Page 71 of The Forbidden Note

I flip the shower off.

My body’s aching like crazy.

“Zane? The food’s getting cold,” Marian yells from downstairs.

I adjust myself as best as I can and leave the bathroom.

Burning hot flames lick at my feet with every step. The heat I’d expected to feel with that girl in the desert is here now. Throbbing. Roaring. Demanding release.

The words I told Finn downstairs come back to haunt me.

I’m done chasing Miss Jamieson.

But I’m not done wanting her.

Those two things can be true at the same time.

And here’s another truth for the hell of it—she’s not done wanting me either.

CHAPTERSEVENTEEN

GREY

“Let me take that for you.” Zane wraps his long, wicked fingers around my mother’s coffee mug and pushes back from the table.

“Thank you, Zane. Aren’t you just a sweetheart?” Mom beams at him, falling under his spell.

She has no idea how evil he is.

How depraved.

How despicable.

If she did, would she be throwing heart eyes in his direction? Would she be patting his back like he’s a good boy?

“What about you, Miss Jamieson?” Zane’s eyes burn into me, and I can tell he’s thinking about the shower. “Is there anything you want?”

“No,” I grind out.

His gaze drops to my lips, his hot stare as heavy as his hands around my throat. The memory is thick, visceral. And it makes me tremble with a desperate, aching need.

It’s filthy.

Probably unlawful.

And yet it’s persistent.

I can’t help how much I want him.

How much I hate him.

How much the two blend in a sharp swirl of pain.

If I didn’t have Sloane’s case binding me here, I’d probably run. Far from this city. Far from Redwood Prep. Far from Zane freaking Cross.

Not because I lack self-control.

Because he’s showing me that I’m as much of a monster as those behind Sloane’s murder. An unscrupulous authority figure. One who indulges in her own passions. Tramples on laws. Dances over the grave of propriety.