A sinister laugh vibrated his chest, sending the heart tattoo dancing. I inched closer, because I was a total freaking sadist, and ran my finger across the battered heart. Killian stilled, his entire body freezing under my touch.
“Did you really get this because of me?” I whispered.
He shook his head, eyes turning glacial. “We’re not going there, Red.”
“Why not? I think we’ve already gonethereand back.”
His head whipped back and forth. “We fucked. That’s it. No feelings, nothing more. Just straight up sex.”
A pang of hurt lanced through my chest, a blade sinking into my heart. What the hell was wrong with me? Did I think Killian would change because we’d had sex? That he would magically turn into my old best friend?
The old Killian was gone. This heartless monster was all that was left.
“But you did love me, when we were young?” The question bubbled out before I could stop it, before I could think better of it.
“It doesn’t fucking matter, Red.”
It did matter. All these years, his betrayal had been a festering wound in my chest. I’d never stopped to think about howhefelt. I was the one who had been assaulted, had been called a liar.
But his heart had been broken for a different reason...
A thick silence descended over us, the steady bubbles from the jacuzzi the only sound. “We have to get out of here,” Killian finally muttered a long moment later.
“What about our project?”
“I’ll have Maria send us all the information about the local fault lines.”
“So why did we have to come all the way out here?”
“It’s just a bullshit excuse for an educational trip, Red. That’s how it works at Stonewall; spoiled rich kids getting their parents to fund a tropical vacation.”
I was starting to realize that.
“Anyway, I need to get that file back to?—”
His jaw slammed shut, and that bastard’s name hung heavy in the air between us.
“I knew this was about Stan. Somehow, every fucked-up thing in my life revolves around him.”
“God, give it up already, Lexi. My stepfather might not be a saint, but he was not the man that tried to rape you all those years ago.”
Fury raged through my blood, and I hated that I was naked in a whirlpool right now, completely vulnerable. I vowed long ago to never feel that way again.
Before I could stop myself, I leapt on Killian and my hand cracked across his cheek. “Fuck you!”
He stared at me, eyes wide as I straddled him, hot tears brimming over. “Did you just?—”
“Fuck you for never believing me. Fuck you for abandoning me.Fuck youfor all of it.” I choked back a sob. “I willneverforget the face of the man who broke me, Killian. Trust me, I’ve tried. I couldn’t cut out the image etched into my brain with a carving knife. It was Stanford Davenport.”
Killian’s jaw clenched, his lips pressed in a harsh line. “It just can’t be...”
The mad rise and fall of my chest slowed, all the rage from a second ago dissolving. Arguing was pointless. He didn’t believe me then, and just because we finally fucked, I didn’t expect him to believe me now.
The silence lengthened, and his arms laced around my waist. I’d been so enraged I hadn’t even realized the dangerous position I’d put myself in. Here I was straddling the asshole, my pussy spread wide for him.
Slamming my palms against his chest, I attempted to push out of his hold. His arms only tightened around my torso like steel bands.
“Let go of me,” I snarled.
