“And you can’t,” Sebastian tells him, spitting the words between gritted teeth. “Because you can’t control yourself. You’ll hurt her.”
“Yes,” Viper tells me, eyes sparkling with that promise.
“You’re not gentle,” Sebastian reminds him. “This is crossing a line, right here, Viper. Sit back down.”
“I could be gentle,” Viper tells me, ignoring his brother. “But you don’t want me to be gentle, do you?”
God help me, I don’t. I don’t want him to be gentle at all.
I swallow, hard.
I want him to make it hurt.
Maybe he sees that answer in my eyes, maybe he knows exactly what I’m thinking. My nerves are on fire, my pussy drenched with visions of what he would do to me.
Satisfied, Viper lets me go and finally sits back down, grinning at me the entire time.
Sebastian takes a deep breath. “Good. Now that we’ve settled that…” He turns, focusing on me. “Do you want to tell me what the fuck do you think you’re doing here?” he asks, voice ice cold.
“What does it look like?” I ask firmly. I raise my chin a fraction in defiance. “I’m on a date.”
“A date,” Sebastian repeats, rolling the word in his mouth like it disgusts him.
Anger flares in my veins.How dareany of them try to make me feel guilty for going on a simple date, when they’ve hidden so much worse from me.
“Yes,” I tell him. “A date. Is that a crime?”
“You were kissing him.” He says it so softly, I almost miss it. But I don’t miss the hurt in his eyes, the betrayal as he stares down at me. “You were, y-you were…” he stutters, stammering to get the words out. I’ve never seen him like this, so flustered, so out of control.
“He kissed me,” I insist. “And I’m not the one who ruined everything! I wasn’t the one who?—”
Just like that, it’s gone. That fragility in his face, that vulnerability. His face shutters, his expression going blank.
“You’re right,” he agrees. The emotional wall he hides behind rebuilds before my very eyes, shutting me out. “It’s none of my business who you date. Why would it be?”
“It wasn’t… It’s not…” I’m trying to organize my thoughts into a coherent sentence, but I need to get it right, to dismantle those walls before they become permanent. “It wasn’t about you, Seb. Or what we did, it’s…”
How do I explain it? That I feel like I’m entitled to my anger, to my rage. Just because he didn’t outright lie to me doesn’t mean he wasn’t a part of the deception. But this date was more about Alec and Ash than it was about him.
I didn’t mean to hurt him.
“I’m not trying to make excuses,” I say softly. He won’t even look at me, eyes fixed on the wall. “But finding out you all lied to me? Finding out Alec is married? That hurt me, Seb. I’m angry. And I don’t know how to move forward with?—”
His eyes snap to mine. “What did you just say?” he cuts in, voice low.
I stare back at him, confused. “About…?”
“About Sterling being married?” His gaze is so intense, solely focused on me.
“Um, you mean the reason I stopped seeing all of you?” I frown at him. “Are we not having the same conversation right now? Why do you think I’ve been so angry these last few weeks?”
He blinks slowly. “This whole time, all of it, it’s because you think he’s married?”
Throughout all of this, Viper has just been sitting with a growing smile on his face. Like this is all an amusing theatre production he’s watching play out.
“I don’t think. Iknow,” I insist. “I saw his wedding ring. I saw the pictures with Annika. He admitted it. Alec lied to me, and you all just went along with it. I thought I was getting past it, but then I saw her with Ash, and I realized I can’t do this anymore!”
I’m not even sure he’s listening. His eyes are wide, his chest rising and falling with his breath. He takes a step closer to me.
