Page 173 of Kiss the Villain

“You can deny it all you want, but that young man is the best thing to ever happen to you. He calms you, makes you happy, and brings out your best traits. He doesn’t deserve this half-truth version of you, Kay.” Her voice lowers. “Rachel’s becoming more uncomfortable the more she likes him, and she hates hiding things from him. If you don’t tell him the truth, we will.”

After she hangs up, I stare at the phone in silence.

I’ve been considering telling Gareth for a while now, but after last night—after he said he wanted me to meet his family—it’s become inevitable.

But first, I have to deal with my own family. Grant would lock me up if he found out about Gareth. Hell, he’d probably torture me to death before letting me tarnish the Davenport name.

Worse, he might target Gareth just to eliminate the "threat."

Fuck. He absolutelywould.

I unbutton my shirt, feeling the collar choke me.

This wasn’t part of the plan. Garethwasn’tpart of the goddamn plan, and yet the mere thought of him is muddying my whole thinking process.

Because I’m only considering options where I can keep him off Grant’s radar, away from the organization’s reach.

But like Mom Jina said, Gareth deserves the truth.

While I love having him to myself, love watching trash TV with him, playing chess, or cooking disastrous meals, I’ve been feeling like a fraud lately.

Especially when he tells me about his family, friends, and past. Or when he buys me all those gifts as if I can’t afford them, as if my family isn’t actually much richer than his.

In the beginning, I didn’t care about his mental perception of me, but now I do. I don’t like that he has no idea about who I truly am.

But how will I broach the subject?

Gareth doesn’t exactly have the easiest personality to deal with, and while he’s been smiling more around me and he’s behaving himself—even trying to pamper me with gifts—he’ll go fucking ballistic at this.

If he wants to stab me, so be it.

And I mean it. If he wants to rip my heart out like he promised, I’ll just stand there and let him take it.

The phone vibrates in my hand and a jolt zaps from my arm straight to my chest when I see his name flashing on the screen.

Little Monster.

The cloud of suffocation eases, and the demons retreat to the shadows, one by one, their ugly forms immediately disappearing at his presence.

I’ve always felt a form of disturbing comfort with him, usually after I fuck the life out of him.

Last night, when he nursed me back to health when I got sick due to the side effects of Julian’s meds, I felt the same warmth I’m feeling as I look at his name.

Maybe I should ditch afternoon classes, call in sick or something. Because I’ll feel like I’m suffocating as soon as he hangs up.

It’s alarming at this point. I never felt so attuned to someone to the extent I wanted to chain them to me.

Not even with Sandra.

I pick up with, “Miss me already?”

There’s silence on the other side, harsh breaths, almost panting filling my ears.

“Gareth?”

No answer. More pants. Fractured breaths.

I stand up so fast that the rolling chair slams into the cabinet behind me. “Gareth? Say something. Is everything all right?”

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