Page 53 of Lust
I winced.
“And that’s only the start. I’ll go afterTobyand blacklist him from every precinct, too.”
“My God.” I covered my mouth with a hand.
His actions only fortified my determination to peruse ahead with the terrible yet just form of vengeance I had conjured. Where real-life options for justice had failed me, there remained a mystical power at play.
Every man to desire me is met with disaster. What better way to exact revenge than by giving Tristan precisely what he had asked for?
The retribution was poetic—downfall brought on by the very thing he desired.
None of the men to ‘court’ me were met with irreversible damages, such as death, but there had been considerable pain. If I genuinely believed that I was cursed, all I had to do was let Tristan touch me. Not so much that it might shatter my mother. Only enough to trigger whatever misfortune befell those other men.
Generally, I sought justice, not violence, but dealing with this trauma had left me bitter. And Tristan wasn’t helping with his charming personality.
“What’s gotten into you, Tris?”
“You!” he spat. “You must have understood by now there isn’t a whole lot that’s off-limits for me when it comes to you.”
I gulped.
While I had decided to let him have me, I didn’t know if I could handle proximity to Tristan quite yet. The wound was too fresh, and the idea of that man penetrating me again made me shrivel. Tristan concealed a promiscuous side from his family and quite possibly had a sexual appetite that I wasn’t equipped to handle. Perhaps if I had a bit more time, I could adjust.
“I told you that it’s over with Tobias. This has nothing to do with him. I-I just… All of this is so insane. You’re my brother.”
“Iwasyour brother,” he countered. “And now, I want to be the man in your life. Just try to compartmentalize.”
“Compartmentalize? I-I am still trying to process what happened between us. How am I supposed to just forget?”
My answer wasn’t a yes, or a no, but Tristan had shown a side of himself that’s entirely unpredictable. So, I fully expected his wrath.
Except, his eyes softened with understanding. He ran a hand over the back of his neck… a nervous tick that he never displayed in public. He sighed in defeat. “I know all of this can’t be easy for you… but being away from you isn’t working for me, Angel. We need to find a middle ground.”
The unexpectedly tender voice caught me off guard. Tristan was either vain or vengeful. This softer side of him flared up on rare occasions. The women who chased after him had never seen the vulnerable side. To be honest, no one had other than me.
“Such as?” I asked.
“We can start with something simple. You are almost done for the day. Let’s go to dinner and talk.”
“No,” I immediately declined.
Disappointment coated his eyes, but he didn’t waver. “I hate to pull this card, but you don’t have a choice. Don’t forget, I’m the one making concessions, and you’re the one in need of something. If you don’t wish for me to go after Toby and want me to extend the dates to keep this shelter open, then I expect you to meet me halfway.”
I gritted my teeth in anger. God, I couldn’t wait to make him pay.
When I was in high school, this boy, Sasha Ivanov, tried to woo me. Sasha was the artsy, dreamy type who loved to write poetry under the birch tree. We used to make out behind the bleachers and the empty corridors of the school. We had barely ventured into second base when Sasha was expelled for hiding contraband in his locker and promptly shipped off to military school.
Perhaps if could bear it enough to let Tristan touch me, the same fate would befall him. Nothing violent that might make Mom sad, but hopefully it’d result in him being condemned and sent off to a land far, far away.
“No dinners, no romance.” Dinners and niceties had no part in our twisted relationship. If I wanted to avenge the crimes committed against me, I couldn’t falter by viewing my perpetrator in a humane light. “If you refuse to give me more time, then all I can agree to is something purely physical.”
No longer did I fear Tristan repeating the same horrors. A man who planned to use violence wouldn’t have bothered with blackmail. I suspected he was telling the truth about wanting a willing participant to his lustful desires.
Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t naïve and knew Tristan to distort the lines of morality if it fit him. And just because he didn’t want to inflict violence didn’t mean he wouldn’t be coercive in his pursuits.
Tris’ eyes widened at my suggestion, finding it unbelievable that I’d concede so easily. He questioned my ulterior motives, but the greed glinting in his eyes also told me that he didn’t care. He stepped forward, raising his fingers to my cheek. I closed my eyes in anticipation of someone sucking the very soul out of my body.
I reminded myself that it was for the greater good. One stone, two birds—the revenge I sought while keeping him at bay until something panned out for the shelter.
