Page 90 of Bared Betrayal
“Are you?”
I recoil.
“Are you happy with Sebastian?”
“Maybe.” It’s a blatant lie.
Gabriel leans closer, his warm breath skidding across my cheeks. “Happy women don’t fuck their fathers-in-law.”
I slap him across the cheek, his head jerking to the side. It’s a blind moment of rage and shame that sears my veins and grips my bones.
His irises turn the darkest shade of blue I’ve ever seen, his irises swimming in a night sky of fury while his lips pull in a menacing grin. “You don’t love him, Kallie. You never have.”
“You don’t know shit.”
“I know he hasn’t touched you in weeks because, if he did, he would have seen the marks I left on you the night we met. The night I whipped and fucked you behind a goddamn mask.” He inches closer, his eyes staring into my soul. “I know that the night of your bullshit engagement party, you would have let me bend you over that balcony and fuck you if I wanted to, with Sebastian right there.”
“Keep your voice down, please,” I whisper.
“I don’t care if he fucking hears.”
“Gabriel, stop.”
He slams his hand against the wall. “You’re lying to yourself, Kallie. Despite being engaged to my son, you went to Myth because you needed something more. You needed to feel pain. And he never gives that to you.”
“That means nothing,” I say, but I almost choke on the bullshit I’m trying to play.
Gabriel leans his head to the side, his eyes darting from mine to my lips and back up. “I know you use the pain to ground you. On that balcony, you were on the verge of a panic attack, and I brought you off that edge and tossed you over a much better one.” Desperation and anger lace his every word. “I know my son has never sexually satisfied you a day in your relationship. Not in the way you need. Not in the way I can. You crave my cock more than your next fucking breath. I am the only man who knows who you truly are, how broken and beautiful you are. Leave him, Kallie. Leave Sebastian and be with me!”
His voice slams against the walls, and I shut my eyes, his words knocking the wind right out of me. I can’t breathe. I can’t think. I’m frozen with a heart aching so deep inside my chest that I’m sure every bone will break.
“Be with me, Kallie.” He forces his face so close his lips are touching mine without kissing me, and I’m afraid he just might.I’m scared he won’t.He inhales deep, long, as if my scent is a drug to him. “Leave my son and be with me.”
A tear spills down my cheek, and Gabriel brushes it away with his thumb.
I lick my lips, staring up at him. “If only you knew how much I want to be with you, how badly I want to stay with you.”
“Then do it. Be with me.”
I shake my head, tasting the sadness of my soul in my tears. “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Even if I don’t marry Sebastian, I can’t build my own happiness on someone else’s pain.”
Gabriel’s expression hardens.
“I’m sorry, Gabriel. I can’t be happy with you knowing I had to hurt someone to be with you.”
He pushes himself away from me, stepping back, hurt darkening every line on his beautiful face. “You’re lying to yourself. You are grabbing at every reason not to be happy.”
I shrug, tears lapping from my chin onto my shirt. “Maybe. But as you said, I’m broken. I don’t run right.”
“And that’s why you pretend to be someone you’re not? Because you think no one can love the real you.”
“I don’t think, Gabriel. I know. No one can love someone as fucked-up as I am.”
“Then why the fuck am I in love with you?”
