Page 56 of Unspoken Promises

Her voice cracks, showing she’s just as conflicted about all of this as I am.

“Dammit!” She flicks her hand against a negligée, and the hangers clatter. “Just say it already!”

Going there will lead us everywhere. I feel it in my bones when her pretty eyes narrow at me and she bites at her equally pretty pink lip, and fuck if this isn’t a woman I want to be honest with… but it’s not always up to me.

Ava doesn’t need words from me to know exactly what I’m thinking, and it scares the shit out of me. Like so many times before this, she reads my mind. There’s an undeniable connection, we’re two people who can speak without words. I’ve never had this with a woman before.

She laughs maniacally and flails her arm. “God, you have a convincing poker face. Maybe Iamstupid. I actually believed I found those hacks!”

She glares at me through a sheen of tears and pins me to the spot. I didn’t know it would hurt her this much. I intended on talking to Rio, on convincing him I needed todrop the act and get on the train with her. But Ava was even better than I thought. She must have devoted nearly every working hour to finding what she has.

I knew she was clever, but I didn’t know just how driven she was. I thought I had time. Just a little more time.

She pokes her finger on my chest, and I feel it right through the cotton.

“You made me believe I brought something of value to the table then let me waste time on a wild goose chase. You already had the damn IP addresses. Why do it? Why? What possible purpose did it serve to make me rub off my fingerprints working so hard on something you already knew about?”

She thinks I put her on a meaningless task when in fact she was working on a project that is pretty much life or death for this company. I know she’s the only talent I’ve come across, mine included, who could figure this shit out. I hoped she’d reveal a solution, lead us to the culprits or culpritswithoutus having to admit we’ve been lying to anyone. It’s not my finest decision, itwasdishonest, but it wasn’t meant to hurt her. Not like this.

The bridge between us is falling to pieces.

She has every right to be angry.

“Ava… I need you to understand…”

“I don’t have to understand shit!” A shameful crimson blooms on her cheeks. “You totally lied to me! Right to my face you pretended that what I found was news to you. You belittled me and acted… surprised! Why did you keep that a secret?”

The sound of that word sets off a fire in me, too. I was ready to take accountability for lying to her. But I’m not the only one hiding things here.

I growl. “You want to talk about secrets?”

My body grows heavy. The mood shifts like thunderclouds moving swiftly into our space. It’s my turn for a dry laugh, and I wish it didn’t escape because it makes me sound like I’m about to tip over the edge. Maybe I am. I run my fingers through my hair, giving it a hard tug as if to heave myself off this path I’m riding down. I’m losing control. Maybe I already lost it last night when I realized I had to trust her. I do trust her. And that meant me keeping the hacks secret towed the line between self-preservation and using her.

I hate myself for it.

But it’s not like my pretty little firecracker trusted me back. Maybe she’s using me, too. How would I know? She hasn’t told me shit, and I’m sitting here like a fool, ready to tell her everything when she’s still hiding behind that mask of hers.

I allowed her in because GhostEye needed help. I let her stay because there’s some undeniable connection. Not being able to act on it doesn’t change the magnetism. But maybe it’s one-sided.

If she wants to play the blame game, I’ll ante up.

“You’re going to stand there and blamemefor keeping a secret?” My words are deep, low and commanding. “That’s lush coming from a person who sure as hell isn’t who she says she is.”

That sparks her off again, and she steps into my space.

“Unlike the secrets you keep, mine only hurt me…”

I stare down at her. She’s so close I can see her heartbeat in her milky neck. “Your secrets only hurt you? Do they? And why should I believe that? You haven’t trusted me any more than I’ve trusted you.”

Her eyes blast open, and she paces again, finally slamming her back against the door. “What am I to you, Enzo?I’m trying to build an actual real life here, and for you I’m just some means to an end? Or some game? What the hell was that all about?” Tears brim in her eyes. “Itoldyou I would tell you everything once I helped you first, and you didn’t even give me a chance to really do that. I’minvested.”

I move closer still, transfixed on the mixture of fury and pain in her eyes. This hurt her more than I ever thought it could.

I haul her into my arms. I don’t want to see her this way. “It wasn’t a game. Everything you’re doing is very real…”

My words don’t seem to reach her as an avalanche of emotions hurl down on her.

“You can’t possibly understand…” her voice cracks, “how much this all means to me.”

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