Opposition (Lux, #5)(21)

I stared at her for a moment, searching for something, anything in her, and came up with nothing. I gently removed her hand. “I don’t have time for this.”

“Daemon.”

Ignoring her, I headed through a sitting area and then took the steps two at a time. When I reached the second landing, I could already hear the shouting coming from the third floor.

Jesus.

Something shattered above me, and I took off, hauling ass. I reached the last door on the third floor in less than a second. Pushing it open, I scanned the bedroom as I wondered how I was going to stop myself from throwing Sadi through something.

The bedroom was empty, but it looked like a tornado had gone through it. The olive-green armchair was toppled over onto its side, one of the wooden legs broken. The white curtains had been pulled down from the window. The dirtied and bloodied pillows were strewn across the floor.

And the shirt she had been wearing—my shirt—rested in shredded tatters at the foot of the bed. What in the hell?

My gaze whipped toward the bathroom door when I heard what sounded like a body bouncing off it, and then a shriek blasted the room.

I kicked open the bathroom door and came to a complete stop. The room was large, the kind that had a separate tub and shower, but this room, too, had seen better days. The mirror above the double sink was broken. Multiple bottles had been tipped open. White cream covered the floor in milky pools.

She stood in front of the large tub, her hair a tangled mess around her flushed face. Gray eyes snapped fire as she stood with her legs spread wide. A trickle of blood ran from her nose. In her hand she held a jagged piece of glass.

And she was only in her bra and jeans—a white bra with little yellow daises on it. Her chest heaved with indignation and fury.

Apparently, Sadi had taken the cleaning thing to a whole different level.

My gaze crept to where Sadi stood only a few feet from her, breathing heavily. Her white blouse was torn. Buttons popped and missing. Her normally coiffed hair looked like she’d been inside a wind tunnel, but the best part?

Fingernail marks were etched down the side of Sadi’s face and reddish-blue blood had been drawn. A disturbing level of pride rippled through me.

Kitten got claws and then some.

“She doesn’t play nice with others,” Sadi huffed out. “So I’m in the process of adjusting her attitude.”

“And I’m in the process of getting ready to cut out your heart, bitch.”

In spite of everything that was so damn messed up, my lips twitched into a small smile. “Get out.”

Sadi turned her hateful gaze on me. “I’m—”

“Get the hell out.” When Sadi didn’t move, I stalked over to where she stood, picked her up, and shoved her out of the bathroom. She caught herself and started back toward us. “Rolland has a use for you tonight, so if you want to be able to come through for him, don’t take one more step toward me.”

Her nostrils flared as her cheeks mottled with anger, but she stopped as her hands curled into claws. A second passed and she didn’t move from the doorway. Sadi was going to test me—she seriously was.

I slammed the bathroom door shut in Sadi’s face and then whipped around. Heart hammering, I saw her again and immediately forgot about Sadi.

She still stood in front of the garden tub, the piece of glass in her hand, and she stared back at me like an animal cornered. In that moment she didn’t remind me of a harmless little kitten.

She was a full-grown tigress, and she still looked like she wanted to do some damage. To me. Could I really blame her? Those eyes of hers shifted the longer we stared at each other, turning wet with a sheen of tears, and that was worse than a kick between the legs.

I was in so deep. We were in so deep, and I didn’t want her here. I wanted her far, far away from all of this, but it was too late.

Too late for both of us, and maybe for everyone else, too.

Her lower lip trembled as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, her toes sinking into spilled conditioner or shampoo. An eternity stretched out between us as I soaked her up with my eyes. A collage of memories—from the day she knocked on my front door and changed my life, to the first time she said those three words that made my life what it was—bombarded me. But it was more than just memories. I knew right then I shouldn’t be feeling what I was, but every cell demanded her. My blood boiled.

I wanted her.

I needed her.

I loved her.

She took a step back, bumping into the tile ledge surrounding the tub.

“Kat,” I said, speaking her name for the first time in days, allowing myself to actually think it, and the moment that happened, the seal inside me broke wide open.





6


{ Katy }

The edges of the piece of glass were digging into my palm as I stared at Daemon. After everything that had gone down in the office, and then with that horrible woman, I couldn’t catch my breath or stop the tremors racing along my arm. I watched him take a step forward. The look in his incandescent eyes and the intent in his step sent a shiver down my spine. “Don’t.”

His eyes narrowed.

Too much hurt swelled in my chest, mixing with all the terrible things Sadi had said she planned on doing with Daemon, things that, when he’d been in the office, he hadn’t sounded like he’d be against enjoying.