“I’ll control myself,” he snapped.
“Like you did when you set the wallpaper on fire in the B&B?”
“Did I burnyou? At any point where I’ve lost control, have I hurt you?”
“No—”
“Then answer my goddamn questions!”
“Fine!”
“Good! Wait...” He held up his hand. “How are you so calm about all of this? How can you talk about me burning your clothes and hotels and not freak out? I’ve spent my entire life with an inner temperature that exceeds that of everyone else—always knowing there was something obviously wrong with me—but you...you don’t even blink when I say it’s getting worse. So...how?”
“How am I not screaming and trying to jump out of the plane to get away from you?” I asked gently.
Whisper whimpered outside the door as if he longed to be part of this conversation but neither of us moved to let him in.
He just nodded and I didn’t have a choice anymore.
He’d asked for the truth and I would give it—the good, the bad, and the ugly.
“I was going to do this when we were safely on the ground but...I’ll tell you.”
“Thank you.” He gritted his teeth.
“I’ll tell you everything...”
“That would be good.” He stiffened. “Tell me what exactly?”
“Tell you that the reason I have so much money, why I have a bodyguard, and why I’m not freaking out about you is because...on paper, I’m Brimstone’s biggest competitor. My name really is Rook Snowdon. Dillon is just my bodyguard. And me...” I shrugged, bracing myself to die. “I suppose you could say I’m your greatest enemy—business-wise—and...” I flinched, my voice falling to a whisper. “...maybe, possibly—I really hope I’m wrong—I might be the reason you’re burning in the first place.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
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ONE HEARTBEAT, THE BED WAS SOFT and white.
The next, it was ash.
Fire tore out of my veins in a single, savage rupture, punching through my skin before I even registered I’d lost control.
Rook shot off the bed and stood with wide eyes.
“My...greatestenemy?” I repeated quietly, my voice all wrong. Off-key and violently dangerous.
“N-Not literally,” she rushed. “Just in terms of market share.”
“Ah.” I nodded as if hearing her call herself my enemy didn’t push me toward that murderous edge. “And I’m sure you mean something else entirely when you sayyou’rethe reason I’m burning.”
“No...” She hung her head. “That part...that part is pretty self-explanatory. I just really hope I’m jumping to crazy conclusions and stressing us both out for no reason.”
Every scorching muscle went fatally still. And not the kind of still that said I’d gotten control of myself but the kind that usually preceded an apocalypse.
“So you’re using such triggering words just for fun?” My jaw clenched until my teeth threatened to become diamonds from the pressure. “Because I’d be very,verycareful if I were you, Rook. Forget the past seven weeks we’ve spent together. Ignore the fact that I need you. Pretend that I’ve never treated you kindly or that you’ve seen me at my lowest andthinkbefore you next speak.”
I forced my breathing to slow down as the room shimmered with heat thermals. “You need to thinkextremelycarefully about what you’re going to say next because I’m dealing with a lifetime of conditioning to kill first and ask questions later and I can’t promise I won’t react badly...even if it’s you.”
The wrecked bed smouldered.
