Page 103 of Sweet Addiction
Liv bristles, but I don’t care.
Not when someone is ready to attack Dillan over me.
Not when she’s just starting to find her footing.
I won’t be the reason she loses any ground she’s gained.
“Well, you better figure it out because I’ve got a press conference in two goddamned hours,” I growl at her like this is her fault. It’s not, but she’s the one getting the brunt of my anger because I have no other place to direct it but at myself. I’m the one who forced Dillan into this. I’m the one who blackmailed her into pretending to be my girlfriend. And now karma is being a fucking whore and coming back to haunt me... because now I’m the one being blackmailed.
DILLAN
Why do you have such an unwavering love for your sister? they asked.
Because she didn’t try to fix me. She held my hand, wiped my tears, and reminded me who the fuck I am and where I came from, I answered.
—Dillan’s Secret Thoughts . . .
or maybe the dedication for the sequel to A Crown of Stars and Ruin.
Still deciding.
“Can you at least try to find out from Killian? Because something is definitely going on, and no one is clueing me in. Rome hasn’t even come into the room yet,” I tell my sister, my spidey senses tingling and on high alert.
Something’s up.
I know it.
I feel it in my bones.
What I don’t know is what the hellitis and why I’m being kept in the dark.
Liv’s room is two doors down from ours, and I haven’t seen Rome since he walked in there over an hour ago. When we got here, he was a completely different person than the man who’d gotten in the car with me. He’d been a little on edge before we left, but he could barely look at me when we arrived.
“I’m texting him now. Have a little faith, Dillan. It’s probably just a tactical thing. Killian is always distant before a fight,” Lilah tries to comfort me, but I’m not buying it. Distant I could handle. This feels different. “What time is the weigh-in and the press conference?”
I look at the clock flashing on the front of the TV box. “Almost two hours from now.”
“Okay, give me a few minutes to see if I can get Killian to answer me, and I’ll see what I can find out and call you back.”
“Thanks, Lilah.” I end the call and fight the urge to throw the phone across the room like a teenager having a temper tantrum.
Although that does sound strangely satisfying, I’m going to need my phone.
Screw this... I grab my laptop and my headphones. If Rome Beneventi doesn’t want me involved in whatever he’s up to, that’s on him.
Time to see if I can get lost in my own damn world for a while.
Great news. Anger translates really well to the page when your heroine is pissed off at the world, and I love that for me. Both men in Cassia’s life are overbearing assholeswho think they know better and want to protect her at all costs. Sounds hot in theory, but when you’re as big a badass as she is, it’s actually pretty annoying. My heroine can protect herself, her kingdom, and the two giant babies fighting over their places at her side.
Bad. Ass.
Maybe I wish I was a little more like her.
We’re ten minutes away from when the weigh-ins and press conference are supposed to take place, and I still haven’t heard a word from Rome. Not even where they are or where they’ll be.
It’s safe to say I’m pissed.
And worried.
