Page 208 of Wicked Brutal

“Okay, I care a normal amount.”

“What’s a normal amount?”

“Enough that I don’t want to watch someone marry a man she looks like she wants to crawl out of her own skin around.”

My steps falter. Bella keeps walking. I catch up. “I don’t—“

“Don’t.” I stop talking. She glances at me. “Don’t give me the Edgewood answer.”

“What Edgewood answer?”

“Good family. Good match. Good connections. Good future.” Her mouth twists. “Everybody wins.” I say nothing. “Except the two assholes actually getting married.”

Something about the bitterness in her voice catches me. “You don’t believe in arranged marriages.”

Bella looks at me like I’ve asked whether she believes in recreational drowning. “No.”

“Marriage?”

Her eyebrows pull together. “What?”

“You don’t believe in marriage?”

“Of course I believe in marriage.” I don’t mean to smile. Apparently I do. Because Bella notices. “What?”

“Nothing.”

“What?”

“I just didn’t expect that.”

She stops walking. “You didn’t expect me to believe in marriage?”

“I don’t know.”

“What the fuck do you think I believe in?”

“I really don’t know you.” That stops her. For a second, she just looks at me. Then something about her expression shifts. She starts walking again. I follow. “You believe in love?”

Bella looks genuinely offended. “Obviously.”

A laugh slips out. She looks at me. “Why is that funny?”

“It’s not.”

“You’re laughing.”

“Because I wasn’t expecting you to say it like that.”

“How should I say it?”

“I don’t know.”

Bella rolls her eyes. “I fucking love love.”

I stare at her. “You don’t exactly give off hopeless romantic.”

“Hopeless romantic sounds pathetic.”