Page 72 of Careless

“Asshole,” I curse. He must have a death wish. You don’t take a girl’s food on cheat day.

“Brat,” he throws back at me.

I grab my last empanada and stick my tongue out at him, showing off my brattiness. I take a big bite and savor the taste of fajita meat and veggies as my mouth waters around the deliciousness.

I went so long without doing cheat days that I live for them now. The deliciousness of food I shouldn’t be eating is highly addictive.

There’s only one thing more addictive, and it’s sitting right next to me.

CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX

HER

There’s one question that has haunted my dreams lately. The words have been spelled out in the shadows of my vision, taunting me to succumb to the fear within them.

If this were a story, would we be the heroes or the villains? Was it some form of heroics that led Rian to kill Carmen in order to protect me, or was Carmen right all along? Am I evil? Will I eventually bring my friends and family down with me?

I know there’s something dark inside me, something that begs to wreak havoc, but I keep it locked away inside me. Maybe it’s my conscience trying to eat at me. Death surrounds me. My boyfriend, my dad, and my brother are practically serial killers. My own mother tried to kill me to protect the world from what she thought I would become.

In her vision. I was holding a bloody knife, covered in blood. That’s not who I am. I’ve never even had a murderous thought, unless you include imagining stabbing Rian’s hand for touching my food. It wouldn’t kill him, just wound. I’m pretty sure it would piss him off, but it wouldn’t stop him. My enchiladas al cabron are here, and he keeps trying to steal bites.

“Get your own damn food!” I hiss at him, but he just laughs in spite of me.

“There’s no way you could eat all that. I don’t want you to waste food.” He motions to my nachos and my enchilada plate. It’s a lot of food, but I’m starving. I barely ate any lunch and breakfast was just a bowl of cereal.

I glare at him, giving him the full strength of my indignation. “I am.”

Rian returns the look with amusement and suspicion. Suspicion because he’s hoping I’m eating for two. It’s not like I’m pregnant. No matter how much Rian tries to convince me to get off the pill, I’ve refused and held my ground. Plus, it’s just an extra line of defense. I have PCOS, which can cause fertility issues, but I haven’t been diagnosed with any. I’m not having my fertility checked. Rian is just crazy. Our relationship is a secret from my brother and this nut job wants to get me pregnant? He belongs in a padded cell.

Granted, I know if Finn ended up killing Rian for finding out about us, I would be grateful if I ended up pregnant, because I’d still have a part of Rian. I’m not going to let him actively try to knock me up though.

“I get one freaking day a week, and I’m not going to let you mess it up.” I stick my tongue out again before taking a bite of my enchiladas.

“You guys are so mean to each other,” Sonia says, barely holding in a laugh.

“Oh, that’s nothing,” Kia adds with a cackle. “You should’ve seen the time they were screaming at each other in the hall on Halloween. I thought weapons were about to be drawn.”

She’s not talking about this Halloween. No, this waslastHalloween when he overheard me talking to Kia about going to the party as a Playboy Bunny. Rian flipped out on me.

Sonia looks a little disturbed as she looks between us. “Fighting is our foreplay.” I shrug nonchalantly.

“And, I don’t know a single guy who wouldn’t say something when their girl is talking about going to a party dressed in lingerie.”

“It wasn’t lingerie!” I gape at him. “It was a Playboy Bunny costume.”

“That’s even worse. You wanted to dress as a sugar baby running around in lingerie,” he points out and I scowl at him.

“Being a Playboy Bunny is about femininity and being sexy.”

“You’re not making your case any better, babe. Thesexiestcostume I’ll let you wear in public is what you wore this year.”

My gaze hardens at the audacity of his words. “Let me?!”

He smirks at me like there is nothing misogynistic about what he just said.

“Yeah,letyou. Have you forgotten how easy it is for me to rip off your clothes?”

My cheeks flame from the dirty words he just said out loud in front of Kia, Sonia, and this entire restaurant.

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