Page 1 of Unmask
1
KAYLOR
How could a hand have so much meaning?
It was just a hand. Five fingers. Five sexy fingers, each with a playing card suit tattooed below the knuckle. Heart. Spade. Diamond. Club. A hand I’d seen inflict pain, and a hand with knuckles that had been bruised and broken. The hand of a quarterback, who could throw a perfect spiral down the field with such control and precision. But also…a hand that had once, however briefly, made me feel beautiful, treasured, wanted, and even loved.
I never paid much attention to hands before, especially on guys. But Kreed’s? His fingers could be,had been, a lot of things.
Seductive. The way his thumb had brushed across my bottom lip and he smirked when I sucked in a breath like he knew exactly what he was doing to me.
Dangerous. The way they fought, such power in a strike, such anger in his fists.
Gentle. The way they had once, just once, caught a tear on my cheek before I could pretend it wasn’t there.
Now, that hand hung between us, waiting.
The warehouse’s docking door was open, the night air biting against my skin as I stood at the edge of everything I’d ever known. My heart pounded so hard I could hear it in my ears, a steady, deafening rhythm of doubt.
The Vipers Nest loomed behind me, cold, dark, and full of ghosts, but it wasn’t the warehouse I was running from.
It was Kreed.
My heart pounded against my ribs, a frantic, confused rhythm. I didn’t understand how something as simple as a hand could unravel me, how it could make this choice feel suddenly impossible.
I squeezed my fists to keep from shaking. I knew what I had to do, but it didn’t make the decision easier. I took a step back, my eyes ensnared by the silver depths of his. I was so damn angry, so hurt that it made me feel stupid because I’d actually started to fall for him. How had I thought for even a second that he wasn’t the asshole everyone claimed him to be? That under the cold exterior, a heart beat in his chest? That I’d been thawing the ice erected so tightly around the organ?
The step away from him wasn’t dramatic, wasn’t even far, but it might as well have been miles because Kreed felt it. I saw the moment it hit him, the fraction of a second before his face fell, before the storm in his gray eyes dimmed into something almost…hurtful.
Almost.
But it was quickly gone, his famous mask slamming into place, the one that said he didn’t give a damn, that this was nothing but another game. That I was a fool to think he cared. He dropped his hand like it had never meant anything at all and scoffed under his breath. “You’re making a mistake, little raven.”
The words lashed through me. I almost asked him if the roles were reversed if he wouldn’t have done the same. I almost askedhim which mistake he referred to. Leaving him? Or falling for him in the first place?
My lips remained pressed together because it didn’t matter. I already knew the answer.
I shook my head.
“Kaylor,” he growled through gritted teeth.
The use of my name pierced my bleeding heart. It was as if each of the Corvos had jabbed me with a dagger, their betrayal a lash, but Kreed… He sliced my heart more than once. My chin lifted as I stared into his gorgeous face that not even his betrayal could dull. “What you did… I-I can’t forgive you,” I stammered.
His jaw tensed as he continued to hold my eyes. “I’m not asking you to forgive me, little raven. You’re not safe here.”
My laugh was hollow. “And you think I’m safer withyou?”
He didn’t answer.
So I gave him one. “You killed my parents.” I hurled the accusation, desperate for him to deny it.
His expression didn’t change. “You know that’s not true.”
Something inside me snapped, hot like a rubber band smacking against skin. “Why? Because it wasn’t your fingers that pulled the trigger?” I spat, stepping toward him, wanting, needing him to feel a fraction of the pain burning within me. “That doesn’t absolve you of your part in their death.Orwhat you did to me after. You uprooted me from my entire life. Your father pretended to be my godfather. Why? What sane person does that?”
Kreed didn’t flinch.
Didn’t blink.
