“Old habits,” he said. “I don’t like to waste food. Guess it stems from always being hungry when I was little.”
An uncomfortable sensation settled in the pit of Eve’s stomach. “You went hungry when you were a kid?”
Liam nodded as he took possession of the toast. “Frequently. The perils of growing up in a group home, I guess. You have to fight for every morsel. I mean, I did a couple of stints with foster parents, but they usually gave me back when they realized how much hard work I could be.”
He said it like it was nothing, and somehow that made it even worse. Eve swallowed hard as she took the pan of eggs off the heat. It was on the tip of her tongue to say she was sorry, but she shook herself, annoyed. She could not start to feel sorry for this jackass. Okay, so he’d had a shitty childhood, but that didn’t give him a free pass to do whatever the hell he felt like as an adult. Didn’t there come a point when he had to grow up and own up to his mistakes and try to make amends for them?
Like by testifying against his former friend and gang mates?
She shut that thought down as quickly as it had came. If he was doing this, then he had a reason, and after all those years of running with the Vipers, she was pretty damn sure it wasn’t human decency.
She couldn’t afford to see him as human. It would be dangerous to do so, especially with the mate bond at work, pushing her toward him. So, she did the only thing she could think of to do to de-humanize him—she thought about her friend getting violated and mutilated and it woke her the hell up. She glared at him as she watched him scrape some of the black off the pieces of toast.
As if he could sense her watching him, Liam lifted his head and met her gaze. Then he heaved a sigh and threw the toast down on a plate.
“Would you care to tell me why you hate me so damn much when you don’t even know me?”
“You’re a Viper,” she said. “That’s all I need to know. You’re scum. You all are.”
Liam opened his mouth to say something, but Eve wasn’t finished.
“You’re nothing but a bunch of criminals, too lazy to do a hard day’s work.”
“Why don’t you tell me how you really feel?” Liam said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Eve shrugged, happy to take him literally. “Sure. You’re all the same—low-life rapists and murderers. Tell me, how many people have youpersonallyraped and murdered?”
“I haven’t raped or murdered anyone!” Liam spat. “Nor would I!”
Eve hated the relief she felt at hearing those words.
“Bullshit,” she spat.
“What the fuck do you know?” Liam shouted. “You don’t know anything about me!”
Hawk chose that moment to storm into the kitchen. “What in the fuck is going on in here?” he demanded.
Eve glared at her SWAT teammate and friend before fleeing the kitchen. She headed straight for the front door, opened it and ran a little way down the path, gulping in fresh air and trying to swallow down the lump that had risen in her throat. Tears stung behind her eyes, but she ignored them.
Hawk came charging out of the house, heading straight for her.
“You mind telling me what that was all about?” he asked when he reached her.
Eve opened her mouth to reply but burst into tears instead. “I can’t do this,” she said through her sobs. “I thought I could handle it, but I was wrong.”
Hawk looked her over and sighed. “Are you talking about the fact that he’s a Viper, or that he’s your mate?”
She cried harder. “Both.”
Hawk reached for her and pulled her into a hug. Eve went into his arms willingly, sobbing against his shoulder.
“It’s too hard, Hawk.”
“I know,” he soothed. “I know it’s hard.”
He rubbed his hand up and down her back and she allowed herself another minute to wallow before pulling herself together. She leaned back so that she could look him in the eyes.
“When Flint gave us this assignment, I knew it was going to be tough. You know how I feel about Vipers. You know what I’ve done… But then we got here, and he turned out to be my mate and now, I don’t know how to feel or what to think.”
