Page 63 of Temptation
I marched toward him and pulled his arms from his chest. The surprised look on his face would’ve been funny if it wasn’t for the fury rolling in my gut.
“You are an ass.” I pushed him against the wall. “A real fucking asshole. Your jealousy is blinding you to the point where you can’t even see that even though he might be the bad guy, he could help.”
“I don’t want his help,” he grunted. “I don’t want anything from him.”
“Well, tough luck, because I do.”
“Excuse me?” That glare was now directed at me.
“That’s right. If you’re not going to realize that he could help us with this mess, then I’m going to ask him to help me. He’s not as bad as you think he is. If we only talked to him like adults, we could all be on the same page.”
“I don’t want him near you!” he roared. “I don’t want him to touch you, to see you… I don’t want him in the same room with you.”
“I live with him!” I yelled back. “He might be a monster, but he’s not the worst one, and you know it. You know that there are people in this town worse than him. I know that he loves me, Ash. He fucking loves me and he would do everything to keep me safe.”
“I don’t care, Skylar.”
I stood there breathing heavily, shaken by his blatant dismissal of the idea.
“Fine.” I shrugged and stepped back. “Have a nice life, Ash.”
I could see the surprise in his eyes, then anger, then pain and finally sadness, but if he wanted this to work, then he had to stop acting as if he was all alone in this story. There were two of us, Kane and Rowan too, and I refused to be coddled like a child, while they fought my battles.
If somebody wanted me dead because I could talk, then we were going to find a way. Judah Blackwood didn’t own every single law enforcement in this country, and there had to be somebody who could help. Someone who would believe us.
Ash’s footsteps echoed behind me, but he didn’t say a word. He silently followed while I went through the hallways of the school. When I saw a group of people at the entrance of the school, a familiar face turned toward me, and the worried expression did nothing to stop the thundering of my heart.
Rowan stalked toward me and when I looked down, I saw my bag in his hand. I must have dropped it when Ash picked me up earlier. I didn’t even think about it.
“Thank God,” he murmured, pulling me into a hug. I wrapped my arms around his middle, holding tight. “I was so fucking worried about you.”
“I’m fine,” I murmured, my voice muffled by his jacket. “What’s going on?”
I pulled back and took my bag from him, pulling out my phone. When an answer never came, I looked up and saw him looking at Ash.
“Uh, maybe it would be best if we went the other way.”
“Ro, what’s going on?”
His mouth opened, but the crowd standing not too far from us noticed me, and one of the girls yelled out, “There she is. Skylar!”
“Uh, Ro?”
“Skylar! That’s her.”
“Skylar Blackwood?” a new voice came, one I didn’t recognize, and I pulled my eyes away from the group of people toward the man in a sleek suit.
“Yes?” I answered, but it sounded more like a question.
Rowan positioned himself to my left, while Ash came to my right, crowding me.
“I’m Agent Herrera.” He introduced himself and pulled out a badge from his pocket, showing it to us. “I think we need to talk.”
Panic.
Pure panic ran through me, and the first thought in my mind was they found out about Lauren.
“About what?” I was surprised my voice sounded as steady as it was, while the war of nerves waged in my body.
