Page 129 of Poison Aches

“With the duration of the contract up to me.”

“—with the third term up to me.”

“If you’re thinking of using the third condition to get out of this, then you’ll be very disappointed.”

“Jesus, Emmett, this contract practically means you’ll own me!”

“Yes,” I say simply.

“And for what?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, I’m very much aware that you are not who everyone thinks you are. I know there’s a huge part of your life you have intentionally kept hidden, so you doing this is not sitting well with me.”

This does not surprise me one bit. She was there that night. She saw it all.

“Why are you suddenly suspicious of my offer?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I know you don’t do anything just for the hell of it?”

“Exactly, which is why I want you to pay me back.”

“What?”

“Angel, I have already helped you a lot so far, haven’t I? Keeping the wolves at bay, saving you from all your crimes that I’m sure if they catch you, they will make an example out of you. Do you think I did that for nothing?”

“You did all that just to then help me again to find my father while you benefit nothing?”

“Oh, I guarantee you, Angel, you getting what you want is not nothing to me.”

A powerful shiver moves through her entire body that I feel it myself.

“Is it because you feel sorry for me?” She suddenly snaps and gets up in a rush.

“What?”

“You’ve known all these years how much I’ve been pining over you, wanting you, and then that Christmas you flat-out rejected me, so now what? You’re going to help me because you feel sorry for me?”

Discomfort.

I hate the way that feeling snakes its way into my system, but I can’t look away. Not when her eyes are ablaze with anger…masking the hurt.

“Let me tell you something, asshole! I don’t need your pity! As a matter of fact, I don’t need your help that I’m sure comes with strings and threats! You can go give that to someone else.”

“Are you refusing then?” I ask quietly.

“Yes!” she snaps. “I’m not signing this and I don’t want your help!” She throws the contract in my lap. “Not now, not ever! Stay the hell away from me with that mess!”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“You know I’ll never force you to do anything,” I tell her calmly, to which she kind of frowns.

“You won’t force me, so why threaten me in the first place?”

“Angel, I never threatened you. I was just making all the facts of the situation known so that down the line, there won’t be any confusion. You are the one who decided to see it as a threat.”

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