Page 209 of Wicked Brutal

“What would you call it?”

She thinks about that. Then— “The disgusting kind.” I laugh again. Bella doesn’t. “I’m serious.” That shuts me up. She looks ahead as we walk. “Completely fucking deranged. Ruin-your-life love.” There’s something different in her voice now. No performance. No bitchy little smile. Nothing sharp. “Someone looks at you and that’s fucking it. Everybody else in the room could disappear and you wouldn’t even notice.” My chest tightens. Ryan. “You’d burn everything down for them,” she continues. “They’d burn it down for you. And neither of you would even have the decency to feel bad about it.”

My mouth curves before I can stop it. Bella looks over. Her eyes drop briefly to my smile. Then back to mine.

“What?”

“That.”

“What?”

“That fucking face.”

My smile disappears. “I didn’t make a face.”

“You absolutely did.” Heat creeps up my neck. Bella doesn’t ask. That’s the strange part. She doesn’t ask who. Doesn’t tease me. Doesn’t demand anything. She just looks ahead again. “You don’t make that face when someone says Victor.”

Everything warm inside me vanishes. “Bella.”

“Don’t marry him.” I stop walking. She takes another step before stopping too. Slowly, she turns around. “What?” For once, there’s nothing mocking in her expression. No amusement. No boredom. No carefully sharpened edge. “Don’t marry him, Ally.”

My fingers tighten around my bag. “You don’t even know me.”

“I know enough.”

Something about those words makes my stomach turn. “Enough for what?”

“To know you don’t want him.”

“You don’t know anything about Victor and me.”

Her face changes. Tiny. But I see it.

“Don’t I?”

A cold feeling crawls down my spine. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing.”

“Bella.” She starts walking. I follow her. “What do you know?”

“Nothing you don’t.”

“Why do you care?”

She stops again. This time when she turns, she looks almost irritated. Not with me. With the question. “I told you.”

“That you love love?”

“Yes.”

“You barely know me.”

“So?”

“So why does it matter who I marry?”

Bella stares at me. Then shrugs. “Because you seem nice.” She immediately makes a face. “Don’t make me regret saying that.”