Page 3 of Virtue & Vengeance

“That’s my job, Zander. It’s my job to dig deeper—to know what makes you tick—to figure out how to help you.”

I shook my head, locking my arms behind my back as I gazed out at Sin City.

“No one can help me.”

Of that I was sure.

“How did you leave it with Eden? How will this affect your progress?”

I scoffed. “It won’t.”

And it wouldn’t.

Not after the way I’d left.

Fuck!

The things I’d said were spiteful.

I couldn’t help my reaction after getting up and seeing her virginal blood on the bed and knowing I’d done that to her. The memories of the night when I’d seen another woman bleed had been like a ton of bricks, crushing the high of what had just happened with Eden.

But Eden hadn’t said no.

She wanted me.

And she was everything and more than I could have ever hoped for.

Just thinking about it, I ached to feel the warmth of Eden's pussy around my hard flesh, and at that moment, I knew. I’d been wrong. I couldn’t just have her one time and be done with her.

I couldn’t walk away that easily.

I kept trying to tell myself it was only because it had been so long since I’d been with a woman, but I was lying to myself. Something was different about Eden.

What she did to me.

The way she reacted.

I wanted her, and I didn’t even care that I wasted the past six months trying to get clean.

And that was why I’d been so cruel before I left her.

She needed to hate me.

She needed a reason to stay the hell away from me, and that was exactly what I’d given her.

“ANY MESSAGES?” I asked Amos, the front desk clerk, as I passed him.

I’d hoped after leaving Dempson’s office, I’d feel some closure, but I didn’t. If anything, I felt more agitated than when I’d walked into her office.

“Actually, Mr. Hale, you have a message this time.”

I paused.

That never happened.

It was a game Amos and I played routinely.

I asked if there were messages, his answer was always no, and then I’d go to my office and work and check my cell, which was where anyone worth mentioning would leave me a message if they needed to reach me.

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