Savage Sinners (Elites of Macedon High 3)
“What’s in California?”
“The sun, the beach, the babes,” I tease, my grin widening when I see the look of astonishment in her eyes. “A life unlike this one.”
She clears her throat, fixing her position while shrugging her shoulders. “What else?” She swallows hard, her eyes darting down my body and then back up again. “Why would you want to go there?”
“My father will never let me run an independent business here on the East Coast,” I explain. “I could create an empire that rivals the one here.”
She blushes and lunges forward, smacking the end of my foil and nearly sending it from my fingers. I recover my grip on my weapon and take up my defense stance, unwilling to let her have any part of this match. None of it can be hers.
Just like none of me can be hers.
“It’s far away from trouble,” I whisper heatedly. “It would be better over there for me in every way.”
“Wouldn’t you miss living here?”
I shake my head. “What the hell would I miss?”
When hurt dances over her features, I know I’ve won that small battle. A sting like that was sure to hit its mark. She looks as stunned by it as if I had plunged my foil right into her heart. And while I feel triumphant, I also feel awful.
“Is there any chance you and your father will reconcile?” she asks softly, retreating a few steps to put more space between us. She wanders off to the table where the water bottles are set up and grabs one. After tossing me a bottle, she continues, “I mean, you and your father weren’t terrible with each other, right?”
“I don’t care about that,” I lie. “Success is my only goal.”
She frowns after sipping her water. “I find that hard to believe.”
“Believe what you want. It’s not worth doing.”
“But Soren…”
I shake my head as I turn away from her, idly sipping my water. The liquid turns to ash in my mouth. If I tell her how I want my family’s approval, then she’ll use it against me. Everything Parker and Tomas shared with me stands out in my mind about her, the vixen who fooled us into believing she genuinely cared.
Being with her made me feel alive at one point. But now, I just feel annoyed. She’s beyond my reach, and there’s nothing I can do about that except dominate her. I guess Parker had the right idea all along.
When I turn to her, she’s set her bottle aside and resumed her position. “We’re a team.”
“Are we?” I question while approaching her. “Is that still a thing between us?”
“Didn’t we make it so?”
I swing my foil, not bothering with the proper position for a second. I’m too angry to follow the rules with her. She’s broken every single one of them, drifting out of bounds so many times that it’s impossible to forgive her—even when I want to forgive her.
She fights back just as hard, gritting her teeth as she growls. “You know we’re a team, Soren. Why would you abandon me?”
“You’ve already abandoned me.”
“I’ve done no such thing.”
Anger kindles my reaction, each move as elegant and controlled as it is when I think things through. She can’t get under my skin. If I let it happen, then I’ll go soft and let her fuck me up as hard as she did in my car. Yes, I want it again, but not at the cost she’s charging.
Not when I could lose everything as a result.
She lashes out at me in uncontrolled bursts that tell me she’s losing her temper. My smug smile only worsens her fury, causing her to charge toward me with her foil raised. I block her attack and retreat temporarily, bouncing on my toes with the excitement of a boxer who knows he’s about to win the match.
While her reaction jolts me, I’m happy she’s reacting at all. Old Alex might have been reduced to begging. But this Alex? She’s an enigma of enthusiastic hunger, her anger knowing no limits as she grabs my foil and plucks the ball off the end. Sweat decorates her brow as she squares her gaze on me, huffing as she holds her weapon out to me.
“Do it,” she urges. “I want to see how far you’ll go.”
“Don’t you already know, Ms. Alex?”