Page 111 of Between Now & Heartbreak

I shake my head.

“Committed to what? Certainly not each other.”

“The money.” He looks at me like I’m daft.

“This can’t all be about money, can it? Is it really enough to put ourselves through this sham? It’s not for me.” I raise an eyebrow.

He looks away and shoves his hands in his pockets.

“I need that money. It’s the only way I’ll ever be able to show my father what I’m capable of.”

“How does marrying me and my money show him that?” I ask, bewildered by his logic.

“I have plans for that money.” He says through gritted teeth. I can see I’m not moving him at all. But I don’t give up. I need him to agree.

“Is this abouthim?”His voice is dark now. The sneer in his voice cuts through the tension around us.

I can’t hide my surprise and he laughs when it shows all over my face.

“Oh yeah. I’ve heard all about your time with your lover boy. You think I don’t know that you’re fucking wet for him?”

I swallow down the revulsion and dread that’s risen from the pit of my stomach to lodge into my throat.

“Don’t talk to me like that.”

He eyes me, and grins. His gaze traveling over my body like he owns it.

There’s a promise of pain in his eyes. Not just the physical kind. But the kind that you never forget. The kind that leaves stains makeup can’t hide.

I back up. He steps toward me.

“Why? Since you’re so into honesty today, why can’t we call it what it is.”

“It’s nothing.” I say, desperate that he not know how much Carter means to me.

“I don’t care. Liz, fuck him every day and twice on Sunday if you want. But come home to the devil you know.”

I recoil from him. “Whywould you want that?”

“My parents married for love and now my mother can’t manage a public appearance without a snort from her little stash of coke. If we don’t care what the other is doing, we can focus on building our empires.”

“I don’t want to build an empire. I’m just trying to help my sister. Cameron is the whole reason I’m here. To make sure she gets a happy ending.”

“Life isn’t a fairytale, Elisabeth.” He throws my name the way I suspect he wants to throw the vase on the table next to us.

“I don’t expect a fairytale. But I’m sick of it being a nightmare. I don’t want to do this.”

The only warning I have as to what’s coming is the growl of frustration that rumbles in his chest before he lunges at me. He grabs me and shoves me onto the bed. He pins me down with the full weight of his body and forces all of the air out of my lungs.

My heart feels like it’s going to explode in my chest. I struggle, but can barely move.

“Getoff,” I huff, and then regret using the precious air the words took. I slap at him.

“Calm down.” He snarls, and grabs one of my wrists in one of his huge hands and pins my arms over my head.

“You think I can’t make you feel good?”

He presses his lips to mine in a bruising kiss, my teeth cut into the inside of my lip and I taste blood.

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