Page 199 of Poison Vows

“Lovemaking is for lovers! You and I have never been that. We both got gratification, so let this toxic mess end now. As for that third condition of that contract, I’m sure we can both agree to use it to nullify this crap between us.”

“Just like that?” he asks darkly.

“It was bad blood right from the beginning, and I refuse to bleed out and die with you.”

Because the truth is, if I stay, my heart will die for real.

I can’t match the relentless and indifferent nature Emmett Easton possesses. And he won’t stop until I’m damned to hell. I need to get out.

“I want nothing to do with Beverly and her daughter. Do with them as you please.”

With that, I turn around to leave, but I feel a hand grabbing my wrist, something I’ve always hated in books and movies and especially now when all I want is to get away and lick my wounds in private.

“Ivy…”

My heart drops to my chest.

“Let go,” I murmur past my clogged throat.

“I… I can’t,” he groans, pulling me into him. He wraps his cannon arms around me, my back nestled in the warmth of his chest. “You know I can’t.”

Agony like being pierced with a thousand blades through the heart filters through me.

The strings only he has access to are being pulled tight right now… but that just means they’re about to snap to set me free.

Maybe that’s the release I need… to break away from him. I suck in a deep breath, but it only makes waves of pain surge up in my chest.

“We’ve never lied to each other,” I mutter as tears run down my cheeks. “But we’ve also never been fully honest either. Let’s start now. If you want me to put on a show for your family soyou can beat your chest and show them who’s boss, then just say that, but let go of me, you fucking asshole!”

“I can’t…” he whispers brokenly in my hair, his body starting to tremble. “I’m physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually unable to let you go, let alone watch you with someone else… I can’t, Ivy. It’s impossible for me.”

I stand there in his arms, silently breaking apart.

This is where I’ve always wanted to be, in the arms of the man I fell in love with when we were just children.

He’s saying all the words I’ve always wanted to hear him say.

But…

“You had a chance to get a heart transplant three years ago, why didn’t you take it?”

He grows as still as stone behind me and doesn’t say a word. I chuckle.

“You always had pretty words, Emmett. And being addicted to stories, I loved listening to yours, but wow, all your actions were always transparent, but I chose to blindfold myself and pretend to be unafraid of the dark.”

Knowing he won’t let me go easily, I start moving to turn around and he lets me, but he doesn’t completely break his hold around me.

I turn around and face him fully, his arms still around my waist, my body flush against his.

“The answer is simple,” I whisper. “I’ve never been enough for you to want to live.”

“That’s not true!”

“It took years for me to figure it out. I thought I was being brave, encouraging you, pushing you, but who knew I was doing all that for a man that had long since decided my voice was just background noise? All that mattered was your revenge and now that Giovanni is dead, everything’s going well for you. I just got the memo late.”

Even though my insides are completely shattered, and a deep abyss has since formed, in this moment I want to be clear with the green-eyed boy who haunts my soul.

“I deserve better,” I start.

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