed that night. So don’t misunderstand anything, Lev. We’ll get married. We’ll act like it’s all good. But I have no interest in you,at all.”

His surprise thrills me. I like that I got under his skin. He stares, and for the first time, he looks like he doesn’t know what to say. “Your… virginity?”

“Yes, dickhead. I was a virgin that night. And if I got my way, you wouldn’t have been involved at all. Guess we both got fucked.”

Surprise turns to anger. It’s cold and terrifying, a real fury. He comes toward me, jaw working. “You were going to throw yourself at some stranger, all to avoid sleeping with your husband for your first time?”

“I was taking control of my life,” I shoot back at him, standing my ground, even though I want to run. “Like I said, it had nothing to do with you.”

“That could’ve been anyone. You could’ve gottenhurt. What the hell were you thinking?” He stops on the other side of the coffee table. Eight feet separates us at most.

“What do you care?”

“I nearly cut that fucking prick’s throat.”

I rear back in shock. The casual way he says it sends my pulse skittering. I remember his shirt, stained with blood. “You did what?”

“That guy was going to follow you out into the street and do God knows what. I made sure he’d think twice before bothering a woman ever again. And there you were, stumbling around, throwing yourself into a stupid situation. You couldn’t have been more out of control if you tried.”

“Screw you, Lev. You don’t even know me at all.”

“I feel like I know you very well now.”

“Don’t be disgusting.” I jab my finger in the air between us. “You want to forget that night happened? Then you stop throwing it inmy face. You want to becolleagues? Then you don’t get a say in what I do.”

He lets that sink in. I glare at him, and he glares right back. This went so absolutely fucking terrible, and I don’t know how we ended up here, but I don’t think I’ve ever despised someone so much in my entire life.

He could’ve handled this so much better. I gave him my freaking virginity that night, and he’s acting like the whole thing was a mistake. I want to scream into a pillow and sob myself to sleep, but I absolutely will not give him the satisfaction of knowing how much this hurts right now.

“You’re right,” he says, the icy chill coming back into his voice. “Do what you want, Carmie. I don’t give a shit. Just make sure you smile when your brothers come back.”

Which is exactly what I do. I plaster it on my fucking face, a big old grin like I’m having a great time, and I can tell my dad’s pleased by how the trip went.

And when we get back home, I puke my guts up in the bathroom and have to scream at Luca to leave me the hell alone when he asks if I’m okay, because I’m not okay, I’m not remotely okay, not even freaking close.

Chapter 7

Lev

Ihate this shitty club. Everything about the place is gaudy. Mirror surfaces, slick lights flashing over the dance floor, an enormous DJ booth in the shape of a heart. Even the bar serves overpriced, absurd drinks. Who the hell wants a twenty-dollar sugary martini?

I sip my whiskey and wait. I let the noise pound down around me. Bitterness floods my throat.

How the fuck did this happen?

I close my eyes. My fencer’s moans fill my head. Her lithe, toned, athletic body stretches on my bed, and she looks at me with a heady mix of lust and impatience. Her little toy pressed to her pussy, making her moan. My cock between her legs, shattering her to pieces. Sweat on her breasts, my tongue licking it up.

I’ve been obsessed with that girl since that night happened, and I kept telling myself I’d never see her again.

One final mistake before I got married and pledged myself to an Italian girl I’d never even met.

What was supposed to be a fling turned into a nightmare.

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