Page 232 of The Queen’s Shadow

Great.

Origin did I ever feel like an idiot for believing that he actually cared about me.

“Kasha! Let me in!” He was shouting from the other side of the door, but I ignored him. I rushed to my bag and started throwing things into it. I was getting the fuck out of here.

I didn’t know why it felt like my heart was breaking. You couldn’t mourn the loss of something you never really had.

“Kasha, let me in or I’m kicking the door down!”

“Go away, Rycon.” I tried not to choke on my words as I began packing my things. He didn’t deserve my tears. I don’t know why it surprised me, when he immediately followed through on his threat and started ramming his foot into the door. I should have known he wouldn’t back off. It wouldn’t be the first time he had pulverized a locked door to get to me.

I whirled around as the door crashed open to find him barreling in, readjusting his towel.

“Leave me alone!” I cried, backing away from him.

“Never.” He snarled, his eyes falling to the bag I had started packing. He tore it out of my hands and threw it across the room. “Did you think you were going somewhere?” He snapped and I backed away from him, shaking my head.

“What do you care? You clearly can just go fuck anyone you want.”

“That wasn’t what it looked like, Kasha.” He insisted and I shook my head, unable to keep my eyes from welling with tears.

“It looked like you invited that female over here after you didn’t get what you wanted from me.” I didn’t even sound angry. My voice was low and had a tremor to it. I didn’t know why I was so upset. It’s not like we were actually together. He had just been flirting with me… I knew I shouldn’t have let myself get attached.

“That’s not what happened.” He insisted, but I was spiralling, I tried to back away from him but he had me cornered. He wrapped his arms around me and lifted me off the ground, forcing my legs around his waist before backing into the bed, where he sat with me straddling his lap. I was just a sobbing mess at this point and didn’t even care to fight back. What was the point? He could just overpower me anyway.

“Kasha, fucking listen to me… look.” He begged, and I forced myself to peek through my fingers at the knife he was holding in the hand that wasn’t supporting my back, keeping me firmly in place on his lap.

The knife was covered in blood. I frowned, not understanding why he was showing me this.

“She broke into the fucking house. I literally stabbed her. I was not going to fuck her.” He said, passing me the knife so I could look at it more closely.

I stared at the bloody knife in my hands, trying to reconcile what he was telling me with what I had seen. I looked up to meet his golden eyes, which were glowing in the dim light. His face was as serious as I had ever seen it, as if he were willing me to believe him with every fiber of his being.

“Then why were you kissing her?” I sniffed, remembering the way she had slammed her mouth over his and feeling a possessive twinge tweak my heart at the thought. I wished I could burn that image right out of my brain. I hated it.

He sighed, clearly annoyed. “She kissed me, likely so that you would see and get pissed and leave my ass. Anaya and I…” He cleared his throat and looked like he wanted to tell me something but it physically pained him to do so.

“We used to fuck, okay?”

My barely quelled anxiety rose up again and I dropped the knife, pressing my hands into his chest, trying to push myself up, but he just held me tighter against him.

“I knew it!” I cried and he snarled, digging his fingers into my sides and grinding me further into his lap.

“Stop struggling Kasha or you’re going to give me another godsdamned hard on.” He growled and I shrieked, slapping him in the chest repeatedly. He chuckled at my efforts and it infuriated me.

“Well don’t let me stop you!” I screamed. “By all means, go screw the viper! I’ll see myself out.”

“Would you calm the fuck down? I said used to fuck her, Kasha. I’m not fucking her now, and I have zero interest in fucking her ever again. I literally stabbed her when she tried to touch me, alright? She kissed me to make you jealous and it’s clearly working.”

The way he said it made me pause. The bastard liked that I was jealous. He was damn near biting back a smirk.

When I stopped squirming, he placed his hand on the side of my face and made me look at him, his expression turning serious again. “I want you, Kasha. How many times do I need to tell you that I want you to be mine before you get it?”

I knew he wanted me. The hard ridge of his dick pressing against me through the towel was proof enough of that, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t want that snake-bitch too. I didn’t want to be someone’s side piece. I didn’t want to have to fight to be loved. I didn’t want to be just another body to warm another male’s bed. I couldn’t tell if what he wanted from me was more than that, but for right now, the way he was looking at me, told me that there was maybe at least some hope.

“So you didn’t call her over here because I wasn’t ready to… you know…” I asked, feeling a little ashamed that I even cared.

“No, I was in the shower jerking off and pretending it was you sucking my dick when I heard her break in. I’ve never lost a boner so fast in my life. The second I realized it was her all I could think about was how to get her the fuck out of the house and away from you.”