Page 94 of Carnal Wagers

“What is this?” she hissed, still walking.

She slapped another door open. Wind whistled through the line, masking any leftover club music.

“I needed to make sure you were safe during the impromptu trip you never mentioned. Care to fecking explain why you’re there?”

“You had me followed?”

“Hitting the nail hard on the head, sweetheart. Was it Paulie who gave it away?”

“Don’t be an asshole.”

“Why’d you go to a club, Alice?”

“I don’t see how that is any of your business.”

“Try picking up a guy and see if it’s not my business. He touches you, he’s dead.”

“You think that’s what I want?”

“You tell me. With two men pressed up against you only days after you left my bed, the wheels start turning. You follow them too? That your game?”

She tossed her head back and sneered a mocking cackle.

“You have some nerve. Might I remind you that you are the one who tried to cut me out of your life?”

“That’s not—”

“I don’t understand you. You block my number. You ignore my messages, but you have your men tag me to a different state. Yet you cannot be bothered to do it yourself. Make that make sense.”

“There are reasons—”

“I don’t care if there are reasons,” she yelled.

The breeze tossed her hair up, adding a blazing ferocity to her anger. She’d never been more beautiful than right then, her mask of control thrown over the railing.

“If you want me, Cillian, don’t hide me. Don’t push me away. But if you don’t want me to have space in your life, then let me go. Fully. Forever. Stop tying me to you if I’ll never mean anything to you. Why do you have to keep doing this?”

My forehead creased at the desperation in her voice and the moisture clinging to her long lashes.

“I deserve that respect from you. More than that, I demand it, and I’ll get it one way or another. Even if that means forgetting you and finding a man worth my time.”

“Alice,” I warned as the image on screen flipped to a black painted ceiling. “Alice! We’re not done here.”

“Tonight we are.”

The call clicked off. I tossed the phone against the dashboard, the sound buried beneath the harsh claps of heavy rain. It bounced back into my lap. I swept my hand down my face, then tugged at the bristles of my beard. The woman was so goddamn infuriating.

Liam sucked his teeth. “Now I see why you wanted me to drive. You have a way with women, you know that?”

I dropped my face into my hand and groaned. “I don’t want or need your commentary.”

“Too bad.” He muffled a chuckle. “Feels good to school you for once. You’re always too serious, too broody. Too bleeding perfect, even when you’re finding new ways to off yourself.”

“I’m not trying to off myself.”

“You sure about that? ’Cause I’m sure as hell not.”

“What do you want me to say?”