Page 24 of Clash of Sin and Secret

A bitter laugh escapes him. “And you thinking that of me proves my point. You never truly saw me. If you had, things might’ve been different.”

“What was I supposed to think?”

His fingers drum against his thigh. “For ten years, I watched you love him. Ten years I tried to be content being the outsider looking in. And then, when I finally showed you my heart, you crushed it, and you never even came to ask me why I left.”

Young Huntley appears in my mind. After his seethe was killed, he came to us damaged and guarded. Even when we were close, he always hovered at the edges, his sarcasm masking something I was too blind to see.

How many times did he reach out, in his own way, only to watch me chase after Zane?

“I didn’t know.” The words feel inadequate against the weight of his confession. “I should have, and I’m sorry, but I had no idea.”

He rises from the couch and runs a hand down the front of his shirt. “All three of us were destroyed that night. Whether it was fate or stubborn pride or each of us not being mature enough to face our worst fears, mistakes were made. Zane and I stayed and worked through the damage. You ran away and refused any of us the chance to move past it.”

It’s the gut-wrenching pain in his gaze, or the crack in his voice, but his accusation hits as hard as a strike to the sternum. “I’m sorry.”

“So am I.”

He turns to leave and stops dead. I follow his gaze and gasp. “Ohmygod, Zane. How long have you been standing there?”

Zane

I stand at the entranceway of Scottie’s living room, the energy in the air charged like a battlefield. Huntley and Scottie? The pieces of my world crack and shift beneath my feet.

Huntley was her first?

Anger erupts inside me, hot and violent, and I stalk toward him. “Seven fucking years. She left, and you never said a thing to me in sevenfuckingyears!”

“Zane, I—” Huntley backs up, his palms raised as he stammers.

“Even when we crossed the line and became more than best friends, you still never told me.”

“How could I?” Huntley’s voice is tight, his eyes filled with something dark and conflicted. “She was yours. She was always yours. Even after I showed her how I felt, she was still yours.”

Scottie stands abruptly, her face flushed. “I’m a person! I didn’t belong to anyone! I was naïve and disillusioned and, in hindsight, had my life way too wrapped up in Zane, but I didn’t belong to anyone. I still don’t!”

My blood heats at her words, fire igniting within me. “Wrong. You are mine. Whether you admit it or not. Whether you like it or not. You are mine.”

“Back then, but things changed—Ichanged.”

“Yes, and I accept that I’m responsible for most of that, but I didn’t give you up for him to take advantage of you.”

Huntley’s fangs descend. “I didn’t take advantage. She was hurting. She begged me?—”

I’m across the room, fangs extended and gripping him by the throat in a blur. Frames on the wall rattle as I pin him hard, and push in so we’re nose to nose. “She fucking begged you, did she?”

Huntley presses his hands on my chest but doesn’t put up a fight. He knows he deserves this. Dammit, he also enjoys beingmy submissive. “Don’t you dare get turned on by this, asshole. I’m not playing here.”

Huntley’s brow arches, seemingly undeterred by the threat of me crushing his windpipe. “It was seven years ago. We all fucked up that night. None of us knew the whole of the situation. Now that we do, we can finally put it to rest.”

“I’ll fucking putyouto rest.”

“Zane, stop!” Scottie has a hold on my arm, pulling me off Huntley.

It cuts me, leaving a wound jagged and raw. “You’re defending him?”

“I’m reminding you that the three of us are more than the worst night of our lives—or what was the worst night until Daeva and Lazarus Kava targeted us.”

The name of our enemies on her lips brings me back to our current clusterfuck. I lean in, pegging Huntley with a glare. “We’re not done with this.”

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