Page 60 of Sweetheart: Part One

He reached me the same moment it shattered on the concrete drive below. I spun, but his fists closed around my arms, a snarl on his face.“Fuckyou!”

Reality caught up to me from one side and memories collided with the other. Rook’s eyes burned with cold fury, his aura shivering in the air, a threat like no other.

Terror stilled me, a fist around my heart.

Like a fucked up time loop, I’d become the woman who’d just pushed me to fling his trophy from the balcony.

His chest heaved, wild eyes darting between mine, and each one of his movements was a shot of adrenaline in my veins.

Dread scorched my system, and I knew what came next, I’d seen it a thousand times. I’d never been the one here, though, could never have predicted a fear so absolute I couldn’t even cry.

Then he let me go, taking a step back as if it was the hardest thing he’d ever done.

I didn’t understand, so I just did what she’d always taught me.

I ducked around him and ran.

SEVENTEEN

ROOK

Vex was a phantom, burned into my brain.

I hadn’t felt anger like I had tonight, not in a long time. There were alotof things I’d felt tonight that I hadn’t felt in a long time. Or forever.

Again, I’d lost.

You scared her, too…A little voice whispered.

I shoved it away. She didn’t deserve an ounce of pity after what she’d done.

In the rich evening light, I collected every piece I could find of the shattered trophy scattered across the driveway, placing it carefully into a bag.

Still, images of her flashed across my mind.

Vex, in that thin, dark dressing gown that hung open to smooth skin and golden lace beneath. She was so… unexpected. With chipped black polish on her nails, her hair tied up in a messy bun that had no right to be as cute as it was. I thought I might have stared at her hair as much as I stared at the lace that hugged a perfect ass as I’d stolen a look.

Fuckme.

There were pretty women everywhere, why wasshedifferent?

I couldn’t afford this right now.

Five years, I’d been in this pack, eighteen years old and determined to make it work—even if that meant entering a bond with Ebony.

Five years, I’d been climbing this tower of fame, trying to compete with the expectations that had weighed me down since the moment my aura had shown.

I was successful, desired, with another award to claim at the Diamond Tides Gala only weeks away. Of all my brothers, acting means something to me. Drake had natural talent, and I’d never been able to determine if he loved it as much as he was good at it. Ebony and Love were good at a dozen things they could take to a professional level. But acting was mine. The only thing that had ever freed me, made me feel as though I was worth something more.

It was what I was made for. The only thing I was made for.

And with the Dragon Hunters movies on the horizon, I was on the brink of victory, the likes of which even my parent pack—elite and prestigious as they were—couldn’t comprehend. I was on the brink of proving to them that acting hadn’t been the wrong choice, or a mistake. It was the best decision I’d ever made.

They were wrong.

It had been the right choice for me—a choice I wasn’t just worthy of, but that might make me ask if they were worthy of me.

And on the precipice of all that was Vex, stealing the world from beneath me, demanding attention and doubt and insecurity when I shouldn’t have attention at all for someone like her.

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