Page 30 of Bared Betrayal

“No,” I whisper shakily in disbelief. “No. No. No. It can’t be…you?”

“I’m afraid so, baby girl.”

“Oh, God.” I gasp, swallowing air that doesn’t reach my lungs. “How…How do you…We wore—”

“Masks? Yeah. I followed you out, watched you get into your car and take off your mask. You sat there crying behind the steering wheel for twenty goddamn minutes.”

Panic slithers around my lungs. “Jesus. This isn’t happening.”

“Oh, this giant clusterfuck already happened.”

“It’s not what you think.” I have no idea why those words fly out of my mouth faster than yesterday’s news.

“Oh, it’s not?” He cocks a dark brow. “So, you weren’t at a sex club getting caned and fucked while engaged to my son?”

I shake my head, shuddering as fear and guilt and regret and everything just bursts through me. “It’s not that simple.”

“Then explain it to me.”

“I…” Tears stream down my face in a cascade of guilt. “I can’t.”

“Say it!” He slams his fists into the wall, snarlinglike a rabid animal as he leans in, a hulking beast looming over me. “Fucking say it out loud.”

“Say what?”

“That you’re a fucking liar and a cheat!”

“No! No, I’m not. It’s not as black and white as you think.” I swallow the shame that tastes like bile at the back of my throat because the truth is, I am a cheater. I am a liar for keeping the secret. And I might have my own personal reasons for doing what I did, but it still doesn’t justify any of it.

Cold sweat clings to my forehead as nerves eat away at me like flesh-eating insects.

I can’t breathe. I can’t fucking breathe with him this close. My hands start flailing, nails clawing as I try to fight him off me. “Get your fucking hands off me.”

“Say it!” He grabs my face with both hands, razor-sharp claws digging into my skin as he forces me to look him in the eye.

“You’re hurting me!”

“Isn’t that what you want? Pain?”

My lips quiver in response, mybreath coming faster, every limb trembling from the icy chill splintering my bones. “Stop!”

“You know the word stop only makes my dick hard.”

“Goddammit. Stop, please,” I beg, tears now freely streaming down my face.

He grips my face tightly, stilling me as he leans close, tracing his lips down my jaw. “Some would call this…serendipity.” He hooks his thumb into my mouth, and I can taste tobacco on his skin. “But I call it a complete and utter royal…fuck-up.”

“Let me go or I’ll scream.”

“I dare you to fucking scream for me. It won’t be the first time.” The words pour from his mouth like a torrent, the lines in his face a maddened maze. His intensity is crushing, his eyes wild as if he’s about to lunge and tear me the hell apart. It’s fucking petrifying. Intimidating. Primal.

Sexual.

Oh, God. What is happening right now?

It’s like the air went from arctic to scorching in zero-point-five seconds, and now I’m torn between defending myself against his horrible accusations and begging him to…

To what? To hate me more? To hurt me?Maybe.Fuck.