I was in trouble.
We wound up spending almost two hours there, Frankie collecting a tiny stack of books she absolutely did not need but loved anyway. I watched her more than I should have.
The way her eyebrows knit when she focused. The way she hummed when she found something she wanted. The small smile she’d aim at the guys—the kind that made them both turn stupid-soft.
Then she came to me with two books pressed to her chest.
“Last decision,” she said. “Which one should I get?”
Her hair fell into her face, and when she brushed it back, her fingers were ink-smudged. My chest tightened. She was so damn cute it felt like a threat.
And threats? I knew how to handle those.
I looked away, jaw tightening, trying to build the distance back up before I drowned in her earnestness.
That’s when it all broke.
She was talking about how magical the place felt, how the whole trip felt like some fairy tale, how she couldn’t believe everything that was happening?—
And something ugly in me snapped.
“Frankie,” I said, too sharp. “Stop with the fairy-tale bullshit.”
She blinked. “What?”
“This isn’t magic,” I said, voice low and cutting. “This trip. Us. We’re not your goddamn princes.”
A flicker of hurt across her face. “I know that.”
“But you don’t know that you’re not some heroine in a story, either,” I said, my mouth a runaway train, my brain buzzing. “You’re just some regular girl wrapped up in our bullshit because of an auction. You’re…you’re someone we bought, Frankie.That’sthe reality.”
The words hit the air like a gunshot.
I regretted them the instant they left my mouth.
Her face went pale first. Then pink around the eyes. She looked down at the books like they were suddenly too heavy to hold.
“Oh,” she whispered.
My stomach dropped.
“I didn’t mean,” I started, just as automatic as all the vitriol had been, but she shook her head quickly, swallowing whatever expression tried to rise.
“I’m just going to—I need a restroom.”
She handed Jonathan the books with trembling fingers and slipped away before any of us could stop her.
I felt the bottom fall out of me.
Devin turned on me immediately, fury sparking. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Jonathan’s glare could’ve cut glass. “That wasn’t necessary.”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. What excuse was there?
I’d been cruel.
Heartless on purpose, even if I didn’t want to admit it.
