Page 39 of Bully

And then I was going to drag her out by her pretty rainbow hair and get her as far away from my sisters-in-law as possible. If I didn’t, then I’d lose my spot in our family. She’d take it right out from under me.

“Ah, took you far longer than I thought it would.” A female voice called out from my side and I glared at Peyton, where she leaned up against the bar. I stopped, looking around for the other two cohorts in the ‘Piss Tamen Off’ plan of hers. “I’m almost surprised you weren’t here in mere minutes.”

Putting my hands on my hips, I glared at her deeper, “I was hunting.”

Her eyes flicked to the crowd of customers around us before nodding her head for me to join her at the bar. She had a glass of wine in front of her and leaned her elbow on the bar top as I gave in and stood in front of her. “Who were you hunting?”

“Does it matter?” I snapped.

Her green eyes rounded slightly, but not in fear. Peyton didn’t fear me, she was probably the only woman out there that didn’t on occasion. Well, not since I broke into her guest house, unknowingly.

“It does.” She tipped her head back, staring down her nose at me. “Dane says you’ve been quite preoccupied with hunting lately.” She watched me closely, “He said he hasn’t seen you this busy since right after Harlow House.”

I rolled my eyes and looked at the bartender as he came up to us. “Scotch. Top shelf.” He turned away to pour my drink, and I looked back to Peyton. “Has he finally divulged his secrets to you about Harlow House?” Her teeth bit into her lip as anger flared in her eyes, but nothing else outwardly gave away her true feelings about Dane’s inability to tell her about his childhood. Yeah, well, like hell were we going to talk about my past if he would not talk about his. “Didn’t think so.”

“You slept with Sloane.” She countered, and my skin prickled with anxiety as I stared down at the closest thing to a female family member I had in decades. Did she know the depth of that story, or just the surface level information about it?

“Are you suddenly interested in who I fuck?” I argued, “Is Dane not entertaining you at Hartington and now you need to fill your entertainment with my dick?”

“Knock it off.” She hissed, leveling her finger at me as the bartender laid my drink down. My stomach rolled at her anger, hating that I took the low blow to begin with. Sighing, she took a drink from her wine as I did the same off my scotch. “What’s different about her? And before you try to tell me there isn’t, just don’t. Because I’m not an idiot, and I know that you’ve retreated to darkness to deal with something emotional. Even Dane and Maddox have noticed how often you’ve worked jobs lately. And it all started right after you took over Prism.”

“It’s an expensive take over.” I brushed it all off, making excuses already paraphrased in my head. “The extra income helps with the remodel.”

She stared at me for so long I had to look away. “I think that’s the first time you’ve ever lied straight to my face.”

Something akin to pain crossed her green irises before she blinked it away and looked out over the crowd. But I remained silent, because she was right. It had been a lie.

Everything felt like a lie.

Finally, I gave in, “I—tricked her.” Sighing, I went on, “Into bed.”

Peyton’s eyebrows rose slightly as she took another sip of wine. “I thought you were irresistible to women everywhere. Why’d you have to trick her?”

I scoffed and cracked my neck. “Because she hates me as much as I hate her.”

“But the chemistry doesn’t care.”

“Nope.” I let a big breath out. “But it doesn’t matter. Because it can’t happen again. It won’t.”

“Why?” She questioned, “I can tell just by looking at the two of you that it wasn’t as if the sex was bad. So, what else is it?”

Finally, I held her stare, even if it made my skin crawl to do so. I hated eye contact. I found it incredibly frustrating how effortlessly I picked up on the subtle nuances of other people’s emotions, a silent language written in the depths of their eyes, their vulnerability a burden I couldn’t escape. But for P, I’d endure. “Because I’m me. And I’ve never been safe to be around.”

“You’re around us and we’re just fine.” She countered instantly, almost like she believed that.

Scoffing, I tipped back the rest of my drink, swallowing down the expensive liquor that deserved to be sipped. “None of you have left my presence without scars. Ever. Every single one of you bears the mark of my curse.”

“What is your curse?” She leaned in, intending to get the information out of me I swore I’d take to my grave.

A flash of color caught my eye over her head, and I pinpointed Sloane, where she walked around the corner with her arm twined with Liv’s, laughing together. Every head in the restaurant turned to the melodic sound of her laugh, entranced by it, just like I was.

“I chose this life.” Although I kept staring at Sloane, I replied to Peyton. “I chose the darkness, I walked into it willingly and never thought twice about the consequences.”

“How is that a curse?” She asked, and I glanced down at her for a second before my body involuntarily went back to staring at Sloane.

“I can’t un-choose it. I can’t go back, and I can’t get out. The darkness owns me because when I was merely a babe, I made a deal with the devil, and I’ll never earn my happiness because of it.”

As if Sloane could sense me staring at her, the amber glow of her eyes found mine across the crowd as I memorized every little part of her. She wore a pastel pink shirt, ripped white jeans, and gold strappy sandals.

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