Page 15 of Queen of Ruin

Darren pulls his shirt off, making a show of it, and lays back down on the bench positioning his hands on the barbell. Now that the extra weight is off, he lifts it easily from the rack, his stomach muscles contracting, giving him that deep V cut that runs under the waistband of his sweatpants. I wish I was immune to how good-looking he is, especially because I’m still pissed at him, but I’m not.

Snapping out of it, I throw the towel on the floor beside me and say, “You know you can’t just barge in on me whenever you want.”

“Sorry, I thought since I’d already tasted your cunt, modesty was the last thing to worry about.”

His words cause me to swallow hard, but his ambivalence irritates me.

“That’s not the point, especially since you don’t even sleep in there with me.”

Parting my legs into a V, I lean forward into a deep stretch. My ponytail falls forward as I rest my forearms on the mat when I see Darren’s gym shoes planted in front of me. I tip my head, my eyes traveling up his legs to his stomach where his sweatpants sit tantalizingly low on his hips – maybe a bit too low. Maybe even on purpose.

“I wasn’t aware that you wanted me in your bed.” He lifts an eyebrow, his deep voice full of innuendo.

“I don’t.”

He makes a disbelieving noise, then grabs one of the free weights. I watch the veins travel up his forearm as if waking from slumber.

He’s looking at me with an amused expression, the corners of his lips pulling into a smug smile that makes me want to smack him.

“Plotting how you can get maximum force to kick me in the balls, or do you just like the view?” he muses smugly, continuing to curl the weight, making sure to flex his muscle with exaggeration.

It’s a nice view, I have to give him that. My expression turns to a scowl. “Hmm, tempting,” I affirm. “You’re in my personal space.” I motion to the area around me and realizing that I sound childish, but I don’t care.

“Your long-ass legs are taking up the whole floor.” He scowls down at me, but his eyes still hold the hint of mischief while he skims over my bare legs, to the sliver of bare skin at my stomach, until finally reaching my face. I bend my knees and stand up, facing him.

“Since when do you work out anyway?” I inquire. “Other than using your forearm to lift a glass of whiskey.”

“For your information, I played Lacrosse in college.”

I scoff, turning on the treadmill, determined to drown him out with the sound of the belt running.

“Are you going to enlighten me on what today’s attitude’s for?” Darren probes, causing me to pull a face.

My attitude stems from when he got me fired, coerced me into marrying him, and then accused me of fucking his father, but that argument was becoming stale.

“It’s a long list, Darren,” I glower, while continuing to run, wishing I hadn’t forgotten my headphones, because then I could tune him out. “But today’s attitude is because you volunteered me for Audrina’s charity and didn’t discuss it with me first.”

“It’s my mother’s charity,” he corrects with a darkened expression.

I feel heat flood my face because I know Darren’s mother is a sensitive subject, and I’ve always tried to be respectful about that.

“Besides, I thought you liked charity work, what with the homeless and all.”

Usually while running I can tune everything out, train my mind to focus on one single point to push through the ache in my lungs. That one single point right now is Darren’s abs. He’s such a selfish, annoying man.

Shaking those dangerous thoughts from my head, I snap, “You should have warned me Audrina was going to ambush me at the cafe this morning.”

“What makes you think I knew?”

“The cafe is not exactly the kind of place someone like Audrina would hang out,” I offer.

“You’re been here, what, a month, and you already have everyone pegged?” he challenges.

“Why does that surprise you? Because I’m not a college graduate?”

He crosses his arms and his soft hazel eyes settle on me, and I let out a jagged breath.

“I should have known Audrina would track you down,” Darren lets out a frustrated sigh. “She can be resourceful.”

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