Page 23 of Savage Truth

Tears welled in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I let Cole get to me. There was something about him that I’d connected to for the first time in my life. I didn’t know if it was because of how I’d grown up—fearing my dad, on the run, running cons with Mom—or if I was defective. I did know that I wasn’t a mere shell of a person with him.

When he kissed me, I lost time. Nothing existed but the commanding way his lips moved over mine. My knees went weak when he held me, taking my weight as if it was nothing. Every part of me responded to him, melted for him. He was an addiction I couldn’t quit. And I didn’t think I wanted to.

I pulled out my phone and tapped his contact, which he’d programmed in my phone assurface dweller. I wanted to text him. All I could think about was him. I tossed it onto the mattress. There was no point.He knows all about me now, and that’s not a good thing.

CHAPTER TWELVE

COLE

Riley is a liar.

I scrubbed a hand over my forehead. My brain hurt from the fight with my dad and her mom and the reaction on her face—her eyes had widened, and her jaw dropped in utter shock, and it conflicted with what I thought I knew.

I should call her. Text. Apologize.

But why? She lied. Over and over again.

She knew my mom killed herself—and it was her mom’s fault.And she acted like nothing happened. My brain hurt. I went back and forth, sometimes believing she was innocent and didn’t know everything about her mom’s part in mine’s death, who my dad was, and who I had been when they moved in.

I kicked my feet onto the coffee table, making Damon’s beer teeter precariously. He swiped it, glaring. I lifted mine to my lips and took another long pull. Shane shouted at the football game on TV. Phoenix chimed in, momentarily distracting me, but not for long. Riley was embedded under my skin.

I couldn’t just sit there after everything that had imploded earlier with Dad and Raelyn, especially combined with how betrayed Riley had made me feel. I needed an outlet to set some of the aggression loose. A glance at Damon told me he would be game. All we had to do was contact Snake and arrange a last-minute fight for that night. Because if I didn’t do that, I would go crazy.

I downed half my beer while fisting my other hand at my side. Riley knew. A hundred percent. When I was losing everything, when Mom was dead and in a box, hers was busy fucking my dad.There’s no way she didn’t know that. Dad was a blatant and obvious cheater.

Dark intent filled me until it became almost unbearable. Hatred for my dad spilled onto her. It was inevitable. Thanks to Dad, I had to destroy Riley, even if I didn’t want to. Besides, Mom would have expected me to take care of it. It didn’t matter that she was dead.

Decision made, I couldn’t wait for morning. Riley wouldn’t know what hit her.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

RILEY

Incoming—fight’s over. Cass’s text sent a devious thrill through me.

I hurried downstairs to the kitchen to enact payback for Cole calling me a liar earlier and for sneaking into my room and deleting the video. I’d recorded it the first time I’d gone to one of his fights with my phone hidden in my bra, only to slip it out when he was in the ring to document the illegal activity and use it as blackmail.

A last-minute underground fight had been set up, according to Cass, and she’d gone. I’d bailed, not feeling up for it after the explosion between Cole and his dad. The only reason I’d known they weren’t at their cousins’ house was because of Cass, who was wholeheartedly in on my plan.

Lucas was in the office, catching up on work, and the door was open a hair. That was enough. Mom had a newfound love of bubble baths, and I was pretty sure she was either in the tub or asleep. Either way, only Lucas would catch us, which was what I wanted to happen.

I grabbed a glass, filled it with water, then stood at the edge of the island, where he would get a full view. I knew what I looked like: just-fucked-hair, a tight T-shirt without a bra, and tiny sleep shorts. And I was well aware that after a fight, he felt primal and very sexual.

My heart pounded in anticipation, the kiss from the only fight I’d attended flashed through my mind, causing an overload of sensations. I wanted—needed—it to happen again.

It felt like forever, but I quickly heard the faint sound of the garage door. Leaning a hip against the counter, I took a sip of water, eyes half-mast, right when Cole opened the door.

His presence saturated the room, seemingly shrinking the overly large kitchen. Goose bumps raced along my arms, and my nipples hardened. Then our gazes locked and held. As his pupils dilated with intense emotion, I fought to maintain my pseudosleepy expression. I lowered my water and set it precariously close to the island’s edge.

Cole closed the distance, and my pulse notched up another degree. He stalked me like prey, dark promise swimming in his green eyes as he advanced. I retreated but not by much. Just enough to goad him into pursuit.

In a lightning-fast move, his hand grasped my hip. He spun me around so my hips pressed against the hard stone countertop. My breath hitched at his touch as he tangled a hand in my hair. The other was like a steel band around my waist, drawing me close. Not even a millimeter of space existed between our bodies. Every hard ridge and groove of his body pressed against me. Then his mouth was on mine, demanding entry.

I clung to his broad shoulders, where the muscles shifted and bunched as he deepened the kiss insistently. His urgent caresses escalated my need. Desire raged between us. As he tugged on the hair at my nape, heat crested through me in waves from the hardness of him against my stomach. I was putty in his hands, my knees weak from the need he stoked to an unbearable pressure inside me.

There wasn’t much time, and I feared I would lose track of it quickly. He would carry me to his room if I didn’t do something. I would have gone willingly, but I had a plan.

While I still had a modicum of brainpower, I slid my hands down his arms so that my left elbow was where it needed to be. With one sharp nudge, I felt the cool glass as I connected with it, sending it flying. Glass shattered, and my heart rate skyrocketed.

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