Tough Shit (Rejects Paradise 1)

I look up at Colton and watch as his gaze darkens. He soaks up every word Harrison says and as his hand slips out of mine, I feel the world crashing down around me and combusting into flames.

Colton strides toward the desk, his back straight and shoulders strong. He walks around it until he’s staring down at his deceased father, the dagger reflecting in his eyes. A moment of silence passes before he leans over his father and trails his fingers over his open eyes, closing them for the final time and silently saying goodbye to the man who made his life a living hell.

Something changes in him and I watch as he goes from the sweet boy I was dancing with during the party to a tortured man. In that split second, that boy ceased to exist and all that’s left behind is a shell of a man who I thought I was just beginning to know.

Colton’s hand curls around the hilt of the dagger, hiding its intricate details below his palm. His jaw clenches and he pulls it out slowly. Every inch of the silver, bloodied blade that appears has his eyes darkening further until they’re as black as night.

He looks at me and what little connection we had dissipates and burns before my very eyes, tearing me apart, just as Nic warned me he would.

He’s no longer Colton Carrington; popular billionaire playboy with a need to torture me, he’s the new prince of darkness.

Colton spins the bloodied dagger in his fingers before slamming it down on the desk, making the silver clatter and echo in my ears. His piercing stare shoots to Harrison—dark, dangerous, and lethal. “Find whoever did this,” he demands, and at that moment, he looks nothing like the guy I’ve come to know. The guy who protected me from his friend and nearly beat him to death is gone, the guy who brushed hair back off my face and kissed me as though I was every dream he’d ever had no longer exists.

This man before me is a stranger and he looks just like his father.

Cold.

Deadly.

Un-fucking-touchable.