Page 91 of King of Malice

“Yeah.”

“Did she get treated like that too?” he asks.

I have no idea what he’s building toward. “Yeah. Of course.”

“Does she struggle with this kind of thing too?”

“No. Of course not.” Ava had a real mom for the first eight years of her life who cared for her. Loved her. Most of her issues revolve around her attack.

“Did Ava take your food?”

“What? No. Do I look like the kind of person that a five-foot-four-petite blonde could take from?”

That makes his brows lift.

I sigh out my frustration, not really wanting to talk about Ava. “She’s not weird about people making food for her. And she doesn’t have anger issues either. But she doesn’t date. That’s her issue.”

His jaw drops. “Like ever?”

“Never. She wants to wrap herself around me like a boa constrictor instead.” I turn back toward the cabin, wincing about what I just said. It’s kind of true. But also, not fair. She’s given me every part of herself in return. And if anything, my issues mess with her life way more than hers do with mine.

I’m not healthy for her. I’m a shit friend, one. And two, she needs someone to help her see that not all men are like our bastard foster father. I’m not exactly modeling healthy dating experiences.

“I see. You need more space than that.”

Is he trying to figure me out? Fuck that. Like I need to see the reflection of this hot mess in his eyes.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Cadence

Zane givesme space for the rest of the day, which I appreciate. By the time night falls, I’m ready to go to bed with him and enjoy the benefits of being here.

I brush my teeth and wash my face and then slip into a cute little black nightie that I packed on a whim.

But after a day of being standoffish, I think I might have to give him a few indicators that I’m ready to resume our intimacy. And by that, I mean sex. Mind-blowing sex.

I hear him in the bathroom and arrange myself on the bed with a hip up, my legs on full display.

He walks into the bedroom and stops. “Well, hello.”

“Hi,” I give him a sexy smile and my best come-hither stare.

He shrugs off his shirt, tossing it to the floor. My smile grows as I rub my knees together, getting ready for all the bliss that’s coming.

He pulls off his athletic pants, folding them and setting them on the bureau so that he’s in nothing but boxer briefs and then he turns out the light.

Moving back to the bed, he climbs in and pulls the covers up his body. And then…he turns his back to me.

My brow furrows as I stare at the back of his head. “What the hell?”

“I could ask you the same,” he replies, sounding neither upset nor hurt.

“What does that mean?” I huff, but the pang in my gut tells me that I already know.

“We’re not here for meaningless sex, Cadence. That was never what this was about. If that’s what you want, you can get that anywhere else and so can I. It’s not what I’m interested in from you.”

He’s right. I know he is. But I’ve never been one to deny a good fight just because I was wrong.