Page 60 of Illusory

“Of course not. I may go back downstairs at some point to fix myself another drink.”

I blinked at him, utterly and completely flabbergasted.

Either I was as dumb as a doorknob, or he was deliberately screwing with me because none of this was making any sense to me. I narrowed my eyes. “Is this some kind of game you’re playing? Are you trying to rile me up on purpose? Is that it?”

“I’m nottryingto do anything other than get you to go to sleep.”

“Then leave me the hell alone and I will!” I’d practically screamed the words out at him, but he didn’t so much as twitch a muscle at my outburst.

“Unfortunately, I cannot do that,” he stated evenly like there was no two ways about it. “It seems you are physically incapable of staying out of trouble when left to your own devices and since this house is filled with useless vagrants, I’m simply going to have to take the matter into my own hands.”

“Thematter?”I jerked back, confused. “What matter? What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the matter of keeping you safe andalive, angel. Do try to keep up, will you?” he said and then took another leisure sip.

All of the blood in my body rushed up to my face like a raging inferno.

“You have some nerve! I don’t needyouto keep me safeoralive,” I ground out as I kicked the covers off me and soared out of bed to march over to him, ready to ram his glass of Scotch down his throat. “I can take care of my damn self just fine.”

“Your actions today prove otherwise,” he said as he set theglass down and straightened to his full height faster than my eyes could track him. He peered down at me with challenge in his eyes. “Not only did you walk into the house of the Devil’s doxy in the middle of the day without so much as a word to any one of themanypeople currently living under your roof, but you also managed to bring yourself within seconds of your own death. You would not even be standing here right now had it not been for those wings of yours spontaneously making an appearance. So, yes, I’d say it’s about time I take matters into my own hands.”

“How fuckingdareyou,” I seethed as I jabbed my finger into the center of his chest, glaring back up at him. “You don’t have the right to judge me.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, angel.” He caught my hand and tugged me forward, bringing our faces within a finger’s breadth of each other. “When it comes to you, I haveeveryright.”

“Every right towhat?To leave me? To ghost me when I needed you the most?” I shook my head, angry tears stinging the corner of my eyes as I yanked my hand free and shoved him back a step. “I was alone today because of you! Because you left me!” I shouted back at him, wanting to hurt him as badly as he hurt me when he left. “You don’t get to waltz back in now and pretend like you still care. Like I suddenly matter to you.”

“You are theonlything that matters to me.”

My heart clenched as a single fat tear slowly trickled down my cheek. “So, I guess that’s the reason you won’t touch me or kiss me anymore either then, right? Because I matter so much?”

He dropped his head and slipped his hands into his pockets, his jaw tensing tirelessly under my scrutiny as though words had suddenly failed him.

“Is it?” I pushed, needing for him to answer me. To tell me the truth. But all he did was stand there, refusing to touch me or kiss me or even meet my eyes. I stepped forward, forcing the issue—crowding his space so that he had nowhere to look but right at me. “Answer me.”

Cold, angry eyes flicked up to mine like a cold gust of air. They were meant to scare me away, to deter me, but I didn’t back down. If he didn’t still have feelings for me, then why did he go looking for me? Why was he still here, refusing to leave? None of this made any sense to me anymore and I needed it to make sense. I needed to see the truth behind the cold words and hard eyes for myself and there was only one way I knew to do that.

Mustering up every morsel of courage I had left, I edged forward until I was standing so close to him that even a sheet of paper couldn’t make its way between us. The scent of melting chocolate and spicy tobacco engulfed my senses and my eyes slipped shut as I hungrily pushed up onto my toes.

Dominic caught my arms and jerked me back before I could land the kiss. Every thread of courage and self-respect I had shriveled away into nothing.

“Go to bed,” he hissed, his jaw straining furiously. “Before I do something we will both regret.”

Furious, I wrenched myself free from his grasp and reared back.

There were so many things I wanted to say to him then, to scream out at him, but I refused to let him have any more of my dignity. Without uttering a single word to him, I turned on my heel and walked back to my bed before climbing in and vowing that I would spend the rest of the night pretending he didn’t even exist anymore.

Another tear slid down my cheek and I promised myself it would be the very last one I let fall for him.

19. SCORNED LOVERS

I woke up the next morning to an empty room and a foul mood that started the moment I blinked open my eyes. True to his word, Dominic had spent the entirety of the night in my room, lording over my sleeping form like his survival somehow depended on it.

I too remained true to my promise and didn’t acknowledge him once all night despite waking up several times to find him sitting there, asking me if I was okay.

I had no idea what he was trying to prove or why he appeared to be concerned like he actually cared, but none of it was enough to erase how he’d made me feel last night. Luckily, I wouldn’t need to deal with that today, at least not for a while, since he’d apparently felt he’d done a good enough job securing the “matter” and finally vacated my bedroom in the early morning hours.

After dragging myself out of bed, I brushed my teeth and washed my face and then picked out my clothes, choosing to go with a cute long-sleeved black crop top and a pair of blue jeans. After dressing and undoing my braid, I spent the next thirty minutes trying to get the strange kinks out of my hair and make it look somewhat presentable.

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