His hand cups my neck again, and it feels so tender—too tender. “Come on, sweetheart. Don’t hold a grudge.”
I about sputter at his minimizing it to a grudge, but then he’s kissing me and I don’t know what to do. I push against his chest, but he pushes between my legs and a moan slips out of me.
“Fuck,” I say, shoving him harder. “Stop it. Stop it! Stop playing games with me.”
“Just give in. Play with me, not against me.”
I shake my head, scooting closer to the door. “I’m going back out there. I will finish this stupid poker game bullshit, but this is the only game I’m playing with you tonight.”
He sighs, but doesn’t move to stop me as I reach the knob of the door. “Another night, then.”
I freeze.
I could move. I want to move. He won’t stop me, but his words keep me right where I stand.
Because I can’t play this game another night.
I don’t know where it will go, or what the new stakes will be, or who will get destroyed in this one, but I know someone will. And I consider it highly unlikely it will be him.
No, it will be me and Vince. Again. It will always be me and Vince. Anytime we go up against this man in any capacity, whether in earnest, in a battle of wits, of wills… he is always going to destroy us. Maybe not even on purpose. It’s just what he does. How he plays. He’s a lion trying to play with a kitten—the kitten will always get hurt.
I want Vince, I want to see what we can become, but there’s one thing I know for certain: we will not survive Mateo. We can fight as hard as we want, but he’ll win every time. Whatever Vince and I promise each other, regardless of what we want, Mateo will always wreck it.
Since I haven’t moved, he asks, “Change your mind already?”
“I can’t do another night.” I shake my head, looking down at the floor, baffled by how I could be in this situation right now. “What is wrong with me? I know the truth about you, so why do I still want to believe the lies?”
“Because you’re human,” he says, coming up behind me. His hands come to rest on my hips again. “And you’re sweet. And young. And so idealistic.”
“This isn’t fair to Vince. Why won’t you just stop? Just leave us alone? Let us see if we can build something together.”
“That’s what you want?”
“Yes.”
He mulls it over a minute before saying, “I might have a proposition for you.”
This already feels like a trap, so I sigh, hanging my head. “What now?”
“We both know you’ll end up back in my bed eventually—probably sooner than later, if we’re being realistic. And painfully, for Vince. He’ll have to watch it all unfold again. I’ve charmed you before; you know if I set my mind to it, I’ll do it again.”
“I don’t know that,” I mutter.
“Sure,” he says, unconvinced. “What if we skip all the foreplay? I get you tonight. Once. You give yourself to me one last time, and in doing so, save Vince plenty of torture. It’s a favor, really.”
“No,” I say. “I don’t trust you.”
“Smart.”
I roll my eyes.
“I’ll give you and Vince your own place.”
Turning to face him, I say, “What?”
“It’s proximity to me that wears you down. You live in my house, you’re under my rule. You go where I say, when I say, and do what I say when you get there. That wasn’t an act; that’s your life in my house. What if you didn’t live in my house? What if I gave you and Vince your own space, let you move out?”
Let us get away from him.
Vince’s words run through my mind: “I want something of my own, something to… get me out from under his thumb.”
Monday night comes back to me, how lovely it was just the two of us at Joey’s apartment, making dinner, snuggling as we watched movies, no pressure. Mateo didn’t even exist there.
“We wouldn’t have to see you at all?”
“Well, Sunday night dinner. But you come, you eat, you leave when you’re ready—not like living there. I won’t rock your boat. If you want to try with Vince…this is how.”
God, that’s tempting. “I… I can’t do that to Vince.”
Sighing like he can hardly handle how pedestrian I am, Mateo asks, “Do you know why people lie, Mia?”
“Because they’re cowards,” I reply.
He smiles at the insult. “Because it’s easier. Stop doing everything the hard way. Just lie to him. He’ll love you for it.”
“You’d just tell him,” I toss back.
“I wouldn’t. I won’t. You have my word.”
I snort, and he scowls.
Catching me at the small of my back, he yanks me against him. I gasp, caught off guard, and he says, “Now, now. I’ve never given you my word before. I do have some honor.”