He’s delusional. Absolutely fucking delusional.
“You only care about what you want. Not what I want,”
I spit at him. He’s so close that I can smell the expensive Armani cologne I broke my back to get him for his birthday last summer. Everything that he does is intentional, with the end goal being to spite me, and I’m done putting up with it. “And what I want right now is for you to get out of my fucking face.”
And then I shove him aside with a shoulder and head straight for the exit.
But of course, Jax doesn’t want to leave me alone. He’s truly incapable of doing that if it means backing away from a fight with a bruised ego.
“I’m ready to give you everything you wanted from me.” He catches up to me easily because of course he does with his huge frame, falling into step with me with equally determined strides as we weave through the satin-sheeted tables. “I’m ready for a deeper commitment.”
I stop in my tracks, feeling another surge of anger bursting from inside of me upon hearing his stupid, vacant words.
“You had three years to figure it out! ” I’m so pissed off that my whole body is trembling with the force of my rage. My voice is sharp as it rings across the hall and bounces around the oak-paneled walls. “Don’t you dare insult me by giving me what I’ve always dreamed of just because I’m no longer yours. You don’t really want me. You only want me because I’m with someone else and you can’t have me. You always want what you can’t have and I’m not falling for it anymore.
Remember the promise I made you?” I step closer towards him. “One way or another, I will watch you lose everything in that cage. And I’m gonna enjoy it a lot.”
He blinks hard at my words, silent for a couple of moments.
And then he tips his head back and laughs.
I don’t know what response I’m expecting but it certainly isn’t that.
“Look at you.” Jax cocks his head to the side, a mocking smirk growing on his ridiculously smug face. A thumb reaches over to caress the curve of my chin and I flinch, backing away. It makes him laugh even more. “My little firecracker princess. Admitting to enjoying watching people suffer. Come on, can’t you see it? We’re more alike than you think. Our anger fuels us. Makes us who we are. You can’t escape that, no matter how hard you try.”
I shake my head, refusing to participate any longer. I have nothing left to say to him.
“I’m done, Jax. I mean it.” I don’t know why I keep saying it even though I’m aware he’s less than capable of holding his tongue when it involves me.
“Come on, Sienna. I’ve always understood your anger.
I’ve never shied away from it. I love it. That’s what makes us perfect for each other. We do twisted things and that is exactly why we’re good together,” Jax drawls, unable to keep the smugness from curving his lips. “You think Kayden is really going to accept who you are? That he’s just gonna embrace that side of you? If you really think then you’re dreaming. I mean, surely he must have said something about it by now.”
The blood in my veins goes cold. I reel back from him and look away, hoping that he won’t be able to see just how much his words about my relationship with Kayden have affected me.
“Stop it.” I scowl at him. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
“Oh, but I do. You really think you’re going to live your happily ever after with him? He’ll never accept who you really are. Who you’re really meant to be,” he coos, puffing his chest with brazen confidence as he approaches me again, invading the no-man’s-land between us. I’m backed into a corner as my back hits the wall, trapped with no moves left to play. “I’ll embrace it. I’ve always embraced it. This petty side of you. The ugly side. That wants to hurt, to see me burn so much that you’re here trying to convince me that you no longer care about me rather than dancing off into the sunset with Kayden in that reception tent.”
I stumble back at the weight of his words, like he just knocked a deadly punch into my gut, the strength of his blow rattling every bone in my body.
“How about I let you hit me?” He says, a cruel tilt to his lips. “You and I both know it will feel so good. Imagine that, princess—finally getting a taste of that payback for all the shit I did to you.” I swallow hard, pushing myself to leave, to leave goddammit! “Come on. I promise I won’t fight back.”
Fear sprouts across my stomach as I struggle to control the rugged, unnerving emotions inside me. I should leave.
Push him away and run. He’s clearly baiting me and I should extract myself before it goes too far. I really should.
But I can’t.
I don’t want to.
Because the irrational side of me that’s guided by my hatred for this man orders me to stay. To show him I’m not to be trifled with. To play into his little game and find out once and for all who’s really the cat and who’s the mouse.
“You know I deserve it.” He grins at me wolfishly, bracing an arm over my head. Our faces are hazardously close, his hot breath fusing with mine in the air, and just like that the resentment is back as he pulls it out of me again and I’m helpless against him. A wicked gleam glints in his dark, calculating eyes. “I’m a piece of shit, right? I treated you so badly. And I wish I could say that I didn’t enjoy myself when I was with your sister, but that would be a lie. I took my time with her. My God, she was so tight too—”
“I said shut your mouth, Jax!” I yell, giving his chest a hard shove.
To the right, the exit door suddenly wrenches open, pulling Jax’s attention along with it, which gives me the prime opportunity to escape his gilded cage. Kayden steps into the hall, dark eyebrows knitting in confusion as he stares us both down.