Page 67 of Saint

He brushes his thumb over the line of my bottom lip, and his cold expression cracks. Ice melting to reveal the faintest hint of a smirk as he stares at me.

“Did I hurt your feelings?”

“No.” I twist my chin to the side to free myself from his touch. All it does is make things murky. “I’m just calling you out on your bullshit.”

Kole hums, watching me. “I didn’t take it easy on you, Violet.”

“So, what, you gave me spaceto recover?” I roll my eyes. “How sweet of you.”

He lifts my hand between us and pushes the sleeve back to reveal the faint bruising around my wrist from where he gripped it hard and held my arms over my head.

“Just because I want to hurt you doesn’t mean I don’t understand your body still has limits.” He traces the bruise with his thumb.

“Since when do you care about limits?”

“Care.” He pulls my sleeve down and releases my hand. “You like threatening me with that word.”

“It’s only a threat because you’re incapable.”

He leans in closer, cupping my jaw in his hand. “With most people, yes. But with you, all I do is care.”

“All you do is hurt me.” I breathe out in disbelief and try to shake him loose again, but his hold on my jaw is too strong.

“Hurting youiscaring about you, Violet.” His teeth grit together. “Because unlike anyone else in your life, I listen. I see you. Your desires, your darkness. I hear the thingsyou tell me and the things you’re still too scared to say. I know you better than you know yourself because I’ve been watching every little detail to make sure I don’t miss a single thing. I care about you more than I’ve ever cared about anything. But it doesn’t make me sweet, and it doesn’t make me nice. So, you’ll continue to struggle with that until you’re ready to let it go.”

He releases my jaw, but his hand on the wall behind me doesn’t budge. And his body’s so close; all I feel is him. All I smell is him. All I see is him.

I can’t catch my breath.

“Ask me the question you really want to,” Kole says, tilting his head, his dark eyes scanning over me. “What’s actually bothering you?”

I press my lips tight, wishing it wasn’t so easy for him to see through me. Wishing his presence alone wasn’t enough to make me want to reveal everything about myself to him.

I’d like to lie to him and tell him nothing’s wrong, but he breaks through all my defenses.

“Are you seeing other people?” I ask, feeling like an idiot for even caring what my stalker is doing in his free time.

He hums again, dropping his chin and shaking his head. When he lifts his face once more, the fire in his eyes edges on Saint, and my heart races at the heat in his gaze.

“That’s what you’re worried about?”

I nod. “I know I shouldn’t.”

Because he’s sick. A psychopath. A killer. He has no limits when it comes to me.

And I’m pathetic, only worried about if he’s mine.

“No.” He shakes his head. “I’m not.”

“I overheard Declan in class this morning talking about your stamina last night.”

“He wasn’t talking about sex. I’m not Declan. I don’t share, remember?”

A shiver skitters through me as I nod.

“That includes me. I’m yours, kitten. Only yours.”

That statement should terrify me. So I’m not sure what to make of the fact that it relaxes me instead.

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