Page 57

“I’m sure you can guess the rest,” I say.
“Tell me.”
I hold back another sob, but Cage isn’t going to let me get away without telling him. And the thing is, I want to. I haveto.
“Liam was obviously real bad news,” I say. “But I didn’t catch on at first. I was too busy marveling at how a hot guy like him could ever find me attractive. He dressed like a stockbroker, but underneath he was wild. I romanticized him, even when I found out that he was a drug addict.”
Cage’s gaze goes full dark.
I add, “I probably don’t have to tell you that he had little to no redeeming moral qualities.”
One of Cage’s hands unfists, but then he clenches it again. “I can’t name many drug addicts who do.”
Something about the way he says it makes him sound angry in a more personal way than I can fathom, but as he keeps drilling me with his gaze, I let the rest of my dumbass story out.
“I didn’t figure everything out all at once. It was gradual, because, at first, Liam was charming and nice. He took me on romantic little trips into the country for picnics. He brought me to a small carnival and won me a stuffed animal, for god’s sake. Then, after a few weeks, he tried to…”
I nearly choke on the words.
“Did he hurt you?” Cage grits.
My pulse wobbles as I stare into his eyes. Sparks flare there, more anger. But is that fury at himself because he let me into his life?
Or does he actually care about memore?
“Liam didn’t hurt me,” I say.
Cage’s shoulders relax, but not by much.
I lick my lips, because they’ve gone dry. “At least, he didn’t hurt me in the way you’re thinking. He did try to have sex with me, and even though I was infatuated with him, I said I wasn’t ready. Because I wasn’t. I think I instinctively knew that things between us weren’t right.”
“And what did he do when you refused?”
“He got really impatient.” I rub my chilled, bare arms, even though the night is warm. “He called me ‘boring’ and a ‘prude,’ and I felt terrible about putting him off. I still hadn’t caught on to what a shit he was. Then he suddenly became very ‘patient’ as he waited for me to come around, and I let him fool me into blaming myself for not sleeping with him. Then I did something really, really dumb.”
I lower my head again, tears really running out of my eyes now. “One night, I allowed him to take some naked pictures of me on his cell phone.”
“Shit, Karini.” Cage sounds disappointed.
“Even though I knew things weren’t right, I wanted to show him that I could be a ‘fun girl,’ and I felt like if I didn’t do something, I’d be just a boring old prudish tease.”
As silence descends, I realize how things have changed in the short time since I left Liam. With Cage, I never felt pressured. Instead of trying to prove something to him, I just…was. Cage brought something out in me. It never had to be forced.
And now all of that is about to come to an end. I can feel it.
I try to hold back those tears, but I can’t. “All in all, it took me a couple of months to finally see Liam’s darker side, and after I discovered his drug addiction, that’s when I broke things off. He was angry, bitter, but it wasn’t until he ran out of money for his drugs soon afterward that his truly evil side came out.”
“And his evil side is doing something with those pictures, isn’t it?” Cage asks.
I nod. “He told me that if I didn’t start giving him money, he was going to put my naked pictures online and send them to porn sites.”
More silence.
A crazy laugh cuts the air, and as it dies, I realize that it’s from me.
“He even has some short video clips of me touching myself,” I whisper.
Cage plows his hand through his hair and paces a few feet away.