Page 174 of Tell Me Pucking Lies

The question hangs in the air, accusatory and sharp. Revan and Atticus exchange a glance but say nothing. Koa just stares at me, his jaw tight, his eyes dark with something that looks like anger mixed with exhaustion.

But I don’t care how tired he is. I don’t care what he’s been through.

He fucking lied to me, drugged me, used my brother against me, betrayed me.

I shoot him a glare that could cut steel, and I find him already looking at me with that same intensity, like he’s pissed off thatI’mpissed off. The audacity of it makes my hands shake.

I walk to the back of the couch he’s sitting on.

I lean down and whisper, “I said, what the fuck are you doing at a Reaper safe house, Koa?”

He goes to speak, but I put my finger over his mouth.

“Never mind. I don’t want to hear it.”

I extend the string in my hands, wrap it around his neck and pull as hard as I possibly can. He starts kicking, making wild grunts, but I couldn’t care less. He set me up, used me before he handed me over.

This asshole deserves to die.

Revan stands, but Atticus puts his hand up.

“You think you can play me?” The words rip out of me, loud enough that they echo off the walls. “Die, bitch!”

Axel emerges from the bedroom then, looking pale and unsteady but upright. His eyes dart at what I’m doing, assessing Koa in a second, and then his eyes find mine again. Worry etches across his face.

“Lexi, if you don’t stop,” Axel pleads. “You’re going to kill him. Do you really want that?”

Looking at my brother makes my grip loosen. Koa hauls forward, ripping himself out of my hold. He falls onto the ground and coughs nonstop.

Revan and Atticus have gone quiet, watching like this is some kind of show they paid admission for.

Something in me snaps. I stand up, needing Koa to feel even a fraction of what I’m feeling. “Is this what you do?” I spit at him. “Listen to your psycho stepfather and then play the hero when it’s convenient? Is that your thing?”

Koa’s eyes flash as he glares at me—something dangerous igniting there. Before I can process what’s happening, he vaults over the couch with terrifying speed and pins me against the wall. Violent and firm. He cages me in, a crazy look in his eye. His body blocks out everything else.

“You think I wanted this?” His voice is low, shaking with barely controlled rage. “You think I wanted to watch him drug you? Watch them tie you up like you were nothing?”

I try to push him, but he doesn’t budge. “You fucking brought me there!” I shout back.

“I brought you there to keep you alive!” His face is inches from mine, and I can see every bruise, every cut, every mark of what he’s been through. “Vincent would have sent someone else—someone who wouldn’t have given a shit if you made it out breathing. At least this way I could control it, at least this way I could make sure—”

“Make sure what? That I’d thank you for it?” I’m trembling now, fury and fear mixing into something toxic. “You’re insane!”

“I did everything I could to keep you safe!” He’s shouting now too, and there’s something raw in his voice, something broken. “Do you understand that? Everything. Even years ago when you were in high school and Vincent first started asking questionsabout the Kane family, I kept your name out of his mouth. I took beatings to keep him from digging into your life!”

I freeze. “What? You’ve been stalking me?”

His eyes bore into mine, desperate for me to understand. “You were my main mission and delivering you meant I could get out. That was the deal he made with me.”

This fucking asshole! I push him as hard as I can. He stays in one spot, so I start punching him. “You selfish motherfucker! Get the fuck away from me!”

“Koa,” Axel says, but Koa ignores him.

“Tiger, you can hate me all you want, but I made you mine long before you realized it. I’d burn this whole fucking world to keep you. If you don’t like it? I’ll always find you, even if you run, even if you hide.”

A shadow looms over us. When I glance up, Atticus is there. He’s the tallest boy I’ve ever seen, also the most beautiful. When he looks at me, I remember that I’m not only in Koa’s orbit.

“We’re a little busy here,” Koa says, turning his head.