Page 7 of Broken
His hair was still damp from the shower and the strong muscles of his arms flexed as he pulled his shirt over his head. I didn’t like the wave of heat that surged through my body. His dark eyes, surrounded by thick lashes, cut through me as if he could see all my secrets.I managed to lower the glass to the table and take a seat.
“Come eat before it gets cold,” I said, and he settled in the chair across from me. I was face to face with the man who’d sworn he’d kill me and who was more than capable of fulfilling that threat, and all I could think about was how this reminded me so much of our breakfasts together when Vix and I had been with the Rosa Nera.
It felt so natural to sit here with him, eat eggs and toast, and sip juice. The only thing that was different was that we were both quiet. And the way he was looking at me... God, I wished I could press my lips against his, even if it was just once.
My phone vibrated, startling me, and I quickly grabbed it. It was the Cobras, probably checking on me. If I didn’t answer, they’d come in hereto make sure I was okay, so I had no choice.
“Hey, what’s up?” I tried to keep my voice as carefree as possible, and I wondered if they suspected Theo was in here. Yeah, my security wasn’t all that good. Theo had been right. But then, there weren’t many Theos after me, were there?
“Just checking in. You okay? Need anything?” The guy on the other end of the line was Mick. He was one ofthe Cobras’ tech guys who were really good at tracking people down, as long as there was a camera or something to hack.
“No, I’m fine. Thanks.” I glanced at Theo, whose eyes were glued to me, and that was a little unnerving.
“Your family’s fine, by the way, but we haven’t seen Theo anywhere. I’m doing my best to track him down and I’m trying out my new facial recognition system, but therehaven’t been any matches so far. I’ll let you know if we detect anything.”
“Okay.” This was so super awkward, because Theo was grinning at me as he lifted his knife, as if teasing me. I’d given him the bluntest knife I had, but I suspected he could use that to hurt someone just fine.
“Are you sure you’re okay? You sound a little distracted,” Mick said.
“Yeah, I came down with somekind of a bug, so my mind is a little weird, but my doc says I’m going to be like new soon.”
“Get some rest then.”
“I will.” I ended the call.
“Why are you making this so easy?” Theo tipped his head back and let out a laugh. “You didn’t even tell him I’m here, right under their noses.”
“I don’t want them to mess up my apartment because of you.” I grabbed my own knife and brieflypointed it at him, then dipped it in butter. “You’re a lot of things, but you’re not dishonorable. I’m holding you to your word. And maybe I love to live dangerously.” I brought the knife to my lips and carefully and slowly licked some of the butter off the blade.
Theo’s mouth opened, his eyes widening a little as he watched me. His breath seemed to catch a little, and then he bit down onhis lip as if he was angry about something. He took a big gulp of his juice, and a slow smile tugged at my lips.
“Do you remember when we...?” I started to say, but Theo lifted his finger.
“Don’t. What happened between you and me is history. You lied to me and you...”
“She would’ve killed me right after killing her own daughter,” I said, raising my voice. “I know it. You know it.So why don’t you just fucking admit it to yourself already?”
He slammed his fist against the table so hard that everything rattled, and one of the glasses tipped over and spilled. “I would’ve protected you if you’d told me the truth!”
“Protected me?” I chuckled. “Yeah, because Ingrid would’ve let that happen. Even if she had wanted to indulge you for a few moments, she would’ve found away to get rid of me.”
He rose to his feet and turned away from me, clenching his fists.
“And if I hadn’t pulled the trigger, someone else would have. That woman was willing to kill her own flesh and blood. Do you think she wouldn’t have turned against you too if she’d felt like it?”
He faced me, gritting his teeth. “You know nothing about her.”
“I’d been around her enough tosee that the only person she really cared about was herself. She was willing to kill a pregnant woman who had the misfortune to end up married to a gangster, but instead of helping out and sending the woman away, which wouldn’t have made a difference to her, she decided to poison her and the baby. And you weren’t able to dissuade her, were you? If Vix, Seth, and I hadn’t found a way... How did sheeven convince you to prepare that poison?”
His face was expressionless. “You keep thinking I’m someone I’m not. The sooner you wake up from that dream, the better.”
“Right. So tell me, did she cut you or did you cut yourself?”
His head jerked back. “What are you talking about?”
“Vix told me something after she got that poison from you. She said you were bleeding and trying tohide it.”
He laughed, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “You’re delusional. I had an accident with a knife.”