Page 43 of The Death Dealer

“Areyouokay?” she asked. “It seems you care awfully much about?—”

“I don’t,” he stated coldly. “Don’t mistake anything I do for caring, Dalli. It’s a surefire way to get your heart broken.”

“I only meant?—”

Feeling exposed, like his innermost feelings were on display, he pulled away and sat up, presenting his back to her. “I have to meet the others to discuss a second healing session for Lily.”

“Trevor.”

“What?”He winced at his waspish tone. “Sorry. I…” But what could he say? He couldn’t care about her. She was his mark, and when the time came for him to tell the Authority to stuff it up their ass, she’d be someone else’s. The thought created such pain in his gut that he sat on the floor beside the bed and drew up his knees.

“Trevor!” Soleil was beside himin an instant, cradling his face between her palms and staring at him with her large, worried eyes.

After tugging her hands down, he grudgingly acknowledged her concern. “I’m fine.”

“You’re not. You’re pale and sweaty.” Her lips thinned into a straight line, and she looked like she wanted to be anywhere but there. Inhaling deeply, she said, “Tell me why the Authority has it out for me. Maybe we can?—”

“Stay out of my head.”

“But you?—”

“For fuck’s sake, Soleil! Leave it alone!”

The hurt on her face was crushing. Shuttinghislids over tired eyes,hereared back and smackedhishead on the mattress’s edge, doing it a second and third time for good measure.

She drew away, mentally and physically.

“Dalli—”

“No, you’re right. Caring—for either of us—is off the table.”

He fucking hated her icy expression. “It’s not like that. I...”

But it was.

“You should’ve left me to my fate on the beach, Trevor.”

A snap of her fingers clothed her in couture and applied model-perfect makeup. Her hair was swept up in a sleek ponytail, resting high on her head. The neatest he’d ever seen it. Come to think of it, he didn’t care for the form-fitting dress or high heels she’d conjured. Theoveralllook made her appear like just another desperate woman striving for perfection.

But it wasn’ther.

Not his Dalli.

“What… Where…Why…” He scrambled to his feet. “Why are you decked out?”

She followed his gaze to her breasts and gave them a boost with her hands, positioning them higher and causing an abundance of cleavage above the U-shape opening.As shesmoothed her palms down her waist and hips, sheshot him a challenging glare, glamouring her body into runway-ready.

“Isn’t this what you’re used to, Trevor? Incomparable women like Mattie Price.”

“Stop it.” He didn’t care for how sick her pretense made him. There was nothing she needed to prove, and she was as beautiful as ten Matties. “You don’t need to do this for me, Dalli. You’re perfect the way you are.”

“Oh, this isn’t foryou. We both know you’re not interested after our single hit-it-and-quit-it encounter.Thisis forme. And perhaps Gene.”

Trevor jumped up and pressed his nose to hers.

“I’ll kill him,” he warned with a growl. “Believe me. I’m capable.”

“Not with Damian and the others present, you won’t.”

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