Page 9 of Savage Truth

“Always. Make him your bitch.”

My laugh sounded devious even to me. I planned to do that and more. I couldn’t wait for Cole to break down and kiss me again, no matter the consequences.

* * *

“The last time I saw you was when you were a tiny little thing, just learning to walk. And now, I can’t believe you look so much like your mom did when she was about your age.”

I choked on the steak I was trying to swallow, trying hard not to throw it back up. My fork clattered to the plate, garnering the attention of the couple seated at the table to our left.Please don’t say where that was. Cole didn’t need any more information on us.

I remained silent. I had no reply to Lucas’s comment. Thankfully, I didn’t need one.

“Nice, Dad.” Damon’s voice was devoid of emotion as he drew everyone’s attention. “What’s next? Are you going to tell us that she’s our long-lost sister? That you’re really her father?”

Mom’s wide eyes caught and held mine. “No, Damon,” she answered, never breaking eye contact with me. “Lucas isnotRiley’s father.”

“But you’re the other woman. And from what father of the year just admitted, you have been for a long time. Among others. Isn’t that right, Dad?” Cole spoke to his dad, but his focus was still on me.

It was entirely too much attention.

“I know you’re still angry with me, both of you. But this isn’t the time,” Lucas said regretfully, looking away.

I kept my gaze fixed on Mom. I could read the sorrow that pulled at the corners of her eyes. It would have been much easier for her if I had been his daughter. My father was a monster, and if we weren’t careful, he would find and kill us.

I suppressed a shudder, but not well enough. I felt Cole’s eyes burning a hole into the side of my face. Then his large hand rested on the top of my thigh, momentarily stopping my heart and freezing time. As if he had some magical pull, I turned my head, catching his smoldering green eyes with my stricken ones. I didn’t want him to see the terror inside me and shut down all emotion, shoving everything deep inside, where it couldn’t give him ammunition to hurt me.

He pressed his lips into a tight line as Damon continued to harass their dad. I wasn’t listening. I couldn’t hear anything when Cole looked at me like he would slay all my dragons. If only it were true and hatred didn’t exist between us.

But it did. And I had to remember that.

“Riley.” Mom’s voice helped to break whatever spell Cole had over me.

I focused on her. “Yeah?”

“I asked if you wanted dessert.”

Her smile was strained. Lucas and Damon were glaring at each other, and Cole was still focused on me. The heavy weight of his hand acted to ground me enough that I could break free from the past that Lucas had so casually brought up. “No. I’m full. Are we ready to go?”Please let us leave this trainwreck of a dinner.

It wasn’t long before we left. Nothing good would have come of staying. Cole and Damon had driven to the restaurant in a separate car, but I’d unfortunately gone with the adults. No one said anything as we piled into our respective vehicles. My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I slipped it out as I climbed into the back of Lucas’s SUV. Cassie had texted to tell me there was another fight tonight. She couldn’t go but wanted to pass along the information in case I wanted to. I didn’t. Dinner had been draining, and I was still trying to figure out the dynamic between Mom and Lucas.

Since the address she’d sent wasn’t the old fieldhouse, I figured it would be safe to sneak into school and use the pool, as it was too late to dive safely at the cove. I just needed to wait long enough for everyone to settle their plans.

Once we were back at the house, minus Cole and Damon, I sat in one of the window seats with a book I’d found in their library. There was a section of romance novels that must have been their mom’s. She seemed to have enjoyed office romance. It wasn’t really my thing, but it was better than any of the lawyer textbooks and science fiction that I’d found.

ReadingFalling for the Bosswould do while I waited for Cole’s laundry to finish in the dryer. I couldn’t believe I was doing it. But if he returned unexpectedly and caught me in his room, it was a good enough reason for me to be there. Another advantage would be Lucas seeing me with Cole’s laundry. I had plans for that too.

And I would follow through because of that comment about the grass stains on his uniform. He’d meant to put me in my place. Even though I could make him hard, I was beneath him—a grifter.

It was late, but I wasn’t tired. Cole and Damon were at their stupid underground fight. Lucas was watching a movie with Mom, and with them was the last place I wanted to be. I could hear them laughing and peeked in a couple of times. They hadn’t caught me, which was the point. Mom was snuggled against his side, wearing leggings, a T-shirt, and all her makeup scrubbed off her face. It was the most natural I’d seen her around anyone other than Uncle Ronan or me.

I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach about it all. I’d never seen her so happy. And as much as I wanted to hate Lucas, I couldn’t because of how Mom was around him. But even if I did feel a tiny sliver of gratitude toward Lucas for making her happy, that in no way meant I would go easy on Cole.

I needed to get out of there. A softdingsounded, and I took that as my cue to grab Cole’s laundry from the dryer and take it up to his room. I drew the line at folding it. I flung it onto his bed and began systematically searching for the key I knew he had to the school. It didn’t take long. He’d left one on his dresser, and it had to be the one. There weren’t any others.

On my way out, I stopped short as Mom breezed into the kitchen, carrying two empty wineglasses.

She stopped when she saw the bag slung over my shoulder, and her eyebrows climbed her forehead. “You’re diving? It’s dark out.”

“I can sneak into the school.”

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