Page 106 of Wicked Duty
Fuck.
The betrayal dimming those gorgeous eyes flays me.
I have to explain.
Desperation floods my veins, prompting me to pivot in her direction. “Lucy.”
Stumbling back a step, she flings her palms out to ward me off, freezing me in place. “Did you go through my things and take the drive?”
“Yes, but?—”
“You were searching for it all along?”
“Lucy, now’s not?—”
“So stupid. I’m so damn stupid.” Her whisper is barely audible, as if she’s talking to herself. “Thisis why you were so happy to take us to a hotel. I thought you were on my side for once, but you wanted my apartment to be empty. You searched through my stuff there and made it look like the work of an intruder so that I’d want to leave.”
Her grim little laugh morphs into a sob. She swallows the noise immediately and yanks on her hair.
The pain etched into her beautiful face makes me want to kick my own ass.
Shane hums from behind me. “So, that’s how you got her out of her apartment? Clever.”
The cringe I force into stillness is enough to crack my ribs.
Lucy’s eyes well up.
That comment earns Shane the number two spot on my ass kicking list. I’ve never wanted to climb over a table and pummel a man as much as I want to clock the head Gallagher at this very moment.
I also want to toss Lucy over my shoulder and carry her off to a safe, private place so I can lick the tears from her cheeks and fuck her until she listens. After that, hopefully forgiveness will follow. Then I’ll lock her up in my bedroom until the threat disappears.
The horror widening Lucy’s eyes alerts me that her mind’s spinning in an entirely different direction. “That night you went back to my place…and you got hurt… It was because you were looking for that, right? You didn’t do it for me. You haven’t done one single thing for me. All of it was for the money. And I…”
I start toward her again, my heart crashing down to the bricks beneath our feet. “Hear me out, Lucy.”
She shakes her head and continues as if I never spoke. “…I slept with you. God, I really am an idiot.”
“Bullshit! Stop saying that.” Now she’s starting to piss me off.
She recoils when I reach for her, almost tripping in her haste to avoid me. “Stay away from me, you lying bastard.”
“You slept with her?” The edge in Darren’s voice warns me I’m about to catch a fist to the face sometime soon if I don’t find some way to curtail the chaos unfolding between us.
“You’re fired.” The finality in Lucy’s tone saws me in half. She spins away, stopping only to speak to a fuming Veronika. “Don’t send him to guard me again.”
If looks could kill, Darren and I would be bleeding out at Veronika’s feet. “Already done. Come on, Lu, you can stay at our place tonight.”
Veronika wraps her arm around Lucy and ushers her back inside without another word.
I move to follow, but Darren grabs me by my shirt and drags me backward. He pins me with a chaotic, furious glare. “You cocksucker!”
The fist that slams into my gut knocks the air from my lungs.
Damn. That hurt.
He rears his arm back for a follow-up, but I grab his catch mid-strike. “One,” I wheeze. “You got your freebie. Next time, I’ll return the favor. But I’ll tell you right now, it’s not what you think.”
Darren’s bright blue eyes gleam with malice. “So you didn’t sleep with her?”
