Page 83 of The Deception You Weave

She was lucky to get away as lightly as she did. A shudder rips through me knowing what Victor is capable of and how much worse it could have been.

"K-Kane?" she stutters, straightening her spine as if she's preparing to fight. "What are you doing here?"

Resting forward, placing my elbows on my knees, I make a show of looking her up and down once more before I find her narrowed, suspicious eyes.

"Come to take you to class."

"Umm… why?"

I laugh at her, pushing from the bed and closing the space between us.

I don't stop until I'm right in front of her.

"How's your head?" Lifting her hair, I expose the cut that runs into her hairline. She gasps the second I reach out and touch her, even if it is only the briefest graze of my fingertips against her temple.

"I-it’s okay."

Happy that it looks to be healing, I lower her hair back down and focus on her eyes instead.

She tries to take a step back but with the angle she's now standing at, all she achieves is bumping into the doorframe.

Reaching out once more, I cup her jaw with my hand, rubbing my thumb over her cheek.

"K-Kane?"

Her eyes search mine, confusion filling hers as she bites down on her bottom lip, trying to figure out what the hell I'm playing at.

Not able to vocalize exactly why I'm here. Hell, I can't even admit it to myself, let alone her, I lean forward intending on being the one who's biting her lip.

"No," she says, quickly placing her fingers in the space between our lips.

"Princess," I breathe, my lips brushing against the soft skin before my tongue sneaks out to get a taste of her.

"W-we're not doing this."

"And what is it that you think we're doing?"

"I'm not allowing you to suddenly be all nice and pretend that you care because I finally told you the hell I've been through. I don't want your fucking pity, Kane. That isn't why I told you."

A bitter laugh falls from my lips. "This isn't pity, Princess."

"Well, whatever it is, I don't want it."

Her words hit me like a fucking bullet.

"You don't…" Taking a step back from her, I keep my eyes firmly on hers. "You don't want it?" I shake my head, running my eyes down her body. Her flush travels from her cheeks down onto her chest, her nipples are hard behind her shirt and her thighs are squeezed tightly together. "Then you'd better tell your body."

She pushes from the wall and turns her back on me.

My anger kicks up a notch that she can just dismiss me like that. I move faster than her and in a beat, my front is pressed to her back and I've got one arm around her waist, pinning her to me and the other around her throat.

Her pulse thunders against my fingers, giving away exactly how she's feeling right now.

"You can't run from me, Princess."

"Ah, there he is," she jokes. "The Kane Legend I know and hate."

My fingers tighten at her comment.