Page 25 of Shattered King

Lulu shot to her feet when I shoved the door open and strode in.

Her eyes slid over me, lingering on my bare chest and arms, before dropping to my abs. I took a sick kind of satisfaction at the way her eyes flared. I didn’t want to think about why that pleased me so damn much either.

I threw everything on the bed. “Brought you some food.”

Her eyes snapped back to mine and stared at me, like a deer in headlights.

I knew I should go, should turn around and walk back out, but I couldn’t make myself leave, not yet. She was nervous, maybe even scared, and being the sick, angry individual I was around her, I liked that. I liked that she understood just how close to the edge she had me.

So, I leaned against the closed door and crossed my arms.

She lifted her chin slightly, defiance creeping in behind her eyes, overtaking the wariness but not the heat. That was still there. “You can go now.”

I shook my head slowly, pleased when she swallowed nervously. “I think I’ll stay for a while.”

“I want you to leave,” she fired back.

“I don’t really give a fuck what you want.” I stepped away from the wall and she backed up a step. I liked that, too. I also fucking hated it. Jesus, I was messed up over her, and that just pissed me off even more. “It’s just you and me here, and I’ve got nowhere else to be.”

She bit her lip and my cock stiffened in response. It knew exactly what it wanted. I ignored it. Not happening. Not again.

“You ready to talk yet, Lulu?”

Her fingers curled and uncurled at her sides. “I told you, I have nothing to say.”

Silence engulfed the room, apart from our breathing. Hers choppy, mine rough. The light was off, but the streetlights shone brightly enough though the high window that I could see her clearly, the way her cheeks had colored, the way her gray eyes were locked on me. I hadn’t planned to question her again tonight. I was going to leave her to stew for a day, take advantage of her fear, her worry over what happened next.

I sure as fuck hadn’t planned for the next words out of my mouth, or the bitter edge to my voice that gave far too much away. “So did you . . . laugh? You and Pierce, when they locked me up, when they believed your lies? Did you celebrate? Go out for a meal maybe? How about a bonus? You get one of those, Lulu?”

She shook her head, keeping her mouth clamped shut.

“Did you report back to step-daddy after we were together? Did you get off on making a fool of me? Did you get off on waving your rich-girl ass in my face and leading me around by the dick? The stupid fuck from the wrong side of the tracks?”

She’d pressed herself against the wall, hands flat at her sides, eyes still wide, still locked on me. Mouth still fucking closed tight.

I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, but all of a sudden, the answer to those questions became everything. I needed something, anything. I needed to make sense of it all. I needed her to tell me the truth.

“You played a long game, sweetheart. You were good, too. You sure as fuck had me fooled. Two years we were together. Two years I confided in you, trusted you, believed you . . .” I closed the gap between us, crouched low, so we were eye level. “But it was all a lie, right, Lulu?” I growled, hating how much I wanted her to deny it, to give me an explanation that I could get my damned head around. “’Cause if you loved me like you said you did, you wouldn’t have framed me for arson, right? How can you love someone then destroy their life?”

She turned away, but I grabbed her chin and made her look at me. “You played it coy, made me work for it. Those first six months, you had me fooled, thinking you were some shy, innocent little thing. Only letting me kiss you, not letting me even touch your pussy. Shit, you only let me fuck you after a full twelve months. Playing like we were hiding from your stepfather, like we were some big secret. Never staying over, always taking off after I got you off.” I shook my head at my own stupidity. “All that time you were plotting, scheming.” I slammed my hips into hers. “Fucking say it,” I hissed. “Fucking tell me the truth. Tell me why you chose me, why it was me you decided to fucking destroy?” The last come out as a roar. “Tell me!”

Her full lips quivered, then her eyelids slid shut, locking me out. Refusing to give me anything. To put me out of my damned misery.

I cupped her face in my hand, my fingers digging into her cheeks, my face so close, our noses touched. “After what I came from . . . when you walked into my world . . . shit, I actually felt warm. I’ve never felt warm, Lulu. I was desperate for a little bit of affection, so desperate, I allowed myself to be blinded by what you really are. I’d been cold for so damn long. That ice in my veins, freezing my heart, started to melt.” I slid my nose along hers, my breathing rough, blood pounding through my ears. “Ironic, isn’t it? When I was fucking a goddamn ice princess.” She flinched and I shoved away, walking to the door.

I yanked it open and turned back to her, waiting, hoping that she’d tell me what I needed to hear. Fucking anything.

She kept her eyes screwed shut, refusing to even look at me.

I shook my head and walked out, slamming the door behind me.

I’d come to terms with the fact that the woman I’d been in love with three years ago was nothing but a figment of my imagination. I didn’t know why I was trying to get her to prove me wrong.

I wasn’t.

She was as cold as me.

Lulu