Page 90 of Tricked By Jack

“That word again.” She tilts her head. “Complicated sounds a lot like excuse-making.”

My jaw tightens, teeth grinding, because if I don’t anchor myself in anger, the disbelief will swallow me whole. “You weren’t there. You didn’t feel what I felt.”

Her phone buzzes softly against the cushion beside her. She quickly checks it before tapping twice. Then she flips it face-down again.

“Hmm,” she muses. “I might know better than you think. My ex once kept me on a leash for an entire month. It was fucking glorious.”

This is one of the few times Shelby’s talked about her ex. I know he died back in February, but I don’t know how or why. Apparently, their relationship was a secret, so no one really knows much about it.

“Do you still miss him?” I ask softly.

“I’ll love him until the day I die.”

Wow… that’s deep. Definitely not just a fling then. So why did I think it was just that? Or maybe a tad more serious, but I definitely never thought it was epic love.

“So when did it stop feeling like captivity?” she asks, changing the subject back to me and Jack.

“What?”

She runs a hand through her hair. “I mean, when did you start spreading your legs willingly?”

The words punch the air from my lungs. My fingers go slack on the mug and I nearly drop it. “Ex-fucking-cuse me?”

She tilts her head, expression open, almost innocent. “I’m just trying to understand. You were terrified at first, right? But now you look at him like he hung the moon. Something must’ve changed.”

My cheeks heat, pulse stuttering. “That’s not how I’d put it.”

Her smile sharpens as she takes another sip. “How would you put it then? That you’re special? That he sees something no one else does? Because I’ll be honest, Eve. All I see is a girl who’s always been too eager to be filled. Too eager to be needed.”

The words land like barbed wire tightening around my ribs. For a heartbeat, I just gape at her, mouth dry, because I can’t believe they came out ofhermouth. Then I set my mug down with a sharp clink. “Why are you talking to me like this?”

Shelby leans back, crossing her legs, phone balanced loosely in her lap. “Because someone has to. You sit here pretending this is love, when it’s just another man using you. Different collar, same leash.”

My throat works, but no words come. Her eyes return to mine, glinting now, nothing soft left.

“Tell me, Eve. Do you even know who you are when there isn’t a man holding your throat?”

A knock rattles the door.

I flinch so hard I nearly spill what’s left of my tea.

Shelby doesn’t move. Doesn’t even blink. She only smiles, slow and cruel. “Right on time.”

There’s no hurry in her movement as she rises, and sets her mug neatly on the table. She gives me a smile that’s all teeth before walking over to the door, unlocking and swinging it open and in walks… Caleb.

His eyes flick past me without interest before settling on Shelby. She steps into him, and his hands are on her in an instant—fisting her hair, dragging her mouth to his.

The kiss is slow and brutal, all teeth and tongue, wet and noisy in a way that makes my stomach lurch.

“Are you two together now?” I ask, not sure why that surprises me.

Well, actually, considering what she just told me about her ex, itissurprising. Sure, I thought I saw him with her at the Sanctuary. But this… this is definitely not what I expected.

“Surprise,” Shelby sing-songs after pulling back from him.

Her eyes are colder than I’ve ever seen, sharp with triumph. I barely recognize her. “Restrain her,” Shelby orders flatly, jerking her chin at me. “We need to be gone before Jack and Ned come back. It won’t take them long to figure out the fire is bullshit.”

“What?” My voice cracks, half-whisper, half-scream. I lurch to my feet, heart battering my ribs.