Page 44 of Manny's Surprise Baby

“Oh, is that right?”

“Damn straight,” I snapped.

“I thought it wasn’t personal? That sounds personal to me, Pierce.”

My face warmed. “Fine. Then I guess it is personal. Maybe I like that it pisses you off that I won’t tell you. Maybe I like annoying the shit out of an arrogant alpha like you.”

“Oh, really?” he growled.

“Why not?” I hissed. “It’s obvious you can’t handle being told no. No alpha can handle that.”

“I’m not like those other fucking alphas,” he grumbled. “Stop treating me like them. I’d never do that twisted shit to you.”

His words were like a splash of ice water. “What did you say?”

He immediately clamped his lips tight, looking embarrassed. He turned his back on me, exhaling with frustration. “Crap,” he muttered under his breath.

“What twisted shit?”

“Never mind.”

I felt the blood drain from my cheeks. “No. No. No. Tell me what the fuck you’re getting at.”

He turned to face me, lifting his chin. “I misspoke.”

“Bullshit.”

He stared at me, his mouth a grim line.

“What do you think you know about me?”

His face was flushed. “I don’t think you want to push this, Pierce. You’re not going to like my answer.”

I watched him, feeling nauseated. Did he know about Baxter and all the abuse that had happened? What else could he have meant by “twisted shit”? “God damn you.” I felt like he’d punched me as I took two steps back, staring at him wide-eyed. “What did you do?”

He held out his hand. “I just wanted to understand you.”

“Did you talk to Colin like I thought?”

“Pierce—”

“You fuckingliar,” I yelled, embarrassment stoking my fury. “You did talk to Colin. I knew it. Iknewit!” I clenched my teeth against my anger. “I felt like a jerk accusing you last night. I apologized to you, and you let me. And the whole fucking time you really had shoved your nose in my business where it didn’t belong.”

“Look—”

“No. Just shut the fuck up.” I raked my hand through my hair. “I can’t believe you. Fucking alphas just always have to have their way. Your kind disgust me. You just can’t seem to help it. Everything always has to be about you.”

He rubbed his face tiredly. “I meant well.”

I gave a hard laugh. “Oh, Jesus. You’re unreal.”

“Nothing that happened to you was your fault. I don’t get why you are so ashamed to tell people.”

I covered my ears like a five-year-old. “Please stop talking.”

Amazingly, he did.

I bolted out of the kitchen to my room. I was humiliated that he knew all the disgusting things that had happened to me. I was so mortified I could barely breathe. Why had he pushed so hard to find this stuff out? Why? I wasn’t even going to be in his life after this one week. His behavior was so typical of alphas, pushing until they got what they wanted. They didn’t care who it hurt, or if that was maybe the opposite of what someone else wanted. All that mattered was their needs.