“Rose,” I croaked. Then I grabbed her and kissed her. Adrenaline had flooded my entire bloodstream, and now with all the confusion and relief, I was helpless against my baser instincts. And right now, I needed to touch her. Kiss her. Hold her.
And more.
She resisted briefly, squirming in my grip, but I just held her tighter, kissed her harder, and she caved. Just like she always had… back then.
Fuck, we’d just been kids the last time I’d held her in my arms like this, and the memory paled in comparison to the real thing. Holding Billie again was like embracing pure light, like throwing myself into an abyss and not caring if the bottom was full of jagged rocks. The pain of my landing would be worth the thrill of flying, no matter how momentary.
She groaned against my kisses, her lush sounds sparking a fire of fury inside my chest. She’d fucking tricked us all. She’d let us think she was carrying Angelo’s baby andfor what? More fucking games. Always more games with Billie Bellerose.
My teeth nipped her lip, and she inhaled sharply at that pain. Good. I wanted her to hurt, just like she made everyone else hurt around her. Me, Rhett, Gray… I bet she had even done a number on Angelo at some point, too. Now that I thought about it, he was always watching her with that wary caution of a man who’d known pain.
Fueled by my anger, my fingers clutched at her naked waist, my short nails digging into her flesh like I wanted to rip her skin from her body as I bit her lip again.
This time she cried out, and a split second later, her open palm cracked across my face and left my head ringing.
“What the fuck, Jace?” she panted, her face twisted into bewilderment.
Another fucking act. Nothing about Billie Bellerose was real; it was all justfake.
Instead of explaining myself, I just grabbed her again, crushing my mouth back to hers and tasting the tang of blood. She fell backwards, and I went with the motion, pinning her to the grass with my body as I circled her wrists with my fingers.
“Jace,” she protested, turning her head to the side. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
I needed to swallow back the urge to scream, I wasso mad. “You are, Billie Bellerose,” I snarled, my lips against her ear. “You’re what’s wrong with me. With all of us. I thought I hated you before, but that had nothing on what I feelnow. Right when I started to care about your safety, you reveal that it was all a ruse. You needhelp, Billie.”
She swallowed audibly, her head twisting so she could meet my eyes. “You hate me, Jace?”
I studied her cold, closed-off expression for a moment. “With every fiber of my being,” I whispered back, my voice like venom.
Her lips curled in a sneer, her eyes flashing. “Oh yeah? Then why is your dick so hard right now? I canfeelhow much you still want to fuck me, Jace. I bet you were watching from the shadows when Rhett kissed me earlier, too.”
I had been. I’d been watching, dick hard, waiting for them to take things further.
“Just because my dick is hard now doesn’t mean I feel anything but hatred and disgust for you,” I growled, forcing myself to sit up and create space between us. She was flat on her back, her blonde hair messy around her head and her perfect tits on full display.Fuck. “Believe me, Billie, the moment I tried to fuck you, my dick would go so soft it’d be like trying to shove a noodle into a keyhole.”
She scoffed a laugh, making no attempt to get up from where she lay. I still straddled her waist. It’d be so easy…
“You think I’m the liar, Jace? You’re so full of shit you’re basically choking on it. Go on then, you hate me that much? Prove it.”
My brows shot up, and I stilled. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me, rock star. Prove it. Try to fuck me; see what happens.”
I swallowed hard. “What? I’m not going to—”
“Because you’re scared,” she taunted, scoffing up at me. “You’re scared that if you fuck me, you’ll have to face up to the fact that you don’t hate me and probably never did. You’d have to admit that even after all this time, you’re still in love with me. Isn’t that right?”
My mouth was dry, my palms sweaty, and my pulse racing harder than if I’d been running sprints. “I don’t need to fuck you to know that’s not true, Billie. You’re just easy pussy, nothing more.”
“Then what are you scared of, Jace? Put your dick inside me. Prove there’s nothing left between us.” She locked eyes with me, dead serious and unblinking.
I shook my head, shifting back off her legs to let her go. “This is stupid. You think you can bait me into doing something stupid? You’re even dumber than you look.” Christ, I wanted nothing more than to shut her up by making her scream. And yeah, I was fucking aware that made no sense.
She gave a low, mocking chuckle as she wiggled away. “That’s what I thought,” she sneered, rolling over and pushing up on her hands and knees. “Angelo would have taken that offer without a moment’s hesitation.”
That was where my control snapped.
twenty-one
