Page 74 of The Monster and the Last Blood Match

“None of this should have ever happened.”

Reyna quickly straightened her dress and stood. “Don’t lie. You want this. I know you do.”

“No. I can’t believe I almost went further.”

“Went further? You mean you almost let me blow you or that you wanted to have sex with me? Because you clearly want both.”

“Reyna,” he snapped. “Enough. You somehow unravel my restraint, butthiscannot happen again.”

“Why? Why won’t you let it? It keeps happening over and over again,” she cried desperately. “You’ve already set off a chain reaction that can’t be stopped.”

Beckham met her eyes. “This isn’t fair to Penny.”

Reyna cringed at her name. It felt like he had slapped her with the word. “Oh yes, the mysterious girlfriend who only comes up at these inopportune times. Bastard.”

He didn’t even respond to her comment. She took a deep breath and untangled the knots in her hair.

“Whatever,” she grumbled, walking back to her bag and hoisting it over her shoulder. Beckham followed her, and that only pissed her off more. She whirled on him. “No, you know what? This isn’t over. You can’t bring her into this like that. Either you’re dating her or you want me. Whichever it is, you have to choose, because I can’t do this push and pull. You’re hot. You’re cold. You want me. You don’t. I don’t want to hear about the warring monster. I want to hear from the human silencing the voices. Because right now I feel like you’re actually torturing me and driving me out of my mind just like one of your victims.”

“I did say I would break you,” he whispered.

“I think you’re too damn afraid of what the old you could have done to take any real risks. It’s sad, because the new Beckham is better than this.”

“There is no new and old. There’s just me. And if you think this is torture, you have no idea.”

“By the look in your eyes, I guess I’ll find out.”

“For your sake, I hope you never do.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Reyna had no patience the next morning. She had barely gotten any sleep. She had tossed and turned in her bed, replaying everything that had happened between her and Beckham until she thought she was going to scream.

Why couldn’t she get him out of her head?

She was beyond pissed at him, and still she couldn’t stop thinking about their evening. He had been so real. Sincere, even. He had been himself with her. He had let his guard down and they’d had one beautiful moment, then poof!

Gone.

Slide the wall back between them. Two steps forward, fifty steps back. It was maddening, and she wasn’t going to put up with it anymore. Last night had solidified that in her mind. Beckham wanted Penny. If he was an asshole who cheated on his girlfriend, then she didn’t want him.

Not that she had any right to him anyway.

That thought propelled her out of bed. She threw on her street clothes and pulled her hair into a slicked-back ponytail. After she grabbed her camera, she left her room, and without even a glance around the penthouse, she walked to the elevator.

Once she reached the bottom floor, she exited through the front doors. Everett smiled as she approached the valet station.

“Your car?” he asked.

“No, thanks. I’m going for a walk. If anyone comes looking for me, will you tell them I needed some air and will be back later?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Do you expect someone to come looking for you?”

“No,” she said immediately. Her eyes flitted to the lobby in irritation.

“Be safe. You’re kind of prone to danger,” he said, only half joking.

“Yeah,” she acknowledged. “True. Well, I’ll stay out of the shadows.”

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