Page 123 of Tide of Treason
24 years old
Present day
“I know I’mnot supposed to talk to you. But I’m going to anyway.”
Silence. She poured herself water like I wasn’t even there. I thought she might’ve been happy about me signing the annulment, but clearly, I’d misread something because Kayla seemed almost . . . angry.
“I missed you so bad I tasted blood. Every day. Thought I was dying.”
She sipped. Walked past me.
“I touched myself once in Zacatecas and thought about you so hard I almost cried.”
She paused. Blinked. “You’re disgusting.”
“I know. Fuck.” I followed her to the living room. “Youwanna hear how many times I watched the security footage of you in that red dress?”
“Not particularly.”
“Six.”
She turned then.
I would’ve taken a knife to the ribs before I’d admit the way my stomach fucking fluttered when she did.
“Stalker behavior.”
“I didn’t even jerk off to it. That’s how low I’d sunk.”
Her eyes flicked to my shoulder. “You should be in bed.”
“I should be in you.”
She sucked her teeth. “No sex, remember?”
“Kill me, then.”
“You’re pathetic.”
I nodded, jaw tight, throat raw. “For you? Absolutely. I begged the Virgin Mary in a truck stop chapel outside Torreón for a sign. You know what I got? A busted vending machine and a condom that ripped in my wallet.”
Again, the bathroom door slammed in my face.
Didn’t stop me from resting my forehead against it.
“Kayla,” I tried, low. “You don’t get it. I’ve killed for less than what I felt the second I thought some asshole might’ve touched you. I wanted to blow the building off the map just to be sure.”
Silence.
Then, a whisper from inside. “It was Elio. He was there to stop me from killing my papà when I found out he voted neutral.”
Oh.
Oh, God.
I slid down the wall.
My head swam so fast it left me dizzy. There was relief. So much, I almost passed the fuck out, except the pain that followed it made me feel physically sick. Guilt that I could’ve gotten Kayla’s hands covered in blood over my own paranoia. Fear that whatever jealousy had made me hate her so fast and so hard might’ve ripped us apart over nothing.
