Page 28 of Hate So Deep

With a silent groan, I tiptoe down the hall and peek inside, visions of her vacant stare dancing before me.

Anymore, it’s like she looks through me, rather than at me and I can’t decide which is worse.

However, I can’t comprehend the tornado that blew through, and I take in the bed covered in tufts of fabric and feathers.

The dresser against the wall lays on the floor, the heavy wood broken down the seam. Mom’s clothes peek through the cracks, the colors staining the otherwise pale wood.

Even the paintings that hung on the wall are shattered and litter the floor, the glass glinting under the lamp overturned by the bed.

My eyes are drawn back to the mattress, and I eye the stuffing still floating through the air before I approach the closet.

“Mom?” I whisper, pausing when I find her sitting within, her hands on her knees and her head bowed to the floor.

“What happened?” I ask and she shakes her head.

“Go to bed, Lauren.”

“But–”

“Get out. Now!”

Her tone sends me back a step before I turn and walk blindly down the hall.

I don’t know where I’m going or what I’m doing until I reach the door and exit into the cool night where I raise my head and close my eyes as the snowflakes falling gently from the sky pelt my numb cheeks.

Mom’s been avoiding me since I found her in her room. Part of me wants to know why she destroyed it, but I know the stiff lipped woman will never share her pain with me.

Now I’m headed to a party that Celia is throwing in Colt and Finn’s honor. I’d rather sit in a room with my mom while she glares at me than do this but it’s an opportunity to speak to Dirk.

One that I can’t dodge any longer.

The shades of the waning sun cast a pretty glow over the windows as I approach the hotel, my gaze drawn to a dark figure leaning against the railing outside.

That lean…fuck me, it should be illegal.

With a groan, I straighten when he raises the bottle previously dangling from his fingertips and I admire the way his arms ripple as he sips from the rim.

My fingers itch to touch the smooth muscle and when Dirk’s lips pull into a wicked smirk, I mentally groan because despite everything, he still makes me burn…and it’s decidedly not cool.

However, I will never let him see just how much he affects me after his cruel brush off even if heat burns my cheeks when those dangerous dark eyes drop to my chest.

I hope that it’s desire glittering in that stare because he should know exactly what he lost when he tossed me away like trash.

Finally, his gaze moves back to my face, and I can’t hold back my shiver when he raises his brow.

Asshole.

I simultaneously want him to take me away and fuck me before I punch him in the dick so I can see his pain.

I’m so fucked in the head.

“Lauren,” he says in that husky tone that always sends me spiraling.

“Dirk,” I mutter.

When he takes a swallow of his drink, I eye his throat undulating under the movement and look away. How can something so stupid be so sexy?

“Thirsty?” he rasps, and I cross my arms, gratified when his eyes dip to my tits again.

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