Page 119 of Deathless & Divided

“Stop it. You know you do. You want to know and I’m telling you. Listen.”

Lily sniffled. “I just want to go inside. Please.”

Damian acted like she didn’t say a word. “In order to make sure you wouldn’t be put in that kind of position, he needed you married and already taken. I fucked up a long time ago. My mistakes kept me indebted to Dino but it also made me loyal to him. I understood what he wanted to do and why he was doing it. The Outfit is so fucked up sometimes. Greedy, excessive, and full of bullshit and liars.”

“You’re a liar,” Lily said, hoping that would piss him off enough to release her.

It didn’t, not entirely.

Damian’s hand let go of her cheek just long enough to smack the ground hard. Lily froze and her gaze widened. “I am not!”

“You’re lying to the people around you,” she retorted.

“They’ve never asked.”

“Tell me the truth for once,” Lily said, her voice a whisper. “Make me believe something you say. Because nothing rings true anymore. Nothing.”

“I didn’t want to marry you. I didn’t want to be married at all.”

Lily choked out a sob mixed with a bitter laugh. “Now, that I believe.”

“Then I met you,” Damian added quieter. “And you were not what I was expecting. We were more alike than I thought. I’d already known you from way back when. You had shit going on—you were real. I didn’t want you to hate me or to feel like you were stuck with a man who wouldn’t care about you. And I did care, Lily.”

“Why would you?” she asked, refusing to look at him again. “I’m nothing to you in the end. Just another girl, a ring on your finger you’ll eventually forget. Nothing, Damian.”

“Not nothing. Everything,” he murmured.

A shiver worked its way over Lily’s body but it had nothing to do with the cold, wet ground. His words washed over her skin and senses with a soothing, truthful quality that only hurt her further.

“You’re so good at this game,” Lily said, hating him for it.

“No game. Not with you. I would have faked every little goddamn thing I had to with you to make Dino happy, but I didn’t have to. With you, I didn’t have to fake anything.”

Lily wiggled, trying to get away from the feeling of Damian’s warm hands sliding down her body. When he touched her, she couldn’t think. Damian probably knew that.

“Stop,” Lily demanded. “Stop playing these games with me. Leave me alone. I’ll follow Dino’s rules and keep my fucking mouth shut about what I know. I’ll marry you because I don’t have a choice, but you can leave me the hell alone while I do it. Find another whore to keep you satisfied, but stay away from me.”

“No. You’ve got it all wrong, Lily. Every bit of it.”

Lily laughed darkly. Her tears had finally stopped. “I think I’m right and you’re too much of a coward to admit it.”

Damian’s fingers pressed to the exposed skin of Lily’s stomach where her shirt had ridden up. The pressure of his fingertips bit into her flesh with the lightest touch, promising and sweet. She despised the fact there was no denying the hard ridge of his erection digging into her pelvis. It turned her on, despite how angry and hurt she was.

Lily adored this man. She’d went into her affections blindly for him, trusting what he gave to be what it was. She hadn’t realized that someone like Damian could have the kind of effect on her that he did until he was front row and center, demanding her attention. Without ever really trying, he’d had her falling head over heels.

She thought he would be standing there to catch her.

Lily was stupid.

Stupid over him. Stupid for him.

Stupid.

God, it was sickening.

“Stop touching me,” Lily said.

“No.”