Page 143 of Crave
“Say it,” I demanded and took a step forward, making her retreat.
She swallowed hard.
“Say it.” I didn’t blink as I stepped again, forcing her against the wall. Didn’t let her breathe without feeling it.
“I…” she choked. “I didn’t want you to?—”
I slammed my hand against the wall beside her head and pushed against her, feeling her warmth, smelling her goddamn scent. It crawled under my skin and took a savage bite out of my heart.
“You didn’t want?” My voice was pure venom. “You didn’t want us to know? You didn’t want to tell us? You didn’t want to stop it?”
Her chest pressed against mine as it rose and fell.
She was fraying at the edges, unravelling against me like a fucking thread I could rip apart with my bare hands.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Jude grunted. “You let us fucking suffer?”
Theo let out a dark, bitter laugh.
“I thought?—"
Her voice broke.
She didn’t finish.
She didn’t have to.
“You thought?” Theo’s voice was quieter than before, but the way it curled around the words made my skin crawl. “You fucking thought?”
I sensed the movement as he stepped toward us, coming up against her side. It was the two of us and her all over again.
“Tell me, Angel, what exactly you thought?”
She took a breath, but it was shaky, uneven, destroyed. “I…I thought I was protecting you.”
The words landed soft.
Too soft for how loud the answer inside me had grown.
I let out a hiss of air.
Theo unleashed a sound somewhere between a curse and a growl. Jude shook his head. I eased backwards, taking a step as I watched her.
None of us believed her.
Because it wasn’t fucking true.
She didn’t do this for us.
She did it for herself.
“Getout,” Theo muttered, his voice strained.
Angelica stiffened as Jude turned and followed Gabe out of the bathroom, disappearing down the hall.
Theo lingered for a second longer, like he was tearing himself apart on the inside, before he exhaled sharply, and stormed after them.
And just like that?—
