Page 45 of Burn With Me

“You’re damn right I want to get drunk,” I snap. “And you want to know the reason?” I grab him by the front of his shirt, sinking my nails into the fabric as I drag him with me. I stomp towards the space we just left—right in front of the elevators where there’s a massive mirror hanging there for all who come through those doors to see. “Take a good long fucking look,” I say, shoving him towards it.

Isaac’s head lifts and his dark eyes glare at me through the reflection. Slowly—so fucking slowly—he turns back to me. The intensity of his gaze sends shivers down my spine, but I don’t back down. There’s no point. I’ve already shown vulnerability to him and I hate that. I don’t want to do it again.

So, what do I do? I do what I’ve always done. I push.

“The subterfuge doesn’t suit you,” I tell him. “The lying, the sneaking around, the social torment.” I lower my eyelids and stare back at him through slitted eyes. “What’s wrong? Are you that scared of a little girl?”

That does it. His hands clench into fists at his sides. “You think I’m scared of you?” he asks through gritted teeth.

“It would explain a few things,” I reply. “Like how you treated me in the garden that night.”

He stiffens, shooting me a dark and thunderous glare. “You knew who I was,” he snaps. “Don’t act like I’m the one who took advantage of you first.Yousoughtmeout.”

“Maybe I did,” I concede, “but you can’t deny that you were rougher with me than you would’ve been with anyone else.” Because he’d been trying to punish me.

“And you know that, how?” He growls. “How would you know how I fuck someone, Aurora?”

“You’ve been fucking me since day one,” I snap back, “fucking me over.”

The low chuckle that comes out of him sends warning alarms blaring through my head. “You think I’ve been fucking you all this time? Oh no, Sunshine. I haven’t even begun to fuck you. Yeah, maybe I was a little rough with you, but you can’t deny you deserved it. You’re the one who got on your knees and put yourself in that position. I didn’t force you. You wanted my cock.”

“I didn’t want to be treated like a whore!”

“If I treated you like a true whore, you wouldn’t be here right now.”

My lips part, words hanging right on the tip of my tongue, but no response makes its way out of my mouth. What can I say to that? I shake my head. “We’re getting off topic,” I say. “You’re trying to distract me.”

Isaac’s face screws into a dark mask of anger. “I’m not the one standing here bringing up the past.”

“Past. Present. Future—all of it has to do with you,” I reply. “So long as this bullshit keeps going on and your father stays married to my mother, then it matters.”

“Don’t act like you didn’t fucking like it, Aurora,” Isaac says. “You might not have gotten to come, but you drooled all over my cock like any other slut begging for attention.”

My hand connects with his face before I even realize I’ve moved. For several long seconds, the two of us are catapulted into shocked silence. His head stays turned to the side from the force of my slap, and my body remains frozen in front of him.

Shaking, I lower my palm back to my sides. “Don’t assume I’ll let you fuck with me like anyone else might,” I warn him. “The only reason I let you get away with it is because—”

“You wanted revenge,” he finishes for me.

I don’t answer.

“That might be true,” he continues, “but that doesn’t mean I’m not right.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “Tell me the truth.” I grit the words out through clenched teeth. “Why the fuck are you even bothering with me? Why are we even playing this game to begin with?”

“I’m not playing—”

“The fuck you’re not.” I cut him off, casting him an exasperated look. Does he truly expect me to believe that he hasn’t been moving his pieces around on the chessboard between us the whole time?

The words seem to strike something within him. His dark gaze finds mine and without realizing it until it’s already happened, I take a step back. “You want to know what I’m doing? Fine, I’ll tell you, you fucking bitch. I’m trying to fucking protect you!” His responding yell chills me down to my bones. It vibrates the mirror hanging on the wall.

There it is, I realize. The crack in his once impenetrable armor. I keep my eyes on his as he advances on me in quick stomping steps. “You fight me and you fucking fight me,” he seethes, striding forward as my arms drop and I keep backing away. “But Aurora you are in far more danger than you realize.”

He’s not done. Something seems to have snapped within him, and I feel like I’m finally seeinghimfor the first time. His insides are just as shredded as mine. His eyes are wild, his nostrils flare, and his chest pumps up and down with effort.

“You want to know why I brought you here?” He doesn’t stop until he’s a shadow looming over me, his hand slapping the wall next to my head. “I brought you here to warn you. You should be fucking terrified. Of me and of my father. You’re right to be wary of both of us, but between him and me—Iam your only salvation. So do both of us a favor and keep your fucking mouth shut and your head down. Stop fighting me. If you want to do something to help, convince your mother to divorce him. As soon as possible. The sooner the two of you are far away from Hazelwood and Damien Icari, the better.”

“Why?” The tops of his cheeks are stained red, not with embarrassment but fury and something else, but it can’t be fear … can it?

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