Page 114 of You Were Always Mine
Her scream rips out under the choke, wet and broken. “He didn’t! Kai, please, I didn’t—I didn’t!”
I shake her by the throat, her head knocking against the wall. Her sobs tear through me, but I can’t stop. Rage has me by the bones, dragging me deeper.
“I’ll kill him. I’ll put his blood all over these hands if he even looks at you. So tell me the truth, Scar. Tell me before I make you.”
Her nails claw at my wrist, her sobs splintering the air as I pin her to the wall. Her eyes are wide, wet, pleading—but I don’t let go. I can’t.
“Stop lying to me, Scar,” I snarl, my grip tightening. “You think I don’t see it? You think I don’t fucking know when you’re hiding something?”
She shakes her head frantically, the words choking out between broken breaths.
“I—Kai—please, I wasn’t with him, I swear.”
My chest heaves, every muscle strung tightwith fury. “Then what the fuck is it? What are you keeping from me?”
And then it breaks out of her, a scream so desperate it cracks:
“He texted me, okay?!”
The room stills. The only sound is her ragged breathing against my hand. My blood runs cold.
I lean closer, eyes boring into hers, my voice low, venomous. “Tyler… texted you.”
Her whole body trembles, but she nods, sobbing harder.
“I didn’t — I didn’t answer, Kai, I swear. I didn’t see him. It’s just messages. That’s all.”
Her words shake, half-truths dripping from her tongue, and I can feel her pulse racing under my fingers.
“Show me,” I growl, the demand slicing between us like a blade. “Every fucking word.”
Her nod is frantic, her sobs raw, but when I growl for the phone she freezes.
“I—I can’t,” she whispers, voice cracking. “It’s gone. I deleted them.”
My grip tightens on her jaw, forcing her to look at me. “Deleted?” The word scrapes out of me, sharp and poisoned. “You’re telling me he texts you, and instead of showing me, you fucking delete it?”
Her tears spill faster, and she shakes her head, desperate. “I didn’t want you to get mad, Kai. I didn’t want?—”
I slam my palm against the wall beside her head, my face inches from hers. “Too late for that, Scar. Way too fucking late.”
Her lips tremble, searching for an excuse, something to calm me down, but all I see is guilt swimming in her eyes.
“You think I’m stupid?” I spit, my chest heaving. “You think I don’t know you’re hiding more? Tell me, Scar. Tell me the whole fucking truth before I lose what little control I’ve got left.”
She bites her lip so hard I see the blood, shaking her head again, whispering over and over?—
“There’s nothing else, there’s nothing else…”
I shove back from the wall, pacing, every nerve in my body screaming. The lie is written all over her face, yet she clings to it as if it will save her.
My fists clench, my throat raw with fury. “Fine. Keep your little secrets. But understand this—” I swing back toward her, my voice dropping to a dark, dangerous whisper.
“If I find out you’re lying again, Scar… I swear to God, I’ll make sure you never speak his name again. Ever.”
She’s still muttering the lie, shaking her head like a little doll come undone, and every second of it is gasoline in my blood. I stalk back toward her, my shadow swallowing her whole, my hand catching her throat again, not squeezing—just enough to remind her I could.
“Look me in the eyes and say it again,” I whisper, my lips brushing her ear. “Say there’s nothing else, Scar. Lie to me one more time.”
