Page 42 of Reluctant Heir

“What are you talking about?”

“There’s an … interview process you have to go through.”

“For something I wasn’t asked about in the first place?” She throws her arms out to her sides and looks like she’s about to start screaming at me.

“Don’t really have a choice,” I tell her, shrugging.

“You’re an ass,” she says, fuming.

I finish re-wrapping my hands and smile at her. “What other secrets are you keeping, Willa Kathryn?” I register the whiplash look on her face as she tries to follow the conversation.

“Secrets?”

I step toward her, and she steps back. We continue like that until her back hits the wall. I push my chest into her, my hands by my sides and my head tilted to look at her upturned one.

“What are you doing?” she whispers, and I bring one hand up, running my exposed fingertips along her collarbone.

“Does the name Aaron ring any bells in your pretty little mind?” I ask and watch her search for the connection.

Her eyes widen, and she blows out a tight breath. I can feel her shock at my question. The same shock I felt when I found out who she was.

“Why do you ask?”

Dammit, I want a straight answer from her. I want her to stop running around in circles in my mind and occupying space in my thoughts. She’s a means to an end, and that’s how I need to treat her.

“Just answer the damn question, Wryn,” I say, my face inches from hers.

Her eyes search mine. I can see her pulse pounding in her throat, feel her erratic breaths against my skin. I shift back slightly and let one finger trail between her breasts as I wait for her response.

Will she lie, or will she tell the truth?

“What do you know about Ruby?” she asks on a whisper, her head leaning back on the wall.

I don’t answer.

“What the fuck do you know?” she screams, both hands on my shoulders as she shoves me back.

She’s not as strong as she thinks she is, but I step back, watching her. She closes in on herself for a moment and then comes back swinging. I raise one forearm to catch her right hook and grin.

This is what I need. Physical violence. I need to hurt and be hurt. But I can’t hurt her. I let her next punch land on my face, my head jerking to the side. I can feel my cheek open in a cut against my teeth, and the blood tastes tangy on my tongue.

“What the fuck do you know?” she screams again, still coming at me and I let her.

She continues to repeat it over and over until her voice is hoarse, and then I catch her as she sags against me. The air leaves her in sharp pants, tears streaming down her face as she gives me one last halfhearted hit to my back, where her arms are struggling for purchase.

We sink to the floor, and she scoots back from me once she realizes we are still touching. Her face is puffy, and she has small lines of mascara streaking down her cheeks, but she doesn’t move to wipe them off. She looks shell-shocked, as if her life and mine just became connected in an even deeper way. And it did. Not only is her friend most likely gone because of my father, but she’s gone because of me as well.

But her reaction tells me a lot. They were close friends even though Ruby never mentioned her by name. And I’m willing to bet the reason she’s here right now has everything to do with Ruby.

“How do you know about Aaron? Did you take her?” she finally says while hiccupping. Her voice is steady now, put together. She wraps her arms around her knees and waits for my answer.

“I know because I was him. Ruby and I met—”

“In a library—yeah, I know.” She takes a moment to put it all together, staring at me with wide eyes. “She talked about Aaron incessantly the whole two months they … you two were seeing each other.”

“Really? She never mentioned you by name.”

“Ruby and I are … very protective of each other. She wouldn’t have told you who I was unless she was planning on us meeting.”

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