Page 19 of Trick's Elite

“I. Don’t. Care. Who. Killed. Them,” she bit out, angrily.

He swallowed hard and continued, “We found your stuff in the back of the SUV. Axle gave it to me before we left the compound.”

“Did you plan to ever let me know?”

“Yes,” he spat, grabbing her wrist and twisting it until she dropped the knife on the bed. He rolled her the other way and under him. Holding her down with his body, he glared down at her face. “When I could trust you. When I could confide in you. When I knew Iwouldn’t wake up with that fucking knife to my throat!That’s when the hell I planned to tell you, Stiletto. When youfuckingearned that knowledge.”

Slowly, the fight just drained right out of her, and she let out a sigh. “Stiletto?”

He nodded to the knife on the bed. “It fits.”

“I overreacted, didn’t I?”

“Ya think?” he said sarcastically, then climbed to his feet, snatched up the knife at the same time, and stomped to the bathroom. He locked the door behind him and set the knife on the edge of the sink. As he relieved himself, he let out a long, slow breath, the first one he’d been able to take that morning. What a great fucking way to wake up.

Stella

Stella sat up on the bed and crossed her legs in front of her, burying her face in her hands. What he said made sense. Why would he tell her anything about her knife and wallet when he didn’t know he could trust her? If the situation was reversed, she wouldn’t have told him either.

What the hell was wrong with her? Why did she give a damn if he lied to her? She didn’t trust him, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise to her. Hell, she should be relieved. She didn’t have to worry about identification when she was through with her current situation. She could leave and not have to worry about how she was going to get money, rent a car, find shelter, and all the things she was going to have to do.

Dropping her hands to her lap, Stella let out a quiet, humorless laugh. She was fooling herself. The reason she reacted the way she had was because she was hurt. If she was honest with herself, she would admit that she had begun to think of him as a friend, if not more. She cared about him, and the sexual chemistry was undeniable.

Being cuffed wasn’t even much of an inconvenience anymore. He didn’t leave her cuffed for long, and as she proved she wasn’t planning anything, he was slowly giving her more freedom. She knew from the start that he was cuffing her because he felt he had to, not because he wanted to.

The truth of the matter was she put herself in the situation she was in. She chose the job at the academy. She believed in the mission. She led those hunters to the clubs. It was her fault that she wasn’t trusted. Trying to get help for the two kidnapped club members didn’t erase the fact that they wouldn’t have been taken if she hadn’t handed over the information she had.

Everything Matthew had done was to protect his family, and more recently, to protect her. Stella had told herself she was protecting the human race, but the only violence she had witnessed from the Howlers and the Claws was to protect their own. The academy committed violence out of a sense of superiority. If it was really about protecting humans, they would have more evidence of humans being harmed by shifters.

Stella swallowed hard around the lump that had grown in her throat, and her heart started pounding out of control in her chest. She had bought into a lie.

As she tried to breathe through the panic and shame rising in her, she vaguely noticed movement at the foot of the bed. Lifting her gaze, she saw Trick standing there with her knife in his hand. He was holding it by the blade, and his arm was stretched out toward her. Confused, she stared at it for a long moment before she looked up at him again.

“Take it.”

Slowly, still panting through her panic, she wrapped her hand around the grip and took it from his hand.

“If you feel the need to take me out in my sleep, then do it. I can’t do this anymore.” He shook his head and ran his hand over the top. “I don’t know how to break through. I don’t… I don’t know how to build trust with us. So… I’m just going to trust you. If that gets me killed…” He shrugged. “I would rather my mate take me out than one of those fucking hunters anyway.”

When he spoke of her hurting him, she cringed and tears fell from her eyes, trailing down her cheeks. The thought of hurting him caused a sharp pain in her chest. Or was that the panic?

“Breathe, Stiletto.” He sat down in front of her on the bed and laid his hand against her cheek. “Come on. Breathe with me. In.” He sucked in a deep, slow breath, and she did her best to mimic the action. “Good. Now, exhale.” He breathed out, and so did she.

For the next few minutes, that was all they did. In. Out. Gradually, her heart rate returned to normal, and her breathing steadied. Feeling much calmer, she looked into his dark brown eyes and saw nothing but concern.

“Why?”

His brows pulled together as he studied her. “What do you mean?”

“Why did you give it back?”

He dropped his hand from her cheek and rubbed his face with his hands. “Because I’m tired. We’ve been here for what? Five weeks? And we keep ending up back where we started. We’ve gotta break this cycle.” Crossing his arms over his chest, he glanced over at her. “Or if we’re going to kill each other, it needs to just happen.”

“You won’t kill me,” she said, softly, staring at him as he stared down at the floor.

“No.” He shook his head. “I won’t.”

“Why?”

---