Page 45 of Tainted Romance

“GO!” I tightened my eyes, wishing he would leave. “JUST GO!”

“No.”

“FINE!” My eyes snapped open, and anger flared within me. “Fine then, Zane, look me in the eye and tell me Ebony isn’t asleep in your bed right now. Come on, Zane, tell me you don’t have your girlfriend tucked in your bed!”

I didn’t know why I had such a strong feeling she was in his room, but I did, and when he didn’t deny it, I couldn’t help but shake my head in disgust. “Just leave, Zane, before you say something you can’t take back.”

“I meant what I said.”

“And I meant what I said when I told you to leave.”

“This. Us, Allie, it doesn’t end here.”

“It never started.”

His lips twitched into a depressing smirk. “That’s where you are wrong. It has started, and I know now I don’t want it to end.”

“Well, I want it to end.”

“I’m not walking away.” His hand moved to the doorknob. “And I’m not letting you either.”

“So, what, you want us to have a happy ending where I end up your little Alpha female puppet?”

I took a step away from the door, and the break in skin contact with him seemed to give me a clearer mind.

He looked back over his shoulder at me and the coldness I had seen in his eyes earlier this evening was back. “If you think for one minute I’m proud of this, you’re wrong. I don’t want you, Allie. I need you. As long as you’re around, that is all that matters. Like I said, you are my existence, and it depends on us being a twisted, fucked-up couple.”

“Your words aren’t as romantic as before.”

“That was before I knew where you stood and what you wanted.”

“I told you a long time ago what I thought of this mess.”

“Yeah, you’re right, stupid me for thinking our separation might have impacted you like it did me.”

With those final words, he left.

Which left me alone in the room; a bit more lost and confused.

Chapter Twenty

You can’t lose something you never had; so right now, I wasn’t grieving, more like wishing we had something to lose.

I looked in the opposite direction when I noticed Zane’s eyes flicker up. He didn’t need to know I was looking; he didn’t need to know it bothered me.

“You ready, Allie?”

I spun around with a fake content smile. “Yeah sure, Ryder, where are we going again?” I had been only half listening last night, and, well, this morning all my thoughts seemed to be drifting to Zane and Ebony as they ate breakfast.

“Shopping, remember, I had been roped into it, and you said you wouldn’t mind coming.” Ryder frowned at me. “If you’ve changed your mind,you don’t have to.” He quickly added.

Right.

“No, of course, I’ll come.” I really needed to stop focusing on things that didn’t matter anymore. “Let’s go.”

“Right, I’ll just grab Ebony and Zane.” Ryder grinned, and his sentence literally wiped the fake smile from my face.

You had to be kidding me.

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