“Because you’re my ex who can’t stand me. ”
Kade tilts his head – another step. “What if I have good intentions? What if I said I don’t want to sleep with you but be your friend?”
“I could never be friends with you,” I say, unable to move as Kade invades my space. His muscular form towers over mine, and I strain my neck to glare up at him. “I’m nothing but a slut to you, remember?”
His eyes are burning into my apparently dark soul. “And I’m nothing but a piece of shit to you. It must be the entire aspect of loathing each other that draws us together.”
“I’m not drawn to you,” I lie.
I don’t move away when his hand comes up to push a lock of my hair behind my ear, his thumb stroking my cheek. “Well, I’m drawn to you, Freckles. And it infuriates me that I am. I could be inside someone else, yet all I can see is you.”
My brows furrow. “I don’t know if you were trying to be sincere there, but it made you sound like a total prick.”
“I’m not a sincere man. Maybe when I was a teenager, when I worshipped the ground you walked on, but now? I want to rip your clothes off and sink my teeth into your skin.”
My breath hitches as he comes even closer.
“I want to degrade you while you sit on my cock. Praise you as you swallow every drop of my cum. I want to brand every inch of your skin with my mouth and make sure you’re unable to even look at another man.”
I suck in a breath, holding it in my lungs as he lowers his forehead to mine.
“I want you, but I can’t have you,” he says. “You deserve way better than me. If you knew half the shit I’ve had to do, you wouldn’t be in this tight space with me now.”
“What have you done?”
Kade sighs, slightly pulling away. “The company I work for has their claws in me – that’s all you need to know.”
“What do you need to do for them?”
“Mani pārdod seksam un nāvei, lai aizsargātu visus, kurus mīlu.”
Kade leans into me more, raising his other hand between us to tuck another strand of hair behind my ear. I tilt my head, utterly confused by whatever language he’s speaking.
He licks his lips. “Tajā skaitā jūs, vasaras raibumi.”
“You’re speaking in a different language again…”
“Latvian, from when I was sent there for six months. I know four languages. Not well, but I’m working on them. It comes with the job.”
I tilt my head. “What does it mean?”
He half-smiles, backing away from me, his hands leaving me until I have enough room to breathe. He opens the door and pauses. “I hope you never find out.”
29
KADE
FLASHBACK 6
How Luciella has talked me into coming to a nightclub in America is beyond me, yet here I am, sitting at the bar while she has a full-blown conversation about biosynthesis.
Here, I’m technically underage but Base got us fake IDs last year and they’ve somehow worked a treat.
I’m three beers down, and she’s still talking to the girl.
“Oh! This is my brother.” She shoves me towards her. “Kade, this is Annika.”
I tip my beer to her. “Howdy.” Then turn to the side and lean on the bar.
Luciella nudges me with her elbow as blondie smiles and goes to walk away. “Talk to her, you idiot!”
I chuckle. “There’s no chance I’m letting my sister wingman me.”
“You’re annoying,” she replies before asking the bartender for another glass of Coke. “Base is an hour away. He came over in his jet with his grandfather and two of his guards for some meeting. He said he’d come see us.”
“Is that why you wanted to come here and made an effort with your hair?”
“I always make an effort!”
I snort out a laugh. “Your denial is far too obvious. I’m going for a smoke. Come with me.”
“No,” she replies, turning to Annika. “I’ll stay here.”
“Don’t go anywhere,” I warn.
As soon as I get outside, the coldness hits me, and I light up a cigarette. Music blasts, and I get a weird feeling, so I text Luciella and tell her to come outside and stand with me.
Luciella: Stop being overbearing. I’m fine.
Me: If someone kidnaps you, I’m not coming to look for you.
Luciella: It would be a blessing if someone kidnapped me away from you.
My eyes land on a message from Tylar. I don’t remember having her number.
Tylar Spence: It’s Stacey. Are you free to talk?
I press call before I can even think. We’ve never spoken on the phone, so this is weird, I think. This could also be a bad call, since I haven’t heard from her.
She answers on the first ring. “Hey. ”
I shut my eyes and drop the back of my head against the wall behind me. “Fuck. It’s good to hear your voice.”
“It is?”
“Yeah. Why are you using Tylar’s phone?”
“She left it in the studio. Mine’s broken. I smashed the screen and I’m waiting for it to get fixed.”
“I thought you were patching me on purpose.”
She giggles. “I was debating patching you.”
I raise a brow. “Really?”
“Yep. You were supposed to take me on a date before you left.”
“I’ll make it up to you,” I respond with a grin. “Tell me about your day.”
“It’s been slow,” she starts. “No. I want to know about your night. Luciella said in our group chat that she was talking to a beautiful girl and thought you two had great chemistry. She said she was going to introduce you both.”
I smirk. “Is my Freckles jealous?”
“You can obviously do what you want. We didn’t talk about exclusivity. Was she nice? Oh God. Don’t tell me. Does that mean we’re seeing other people? Do you want to see other people? It’s okay if you do.” She goes silent. “I’m embarrassing myself. Feel free to hang up at any point and put me out of my misery.”
I laugh. “It wasn’t like that at all. She kept talking to her at the bar and wanted me to flirt with her. I said no obviously. And I’d never hang up on you.”
“I would hang up on me,” she mutters. “You didn’t answer my questions, but don’t feel like you need to. I just want to know where I stand. ”
“Meaning?”
“Are we seeing other people? I don’t mean boyfriend and girlfriend. I mean are we casual or not?”
I can tell she’s face-palming.
“I’m doing it again. I’m sorry. I know it’s only been six weeks. I’ll shut up now.”
“I’m new to this, so I have no idea how it works. If you want to see other people, then go for it.” The words taste like poison. “I can’t promise their bodies won’t show up in the River Clyde though.”
Silence, and then: “That was kind of cute.”
I inhale deeply, blowing out smoke. “If it makes you feel any better, I have no interest in anyone else.”
“Okay,” she replies quietly. “That’s, um, good.”
“And when I see you, I’m going to touch you again. Just so you know.”