Page 18 of Love's Ace

I couldn’t do this.

“Listen, we can—” Wren’s words faded into the background when I saw it. A shining red thread out of the corner of my eye. Not ours.

No.

It was someone else.

The man and woman were holding hands, and they were smiling. They looked so happy, and so in love… and I felt that surge of fury in my chest again. I suddenly had the strength to pull away from him, to wrap my fingers around the knife I’d been holding a few seconds ago and push myself up from the table. Three quick strides brought me across the room, and I couldfeelthat hatred inside me coiling up. The heat trying to burst to the surface.

The fury.

The anger.

The…

Pain.

Pain that lanced through my entire body when my arm was suddenly wrenched behind my back and I was dragged away. Wren just managed to slide his hand over my mouth and yank me into the bathroom before anyone had noticed what I was trying to do.

I couldn’t see. I couldn’t think around that red line that was burning at the back of my vision like a taunt.

It was almost worse now, because I had one too.

I had one of those fucking red lines, and it meantnothing.

We weren’t smiling at one another.

We weren’t holding hands.

And Wren…

Well, Wren wrapped his fingers around my throat and slammed me against the wall. He winced at the impact, but it didn’t matter. The anger on his face, the wrenchingdisgustthat poured across his expression while he stared at me?

It burned more than the line did, more than it evercould.

“Fuck you,” I barely managed to hiss, and I wondered if the only reason he wasn’t strangling me was because it would just hurt him too. From the look in his eyes, it was the only reason he hadn’t killed me already.

I was only alive because he valued his own life. The knowledge made me lean closer to him when I should have pulled back, until I could feel the heat of his breath against my lips, until we were so close a single gasp might have pulled us together.

I wondered… if his fingers around my throat made the fire that had been trying to build turn to nothing more than ash, what would his lips do? What would a kiss do? What would it feel like if—

“You… Fuck, I should never have let you out of the room. I can see it crawling through your eyes. I can feel it trying to eat away at me. You’re nothing but a goddamn—”

His words cut off, and I cried out at the same time. The knife I’d gripped so tightly in my hand was now in his thigh, and I could feel the pain as I twisted it before dropping it to the floor.

“Fuck you,” I snarled again and shoved him back as hard as I could. I could see the reflection of myself in his eyes, and it screamed one word.Monster. I was a monster. “And fuck this. I don’twantyour help. I don’twantany of this. I want—”

His fist landing on my jaw cut off my words. He groaned again, but I was the one who went to my knees, my vision fading in andout in a hazy wave. A mixture of the pain, the hatred still burning through me… and then a soothing shot of calm as Wren threaded his fingers through my hair and yanked my head up made the world come in waves.

“We’re going back to the motel room, where you can’t hurt anyone.”

For a second, I thought about getting up and trying to claw his eyes out. I thought about yanking the line between us free.

And I thought about the man and woman just outside the door. I couldn’t see them anymore, but I could feel the coolness and relief of Wren’s skin pressed to mine, even though his fingers were pulling my hair. Even though it hurt.

I let my lids drift shut before I had to examine what those emotions meant.

“Fine.”

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