Page 49 of Wicked Knight (Knight's Ridge Empire 1)

“No? So why are you here?”

She stills, no doubt fighting with her need to defy me. Until she lets out a long breath and finally spills the words.

“Theo said some things. Said you lost someone. I just thought…”

Anger rips through me at the thought of her learning my truths, my ugliness, but I fear it’s too late to stop her now.

Fucking Theo. I fucking warned him not to say anything. To just pick her up and deliver her home like the white fucking knight he tries to be. But no, he had to run his fucking mouth.

“You thought you’d shove your nose into my life and hope to find some answers.”

Taking a risk, I release one of my arms from around her body and drag her hood down, exposing her light blonde hair.

Threading my fingers into the soft lengths, I drag her head back so she has no choice but to look at me.

I flick my eyes over every inch of her face before focusing in on her eyes that are dark with anger.

My jaw tics as I stare at her, my cock hard as fuck against her arse.

She fucking knows it too, if the slight smirk playing on her lips is anything to go by.

Seconds drag by as we stare at each other, hate crackling between us. It’s so fucking thick it’s hard to drag in the air I need, especially when it’s laced with her scent.

The drizzle picks up once more until fat raindrops land on both of us, soaking our hair through until it begins to run down our faces.

It should ruin her makeup, make her look a mess, but fuck, it only makes her hotter seeing her mascara smudging under her eyes as if she’s crying. Crying for me. The only thing that would make it better would be seeing her lips swollen from my kiss.

No. Fuck no.

“You want the truth, Hellion?”

A shocked gasp rips from her lips as I force her forward with my hand in her hair. She stumbles, but I don’t let her fall. Not yet.

Together, we splash through the puddles that have emerged in the grass as we approach Dad’s gravestone.

Twisting my fingers, she hisses as I pull, giving her no choice but to drop to her knees in the mud.

“You’re an asshole,” she seethes, but it doesn’t escape my attention that she doesn’t fight me.

She could. We both know she could, yet she allows me to do this.

Is she really so curious about me to let this shit ride, or am I going to find myself knocked on my arse any second?

My cock twitches at the thought of her turning her rage on me, and I realise that any pain she’s planning on dishing out will be worth it.

“There,” I growl, forcing her head forward so she has no choice but to look at the carving on the stone.

Nothing but the sound of the rain soaking everything around us and our heaving breaths can be heard as she stares at it. Reading the words, the dates. The beginning of my life turning to utter fucking shit before my innocent eyes.

“Y-you were only a baby,” she whispers, so quietly I would miss it if I weren’t so invested in what she might say to all of this.

“I had no chance of remembering him,” I force out through the emotion clogging my throat.

It doesn’t matter that I never met him. I’ve always felt close to him. Always. I’m a part of him. The Family was a part of him.

“What happened to him?”

My body jolts at her question, and there’s no way in hell she misses it. She’s too perceptive.