“Fuck you too!” she screamed, stomping her foot on the ground. “I hate you! Are you happy now? You win, okay? You pushed me away and made me hate you. You sure showed me, didn’t you, huh? Not everyone is good, and not everyone can be saved, I get it now. Lesson learned!”
She started to walk away again, but I wasn’t done with her yet. I wanted her to care. I wanted her to argue with me. To get all feisty and backtalk the way she did sometimes. I wanted her cheeks to go red the way they did when I said something dirty to her. I didn’t want her to leave me there. I wanted her to stay.
“Happy? Why would I be happy? You just up and left me like everyone else, like you weren’t supposed to stay, Belle.” The words were out before I could stop them and I breathed heavily, my heart and my head hurting.
The world was spinning, my body was hurting, and I felt sick.
Sick and tired of it all.
Of this fucked-up body. Of this fucked-up world. Of this fucked-up life.
“You were supposed to stay,” I said, knowing how pathetic I sounded but not caring anymore.
Her hazel eyes softened a little at my words. They pierced me, consuming me entirely.
“Beast,” she began, but then stopped herself before sighing.
“Belle?” A male voice said her name and we both turned to look.
“Lorenzo?” she said. “What are you doing here?”
He wasn’t looking at her anymore though. He was looking at me. Glaring was more like it. Lorenzo…I knew that name from somewhere but I couldn’t place it. My head was hurting too much and my body was being swallowed by dizziness. The prospect was holding me upright but I used the last of my strength to push him off me and stand straight and proud.
Lorenzo… Fuck, every time I caught the scent of where I’d heard that name before, it moved out of reach. This had to be her little fuckboy boyfriend though; maybe that was where I’d heard it. Only he wasn’t a little fuckboy. Looked like a smarmy motherfucker though. All suited up, shiny shoes, hair slicked back, white shirt with a couple of buttons open. His hands were tucked inside his pants pockets casually, like he had no fear of me, and I with the Devil in me screaming to break free.
“This the piece of shit you’ve been sleeping with?” I growled at Belle.
She turned and pouted at me, her eyes all big and wide. “This is Lorenzo, not that it’s any of your business,” she snapped. She turned back to him, her cheeks flaming red at the audience we had gathered. “What are you doing here?”
Lorenzo’s mouth twitched into the hint of a smile. “Thought I’d come and take you out to lunch.”
“I can’t leave here, I’m too busy,” she said impatiently before sighing. “Sorry, that sounded really ungrateful. I really appreciate the gesture, but I barely get time for a cup of coffee so lunch is out of the question.”
Lorenzo nodded sagely, his hard gaze moving between me and Belle. “That’s okay, my fault.” He held his hands up. “Dinner tonight at my place, then.”
Belle looked back to me, a small frown puckering between her brows. We shared a moment, a split second between us that was just ours. She told me so much in that look. She told me goodbye. She told me she was sorry, and good luck, but mostly she told me goodbye.
“Sure, that sounds great,” she said, looking back to him.
Lorenzo pulled his hands from his pockets and my gaze roved over his hands, checking them for weapons, but there was nothing there. He was just a man coming to take his girl for lunch. And I fucking hated him with every bone in my body.
“I’ll walk you back out,” Belle said, moving toward him.
“Belle!” I called her name and I watched as her shoulders rounded before she turned to look back at me. “I meant what I said.”
I was losing her.
Maybe I’d never even had her to begin with.
Sure as shit didn’t deserve her after the way I’d treated her.
She sighed, her forehead still furrowed with tension and sadness. She glanced between Lorenzo—in his expensive suit, looking like every woman’s wet dream, successful business owner who could treat her right—and me, with my big white ass on show to the world, a body full of scars, a disfigured face, and a dangerous outlaw who treated her like shit and couldn’t offer her anything but my fucked-up self. I already knew who she would pick, and truth be known, I couldn’t blame her either.
“Stay,” I practically begged as I swayed on my feet. My vision was going blurry, my head thumping so hard I wondered if my brain was trying to get out of my head. “Belle…stay.”
I sounded pathetic, but I had to try. I’d fucked up—I knew it and she knew it. But I needed her. Hated the realization, but there it was, as plain as day. I needed her, but more importantly, I wanted her.
“I meant what I said too, Beast,” she finally replied, and she sounded heartbroken. She chewed on the inside of her cheek and looked at the ground, and I watched as Lorenzo straightened up and took a step toward me, pushing Belle behind her like he was protecting her. Like I’d ever hurt her.
