Page 97 of Sweetest Revenge

“I’m showing immense control because I know you need it?—”

“I don’t need anything from you!” Her words hit exactly the mark they meant to, right inside my chest. They were sharp, cutting, and pulled an immediate reaction from me.

“Except my money. You need that, don’t you?” It was harsher than she deserved. Tears immediately pricked her eyes, and my heart constricted.

Shit. I regretted my words as soon as they slipped out of my mouth.

“Addi, I’m sorry?—”

“If you won’t fuck me, Warren, tell me what you want from me. Come on, get it over with so I can walk away from here with the money and get my mother out of that fucking hospital.”

The realization hit me like a punch to the gut, and I couldn’t get off her fast enough.

She wants to complete the contract.

She wasn’t distracting herself with me, trying to forget all the bad stuff that was happening.

All she was thinking was that if I didn’t fuck her, I wouldn’t give her the money at the end of it. She was going to lie there and take it while I had my fill of her body like she was some… thing.

I covered my mouth with the back of my hand as emotions seized my chest.

Was that all this was?

Did any of it mean… anything? My mind played through every night since she’d finally given herself to me.

Has she only been fucking me to meet the terms of the contract?

Ironic that I was the one getting caught up in this. I should have been stronger. Should have known better.

I’m fucking weak. And I let someone in who just wanted to leave me in the end anyway.

I should have known. I shouldn’t have forgotten the true reason she was here, ever since the night I knew she’d been snooping around in my bedroom. She wanted revenge, and now she had it.

I couldn’t fault her. I wouldn’t. But I cursed myself for making this into something it clearly wasn’t.

“It’s over,” I whispered. “Pack up. I’ll have my driver drop you off at home.”

“No, Warren, I need this mon?—”

“Go,” I forced out, unable to look at her.

I can’t believe she expected me to treat her that way.

Regardless of the contract, she wasn’t a thing to be used and abused. That’s why we had such strict guidelines.

Guidelines that should have stopped me from getting this wrapped up in her.

With a lingering look, she pushed herself off the couch, the click of her shoes echoing through the empty house as she ascended the stairs.

I should have known better.

34

ADDISON

“I found her waiting outside my house, soaked,” Piper said just beyond the bathroom door. “I think she needs some cheering up.”

The hot water from the shower did good work drowning out most of their conversation, but not all of it. They dropped it down to a whisper, but their words still slipped through the gaps in the door.

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