All the Lies (Lies & Truths 1)

“Am I not supposed to moan? Did I miss the memo somewhere?” I sound as perplexed as I feel.

“Who the fuck are you?” he asks with a semi-astonished tone as if seeing me for the first time.

“I’m…” I trail off. How the hell am I supposed to answer that question?

“You’re nothing, Reina. You’re only something when I decide you are.” He lowers his hand to my collarbone in a threatening caress. “Stop playing these fucking games with me.”

“What games?” I’m panting. The skin where his mouth was feels like wild flames. “You’re the one who trailed my ass and cornered me. Stop being so hot and cold, damn you.”

“Hot and cold, huh?”

“Yes. You’re giving me freaking whiplash, dude.”

“Dude?” He tightens his hand around my neck as if he’s pining for patience. “Oh, you’re good. You’ve become so good at this. What will it be next? Spreading your legs for me?”

“You’re the last person on this planet I would ever fuck.” There isn’t much conviction behind my words, but I stand my ground anyway.

“As if I would be interested in a monster like you.”

I try to pretend it doesn’t hurt. I try to ignore the pang creeping under my skin after how good he made me feel seconds ago.

The place he sucked on is turning ice cold all of a sudden. The fire has been extinguished and there are only ashes now.

I’m not the unfeeling monster he paints me as. It hurts, you know. Being this strongly hated and not knowing the reason pains me as much as my injuries.

Tears well in my eyes, but I blink them away. No one will see me weak and vulnerable.

No. One.

Instead, I puff up my chest. “Then why do you keep touching me?”

“I touch what’s mine whenever I fucking please.”

Anger bubbles under the surface, but I strike back in a cool tone. “Well, newsflash, Asher: I’ve decided I’m no longer yours. I’m calling off the engagement.”

I’m surprised I lasted this long. I should’ve ended the whole thing when he called me a monster in the hospital.

This is another one of Old Reina’s wrong decisions that I’m fixing for her.

You’ll thank me later, girl.

True, she was the one who got engaged to him and she has the right to end it on her own. However, I can’t possibly stay with this asshole when all he ever wants to do is hurt me.

I’m not that desperate.

Or fucking stupid.

He laughs, and the sound is as hollow as his soul. “That’s not how it works.”

“This is a free country. I won’t stay engaged to a freak like you.”

He watches me for long seconds as if my words fell on deaf ears. “We’ve been engaged since we were fifteen. It’s a family thing. Shut your mouth and go with it.”

“Or what?”

“Or you lose the glamorous life you love so much.” He tilts his head to the side. “The condition to receive your inheritance is to marry me.” He leans in and brushes his tongue along the sensitive skin he sucked on earlier. “Till death do us part, my ugly monster.”

Oh, no.