Page 191 of Cross Checked
My entire body shook violently, but somewhere beneath the terror, Cade existed like warmth in the center of a storm. Safe and steady and mine if I was brave enough to reach for him. And for the first time in my life, I was willing to risk my own safety for something that mattered more.
“I said I don’t belong to you!” My voice was loud, even if I didn’t have the strength to fight this battle again. “Oh, and I fucking hate you!”
Luke stared at me through the glass like he genuinely couldn’t process the words.
Then his expression changed, and it wasn’t the rage I expected.
It was humiliation.
I should have seen that as the threat it was, but it made me fucking smile to know I had finally driven the truth home.
“You think Mercer wants damaged goods?” he asked softly.
The words hit hard enough to physically hurt, but not hard enough anymore.
“I think he’s more of a man than you’ll ever be.”
I reached for my phone and went to my contacts for Knox’s number.
The silence afterward felt catastrophic as my hand shook around the phone. Luke stepped back from the Jeep slowly, and for one second, I thought he was running.
Then glass exploded everywhere.
I screamed as Luke reached inside immediately, unlocking the door before I could react fast enough.
“No—”
He ripped the door open violently and grabbed my arm hard enough to bruise instantly.
“Luke, stop—”
He dragged me from the Jeep so fast my knees slammed against wet pavement, pain exploding through me.
“You think you can replace me?” he roared.
Fear detonated violently through my chest while I tried scrambling backward across gravel and rainwater.
Luke grabbed my hoodie and hauled me upward hard enough to snap my head back.
“You think I would let that fucking guy walk into my life and touch what belongs to me?”
“I’m not yours!” I screamed.
The slap split my lip instantly. White light exploded across my vision while I stumbled sideways against the Jeep.
Luke looked horrified for half a second afterward, then furious again for feeling horrified, and somehow that terrified me more.
“You made me do that.”
My stomach twisted violently. He had never hit me in the face. He had hit me, pulled my hair, pinched me, raped me, but he had never left a mark bad enough that someone might look closer or believe me if I finally told.
“You think I will ever let you go?” he hissed, advancing on me again. “That I would let him take my place?”
I tried backing away when Luke grabbed my throat.
My spine slammed against the Jeep door while his hand closed tighter around my neck. Panic exploded through me asI clawed at his wrist, gasping desperately while his face twisted inches from mine.
“You forgot who I am,” he snarled. “You forgot what I am capable of.”
