Forbidden Fate (Crowne Point 3)

“I lied.”

“Why would you lie to me about that?”

“I thought if you hated me…it would be easier.”

I could feel the pain in his words, and it tugged the wire around my heart.

He leaned forward, brushing the snowflakes out of my hair

“Why are you acting like it’s the end? That look in your eyes always means you’re about to do something bad.”

“You know me so well, Snitch.”

I think I know him best of anyone.

The look in his eyes was too intense; he was too close. I knew I should shrug out of his touch, but I leaned closer until I could taste the sugar on his lips.

“Would you want to be with me if I wasn’t Grayson Crowne?” he asked.

“I told you…Grayson Crowne is my least favorite thing about you.”

“Tell me more about what you’d need for a happily ever after,” he demanded.

The wounded part that still hadn’t healed from all the times he’d abandoned me said to lie or move away, but my heart was beating from the way he watched me.

“Fight for me! I asked for it in the hospital and you never did.”

“I am fucking fighting for you. That’s all I’ve been doing since the day you slammed into my goddamn lips.”

I rolled my eyes before I could stop it, turning away—he gripped my shoulders, yanking me back with violence.

“Don’t roll your eyes. Don’t fucking leave, Snitch. Keep going.”

“I want you to care! I want it to tear you up inside the way it does me whenever I see her on your arm.”

“You think it doesn’t?”

I shrugged in his grip.

“I’m barely holding it together, Snitch. Every time he even looks at you, I want to punch his face to the floor and drag you to me.” He wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me until I was flush against his side.

“Fuck you.” His lips were a deep growl against my ear. “Kiss you.” Soft now, coaxing on my earlobe. “Mark you.” His teeth grazed my ear. “Let the world know you’re mine.”

I swallowed a breath, fighting the tingles between my thighs, the urge to fist my hands in his shirt. He pulled back, suddenly serious.

“But I tied this knot. I made this bed. I’ll get us out of it. No more stains on our souls.”

I looked away, anywhere but him. “It’s too late, Grayson.”

“It’s never too late, little nun. I’m going to build us that happily ever after, even if it takes until we’re ninety. I know you don’t trust me anymore…but I’m going to fix this.”

My chest cracked with the desire to believe him, but I’d already done that. So many times I’d fallen into his beautiful lies. I wouldn’t do it again.

“You…” I swallowed, tried to blink out of the heat rising up my chest. “You don’t get to just decide you want me again and everything is perfect. Things are different. I’m married—”

“So fucking what? Do you fucking love him?”

“I don’t know! He’s offering me forever, and all you’ve ever done is offer me…promises of a future that break in my hands. He married me, Grayson. And you married her.”