Page 119 of Heartless Lord
I knew it was true. Instead, I turned my back onher.
Even as the pangs of remorse sliced at my chest, I brushed my lips across hers, unable to resist. “I’m not a good person, not anymore. You know that.”
“Sometimes I don’t care.”
Her mouth parted as my tongue slipped inside, twirling with hers and savoring her sweet flavor. This wasn’t a punishing kiss, or one steeped in anger or dominance. It was tender and kind.
Maybe even loving.
The game we’d been playing ground to a halt as our real emotions clawed through the scars of pain and betrayal. And my dead, black heart gave a shudder, a fragment of life still hiding within its rotten depths.
I pulled away before losing control and blurting something stupid, like those three little words that had always dangled on the tip of my tongue when we were teenagers. Instead, what rushed out was: “Come to the party tonight.”
Lexi licked her lips as I spread ointment on her hand. “Not really my scene.” Her breathless voice went straight to my dick.
If I had a choice, I’d barricade the door all night and make her scream my name and beg for more instead of attending this stupid party. “Well, since I have to be there, so does my girl.”
Panic streaked down my spine as soon as the words fell from my mouth.Oh shit. Did I really just say that?
“Will Micah be there?”
My brow slammed down. “Excuse me? I’m inviting you to a party, and you’re asking about another guy?”
“I haven’t heard from him in days, and I’m starting to worry.” She tilted her head and studied me with those intelligent azure eyes. “You’ve seen him around the house, right?”
I ground my teeth and gently applied a bandage to her palm, collecting my thoughts. “I’ve been a little preoccupied as of late.”
When I wasn’t obsessing over Lexi, I was trying to figure out the damn password to that disk drive containing more blackmail information on Stan. He’d send someone to retrieve everything soon, and I’d lose my shot.
“Kill, did you do something?”
An unhinged laugh erupted out of me, and I shot to my feet. “Of course you immediately jump to the conclusion that I harmed poor, sweet Micah Preston.”
Lexi saw right through my defensive outburst, and her lips—still red and puffy from our kisses—thinned.
“Youdiddo something.” She jumped from the bed and closed the distance between us until her shoes touched mine. “His interest in me pissed you off, so you made him quit school—or worse.”
“Oh yeah, I killed him, Red. He’s buried in a grave in our backyard.” When her face blanched, I rolled my eyes. “Kidding.”
“Killian, if you don’t tell me what happened to him, I will walk out of here and never speak to you again.” She jabbed her finger into my chest. “You can forget about ever crawling into my bed and?—”
“Let me tell you something about your precious Micah.” I snatched her finger and lowered my face to hers, my nostrils flaring. “He was going to hurt you to save his own skin, so I helped him out and gave him a choice, something he only got because of you. But he’s gone from Copper Cove, and you’ll never see him again.”
Her chest heaved as an angry flush pooled in her cheeks. “You’re lying. Micah would never hurt me. You did this to get him out of the picture.”
I gave a devilish grin. “That was just a plus, Red.”
Lexi snarled and shoved me away. “I can’t believe I thought for a second there was a decent guy in there.”
“I’ve repeatedly warned you that there’s no decency left in me. And you chose to ignore it.”
She stormed to the door and yanked it open, but whatever she saw had her stumbling back into my room.
I darted forward, catching her suddenly trembling body against my chest. The fear choking her sent my pulse skyrocketing, and I wrapped my arms around her. “What’s wrong, baby?”
A hand slapped the door and pushed it open again. An older and more sophisticated version of Bass peered inside.
For a terrible second, time stood still.
