Like, what the fuckwasthat?
‘I care about you, baby.’
My lip curled into a snarl as I remembered the tender way he’d said it, his citrine eyes full of something close to…
My entire body locked up as the ‘L’ word hung in the recesses of my mind like a fucking vulture, ready to feed on all the rotting walls I had built around my heart.
‘Sinners don’t deserve to hide their scars, Shemhazai.’
Raz’s voice bulldozed right over the soft memory of Gabe, and I audibly hissed at the sharp sting of the old trauma.
I’d spent centuries burying that shit, and lately, Raz had been clawing his way up through the depths of my mind, his sharp, feathered wings scraping at the insides of my skull, trying to get out.
The only thing that had changed—was Gabe.
I blamed him.
It was his fault all this bullshit was coming back to haunt me.
Fucker.
“Where’s that tequila!?” I hollered over my shoulder, but my squishy server wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
Panic started bubbling in my chest as Raz’s low chuckle rang through my head. I squeezed my eyes shut behind my shades and curled my fingers in my hair, tugging it hard enough that the roots stung my scalp.
‘Fuck off, asshole. You don’t own me anymore,’I hissed at the phantom just as a shadow fell across my table.
“Finally, I’ve been waiting for like… almost a minute,” I growled, peeling my eyes open to glare at the server, only to find the man himself standing over me.
Gabe was looking down at me with a concerned look on his gorgeous face, and everything about him pissed me off.
I was pissed that he was here.
I was pissed that he hadn’t come earlier.
I was pissed that he was so fucking hot.
And I was pissed that he was looking at me like he was worried about me.
Pissed, pissed, pissed.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I snapped at him, and his lip twitched.
Of course, he was amused.
Rage bubbled in my gut, and I suddenly wanted toscreamat him.
You said you cared! Fucking actlike it!
Nothingeverbothered him, and I wanted to fucking cut him open and pull his goddamned guts out until he screamed.
Maybethenhe would be bothered by something I did to him.
Maybe then he would really leave and stop fucking coming back.
It was only a matter of time anyway. I wished he would just get it over with.
“I have a present for you,” he said calmly, his smooth voice rolling through the half-drunk rush of anger that I was barely keeping under control.
