Page 30 of Tainted Rose

“Not now, Xander. I have to go.” She buttons her jeans and looks down to make sure her clothes are straight and slides her feet into her shoes.

“What? Where are you going?”

“Home. You aren’t good for me, and until you can tell me what the hell you’re keeping from me, I have nothing else to say to you.”

“You planned this.” I work my jaw back and forth, exasperated, my eyes squinting at her. “Look, there are things you don’t know, and I wish I could tell you but—” I lift my arms in a shrug, then drop them.

She glances over her shoulder, steely determination in her eyes. “I’d tell you to get the fuck out, so you know exactly how I felt that night, but I don’t live here and neither do you. So, I’ll just say fuck off and leave it at that.”

As I watch her departing figure, I lift my hands to my face to run them over it. They’re shaking.

She’s given me a taste of my own medicine. I could be mad about it, but hell, maybe it’s for the best. Ever since I realized who she was, I’d thought it would be best if she stayed far away from me and my family. And now she’s doing the job for me.

I don’t want my mom to know what Sebastian may have done. To ruin her life again, in a new and different way than how Dad had ruined her. Is Sebastian capable of what I’m worried about? I thought I knew him. At the very least, he has a child that he hasn’t told his wife about. At worst? I don’t want to think about what the circumstances surrounding the pregnancy may have been.

I wish I had a better way to protect all of them—my mother, Scarlett, Janie. For now, keeping the secret buried is the best I can do.

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