“They kicked you out.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I frown at his ticking, angry jaw. “Because I stole your car.”
“So?”
“So… apparently you steal one car and the world suddenly thinks that you’re running a grand theft auto ring,” I tell him as I grow increasingly confused again.
What is it to him if I got kicked out?
“They said that to you?” he asks then, his voice all low and his features tight.
“I…” I shake my head. “What does it matter what they said to me?”
“What about Juilliard?”
“Again, none of your business. Besides, it’s done. It happened two years ago.”
“Yeah,” he snaps, his fingers digging into his coffee mug. “And I’m wondering how the fuck did I not know about this until now?”
My mouth falls open then.
I do realize that this might be the first time he’s hearing of it.
It’s not as if I told Tempest about it, about being kicked out and my Juilliard plans. I was too embarrassed to tell her. So I get that if his sister didn’t know, he didn’t know either. I mean, how else would he have come to know?
But that tone? How the fuck did he notknow?
Who does he think he is?
I lean forward. “You didn’t know, Reed, because I didn’t tell you. Because it’s none of your business. Because when you so completely broke my heart and betrayed my trust, I decided that I wasn’t going to treat you like my whole world and share things with you.”
That jaw of his, clean-shaven this morning and angular as ever, keeps ticking as he stares at me with heated eyes. “Blue Madonna, right?”
I open my mouth to answer him and then close it before saying, “I don’t know what’s going on with you. I don’t know why you think that you can tell me what to do like you did last night or why you think I should share my life story with you. But it’s getting really old and I want you to stop, okay? Oh, and I don’t need a ride from you.”
“You’re taking it regardless.”
I scoff. “What makes you think that I’m going to get inside your car and let you drive me around after everything?”
His nostrils flare. “If I’m willing to let you anywhere near my car, you better get inside it, Fae. And you better smile your good girl smile and say thank you in your sweet voice to show me your gratitude no matterwhereI decide to drive you. Aftereverything.”
“And if I don’t?”
He smiles then.
A humorless, cold smile as his animal eyes flash. “See, the thing is that I know where you live. I’ve been to your house,remember? And as much as I’ll hate going back there and talking to your brothers, I’ll still do it. For you. I’m sure they’d be very interested to know what you’ve been up to. Behind their backs. Besides I did it once, remember? At the championship game no less. So I could win. I can do it again.”
My heart is thundering in my chest. “You’re blackmailing meagain.”
He shrugs, his massive shoulders swelling up and down. “I’m giving you a choice.”
He’s a villain, isn’t he?
How did I not see this before? How did I not see his true colors?
