Page 81 of Between Passion and Revenge: Part Two

“The last time we spoke,” I say, my voice rough. “I was coming to tell you.”

His eyes slide closed, and there’s a moment when I am completely uncertain what he’ll do next.

“This is so fucked up, Shae. I know I fucked up, but…I thought I knew you. I’ve never known you to be vindictive.”

The words have all the anger in my body, all the rage from every day over the last eight years, rushing to a final tipping point.

“Youthought you knewme?” I stand, taking slow steps toward him. When there’s mere inches between our bodies, I speak.

“Let me tell you whatIthought. I thought youlovedme. I thought you wanted me, saw a future with me. I thought we were a sure thing. And you knowwhyI thought all those things? It’s becauseyoumade me believe them.”

My hands shake so hard I have to clench and release them to try to get them under control.

“You pursuedme.You toldmeto break down all my walls for you. And what happened when I did? I got crushed. Cast aside like I was nothing. My whole world collapsed in a matter of minutes. And who was the person who hurt me most of all? It wasyou, Storm Sandoval.”

My eyes and nose burn, and I’m beyond irritated that I’m so angry, sohurt, that tears rush down my face. Still, his expression is a hard mask.

“You could have left me alone. You could have left me to live my life how I’d planned it. You didn’t have to lie about loving me, Storm. You didn’t have to make me believe a fairy tale.”

“Shae,” he rasps.

“No! I won’t listen to this. I won’t let you tell me any more pretty lies, and Iwon’tlet you anywhere near my children so you can hurt them. I withheld the information. I’m sorry that hurt you, but I was operating under an assumption I now know was incorrect. But all the same, Storm, you’re a liar, and you hurt people, and I won’t let you do it to them.”

“Shae—”

“I don’t want to hear it!” I push his chest, but he doesn’t move an inch.

“Our love wasn’t a fucking lie,” he grinds out, and the words make me irate.

“Why! Why, you bastard! Why make me love you just to crush me like that? Was it a sick game to you?”

I hit him in the chest this time, and he lets me.

“Just say it! Just say that you never loved me, that you loved hurting me. Own the shit, you coward!”

“No, I won’t say that,” he grinds out, and I lose it. Completely flip my lid.

“Ihate you!” A hit to his right pec.

“I wish I never fucking met you!” A slap to his left arm.

“I hate you, I hate you,I hate you!” I wail on him, hitting him wherever I can and sobbing uncontrollably at this point. The room spins, my brain spins, and I’m completely out of control.

He grunts, and next thing I know, I’m in the air as he carries me across the room. My back lands on the sofa, and then, he’s on top of me, pinning me in place.

Snot and tears mix on my face, but I couldn’t care less.

Eight years of complete agony and heartbreak spill out of me like toxic sludge, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.

“I loved you so much. Why did you break me?” I whisper, tears still coming forward. “Did you hate me as much as I loved you?”

With that, he reaches his limit.

Because his lips are on mine.

I claw at him, fighting my body’s instinct to fall into him, to let him take me, to let himuseme until I’m nothing more than emotion and heart.

“Storm—” I gasp as soon as he gives me a moment to breathe.