Shit. I forgot to hide the marks.
She’s on her feet in a wink, grabbing my hand to study my chafed skin. “What happened?”
I pull my hand from hers, resisting the urge to hide both behind my back. “Nothing.”
Anger contorts her features. “It’s not nothing. He did this. Dante.” She sounds shaken up. “Those marks are from ropes.”
“His belt,” I admit quietly.
“Tiana.” Disappointment mixes with concern in her expression. “You lied to me.”
I bite my lip.
She pins her arms at her sides and balls her hands into fists. “The bastard did hurt you.”
Guilt heats my cheeks. “Not exactly.”
She studies me. “What does that mean?” When I don’t reply, her jaw goes slack. “You had sex.” Her disappointment makes place for confusion. “Kinky sex?”
The tops of my ears burn.
“Tiana, no.” She puts a palm over her heart. “Tell me you didn’t.”
“I didn’t mean to. It just happened. One moment we were fighting, and the next…”
“What were you thinking?” she cries out.
I can’t even explain how I ended up back in Dante’s bed. I wanted to get him out of my system. I instigated the sex. Then he forced information from me and one thing led to another, which happened again when he punished me.
Jazz takes my hand while searching my face with a deep worry line running between her eyebrows. “Are you falling for him again?”
“Of course not,” I say quickly.
She tilts her head toward my wrist. “Then what is this?”
Honestly? “I don’t know.”
“Are you going back to him?” she asks carefully.
“No.” I pull my hand free and smooth my hair back from my face. “Never.”
“Then what’s going on between the two of you? What do you call this? Casual sex? Enemies with benefits?”
I don’t even know how to label our toxic relationship. Forced? Yes. Coerced? Not entirely. Dante is the ruthless kidnapper keeping me hostage against my will, but he’s also the father of my child. I can’t deny him a place in Noah’s life. However, I can deny him a place in my bed, and that’s where the lines get blurry. Because every time he touches me, he renders me helpless. Nothing about how he touches me is forced, and that fills me with shame.
I can stand here and tell both myself and Jazz it will never happen again, that it was just a mistake, but deep inside, I know it will be a lie. My willpower isn’t that strong. Not when he puts his hands on me and traps me in the invisible hold of those cold, golden eyes.
“Oh, Tiana.” Jazz looks at me with pity. “You’re in so much trouble.”
“I’m not,” I maintain stubbornly. “As soon as Dante gets what he wants, I’ll carry on with my life. We can find an arrangement for sharing Noah that works for both of us.”
Dante’s ominous words ring in my mind, his vow that he won’t let me go. I just have to be clever about it. I’m pretty sure he’s going to demand that I sign over my shares, so I’ll add a condition of my own. I’ll give him the power to destroy my brother only if he promises to give me freedom in return.
“I’m over him.” The bitterness of that lie coats my tongue. “What happened should’ve stayed in the past where it belongs. I wish it did, but it’s not that straightforward.”
Her words are wry. “Now you’re going to say it’s complicated.”
“It is.”
