Page 148 of The Truths We Burn

“Rook,” she scolds, arms crossed in front of her in defense.

I hadn’t planned on showing up.

But that fear had started to fester. It’s such a rare emotion that I knew it almost immediately.

I thought about her father being here, Easton, all the people that she once surrounded herself with like a shield who had turned their backs, and I wasn’t afraid of what they would do to her. They are weak. Cowards.

I was nervous about what she might do to them.

What would happen if her father pushed her a bit too far, if Easton had continued what I know he wanted to do in that room. I know the tidal waves of emotions that are coursing through her, how much of her patience is being tested by being here. All it would take is one tiny flint, and she would become an unstoppable wildfire.

Scorching anything and everyone in her path.

I can feel it.

Her anger. Her cracked self-restraint. Her despair.

So I thought, what better way to feed the animosity inside of her than give her exactly what it was she’s craving.

“There is something I need to tell you. A few things.”

I walk in her direction, taking my time, making her wonder what it is I’m up to. She watches me with skeptical eyes, which doesn’t surprise me. I’m known for my unpredictability.

“And it couldn’t wait until later?”

A smirk breaks onto my face, my feet stopping once they’re touching the tips of her heels. The smell of her perfume hits me straight in the face, making my groin ache.

“That’s all we’ve been doing, TG,” I say in a hushed tone, pulling the match from my mouth. “Waiting to make our move, waiting out the feds, waiting to kill your father.”

I dip the red tip of the match towards her skin, dragging the rough end across her collarbone just where her scar sits. The same one I wear on my own.

The one I gave myself so that fate would know we were in this life together.

She’s nervous.

I can feel it rolling off her in waves as she stands there wondering what I could possibly be up to this time. Am I going to hurt her? Am I going to end this once and for all? And my personal favorite, am I going to touch her?

“I’m done waiting.”

“What about the police? What about Cain?” Her eyebrows furrow in worry, but her eyes are burning with excitement.

“That’s been handled,” I breathe, drawing a line from her scar towards the center of her chest. “Nothing is stopping us now.”

“Is that what you came to tell me?”

“That’s one of the things.”

“And the other?”

I enjoy the times I could catch her like this.

Cheeks flushed and unsure of herself. It’s only me who can make her this anxious. I want the world to see her as the strong woman she is. As a fucking force to be dealt with.

It makes me hard watching the way people cower around her. Even if she doesn’t see it for herself, I do. Regardless of the power she thinks she lost, people still fear her, and I fucking love that about her.

I love that I’m the only one who can break her. The only one that’s able to crawl beneath her skin and bury myself inside of it.

My hands descend onto her body, slipping beneath the globes of her ass and picking her up smoothly, hauling her up to my waist.