Page 146 of Sweetheart: Part One

I stared into his deadly silver eyes, completely fucking struck by that question.

Hot tears tracked my soaked cheeks.

I didn’t… understand.

Another sob broke free, my whole chest heaving with it.

“Are you hurt?” he demanded again, grip suddenly punishing on my chin. I was descending into a full blown panic attack, heaving with sobs as I tried to rip free of him.

“I can’t fix it if you don’t tell me.”

Fix it?

“You s-said…” I couldn’t breathe. “You said you would keep me safe.”

He stared at me, jaw clenched, and for a moment he looked unsure.

“L-let me go,” I sobbed, grip still vice-like on his arm. “P-please j-just let me go.”

Ebony released me, and I hadn’t been paying attention to how hard I was fighting him, because my back hit the tiled floor with a thud. I was scrambling away in an instant, though, trying to get my bearings as I took in the room.

It was his bathroom, and the same as the rest of the mansion, with marble vanity countertops and a stupidly pretentious chandelier above.

He was blocking the door still.

“I-I need to go.”

He scrunched his nose in a half scowl as he stared at me. “You’re staying with me.”

“You’re fucking crazy,” I said. “I’m not staying. The contract—”

“I don’t give a fuck about the contract.” He rested his forearms on his knees, expression finally straightening back to the man I was used to. The one cold, hard and calculated.

Those words were chilling. How could he not care about the contract? “You’re trapping me here?”

“You’re staying with me until the morning.”

My eyes darted to his phone, which was on the wet tile beside him. He glanced at it, then lifted it, tapping the screen. I could see the water damage from here. The screen flickered a few times and then died.

That drew me up.

His phone was broken? He’d jumped in after me and hadn’t taken it out of his pocket. That meant he really hadn’t believed me when I said I couldn’t swim.

Not that it made it okay, but perhaps he hadn’t been trying to kill me.

“I have to go.”

“No.” Finally, he was getting to his feet. “Get warmed up.” He waved at the shower and bathtub. He half turned, reaching for the doorknob.

I was after him in a moment. “You can’t keep me in here.”

He turned to me when I grabbed him by the arm. He reached up, and tugged the necklace from around his neck. On it was a silver key. He tapped it on my nose.

“I can, actually.”

He made to slip through the door, but I redoubled my efforts, halting him. “No no, just… At least let me go back to my room for dry clothes. Then I’ll come back.”

Icouldn’tstay here all night.

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