Page 92 of Two Chambered Heart

Her fingertips clawed his shoulders, gripping smooth skin on one side and raised skin on the other. She ran her fingers along the seam of the scar, wanting to kiss the wounded flesh there. She bucked up into him harder, tracing his mottled skin.

Through the heat of him, reality hit her like a bullet to a tin can, the echo ringing in her ears.

Jason.

Not Kayden.

She screamed. Pulling her hands from him and pushing at his chest, she tried to sit up. He reared back, a sneer on his face as he straddled her.

“Jason!” She used her heels to get further away from him. “What the fuck? I thought you were your brother!” Through the city lights filteringin from the sheer blinds, he was the picture of Kayden on top of her. An angry sob escaped through her clenched teeth, tears building in her eyes. “Why did you do that?”

He paused before answering, his eyes hardening. “I take what I want, sweetheart.”

“You’re fucked! You basically just raped me!” There was a frantic pitch to her voice.

“Didn’t feel like that while you were grinding on my cock. Isn’t that why you were eyeing me all night? You want me, Corey. We both know it.”

“Not like this.” Her voice broke, her tears streaming down her face now. “Why did you do this?”

He lifted himself off her, sliding out of the bed, and pulled his sweatpants back on. “I’m not a good man, Corey. I’ve never told you I’m anything of the sort. Whatever fantasy of me you’ve been building in your head, it’s wrong. This is who I am.”

She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, trying to hide herself, chest heaving with her breath.

“I’m corrupted to my core. Now, my brother, he’s on his way there. But he’s still got some light left.” Jason continued, a leering lilt to his tone, “I hope like hell you can keep that part of him alive. But I’m a lost cause, sweetheart. Don’t forget that.”

And then he left her, slamming the door behind him.

Corey’s anger burned away her tears. His words were like knives to her heart, but now that she knew his actions were a façade, she could hear the lies in them. Kayden was right. The motivation behind them was clear. Every time he got too close, opened up too much, he did something like this, something horrible enough that he thought he could finally break her. But he couldn’t, because she was already broken, and they were slowly putting her back together.

Both of them.

She ripped the tangled sheets away, hastily put on a sweatshirt, and bolted out of her room and up the stairs.

She threw Jason’s door open and burst into his room.

He was sitting on the edge of his bed, staring out the window at the glowing city lights. At her intrusion, he sprang up from his bed with eyes that spat fire.

“You don’t get to run away from me!” she yelled. Then she came at him, her anger and frustration fueling her movements. She punched her hands into his chest, pushing him back with the force of it. “This isn’t a game to me! You can’t do what you just did and leave!”

“I can do whatever I want,” he said, gritting his teeth and attempting a sneer, but it didn’t make it through the set of his jaw.

“But you’re not doing what you want, are you?” Her voice was getting shrill, her fingers curling, nails biting into his skin “You may have noticed that I want you, but I’m not the only one here! You wantmejust as much as I want you.” She pounded her fists into his chest again, the thump emphasizing her point. “You want this!”

The rage seemed to fizzle out of her. She gripped his bare shoulders and shook him slightly. “You want me. I know you do. No matter how hard you try, you can’t make me hate you. Why do you keep denying yourself this?”

He was staring at her like she was crazy, and in that moment, she felt it. But she didn’t miss the tension in his shoulders, the pain in his eyes suffocating the fire that had just been there.

He gripped her chin, stroking a hand along her jaw, and her clenched teeth softened.

“Sweetheart,please. I’mthe poison.” There was resignation in his voice. He truly believed what he was saying. “I hurt people. I hurtyou.”

“No,” she yelled in his face. “I don’t believe that. I won’t.”

“Believe it or don’t. I don’t care.” His eyes had gone dead.

She wanted to slap him.

“Look at me.” She gripped his face. “I’m right here. After everything you did to me, I’m standing right here.” And she was. She was standing in front of him, in his room, in nothing but his own sweatshirt.

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