All the Lies (Lies & Truths Duet #1)(35)

Because right now, I want to strip her bare and fuck her raw.

She’s getting under my skin again. She can’t get under my fucking skin.

I place a hand over her closed eyes and the other over her nose and mouth, cutting off her breathing.

Her lifeline.

The only things keeping her in this world.

This could end now.

Everything will be over. I’ll get what I want and she’ll get what she deserves.

Her slender body bucks off the floor due to the lack of oxygen. Her nails claw at my arms and her legs kick with the ferocity of life.

As much as she sometimes hates this life, she sure as fuck fights for it.

She’s a fighter, Reina. A survivor—but that won’t last for long.

Kill her.

Now.

I close my eyes and slowly remove my hand from over her mouth. Her gasp for air is choked and unrestrained, as if she’s been dying and is now coming up for air.

She doesn’t deserve such an easy death.

Not yet.

Her body slumps back down and her arms fall on either side of her.

A commotion comes from the other side of the door.

I stand up and memorize her broken form, committing it to memory.

“It’ll all be over soon,” I say. “It’ll all be over.”





It’ll all be over soon, a sinister voice calls above me. It’ll all be over.

I jolt awake, gasping for air as if I’m being resurrected.

The dark space disappears and buildings sprint past me. Am I in a…car?

My head snaps to the side, expecting to find whoever trapped me in class. He put his hand on my face. He suffocated me. He…wanted to kill me.

Oh, God.

All I remember is a blurry black silhouette as he walked away, but I would know him if I saw him.

He’s engraved in my subconscious like an enormous crow, a larger-than-life Grim Reaper.

My breathing comes down a notch when I make out the driver’s face.

Asher.

He drives with one hand on the wheel, his attention on the road.

It’s mind-boggling how much his presence calms me down. This shouldn’t be, right? Asher isn’t my safe space.

He can’t be.

I stare down at my jeans and camisole. They look intact. I should be fine…right?

Tingles push to my nose and pressure builds behind my eyes, but I hold in the tears…the humiliation, the pain.

When the hell will I stop my life from getting away from me? It just keeps slipping from between my fingers like water.

Realizing I’m awake, Asher throws a glance my way, or more like a stare. He has this thing about digging into my soul with those forest green eyes. It’s like he’s dissecting my insides and dancing on the remains.

He smoothly focuses back on the road. “What happened?”

“What am I doing here, Ash?”

He grinds his teeth. “It’s Asher. And answer my question.”

“Answer mine first.”

He gives me a fleeting glance. “I picked you up.”

I picked you up.

He makes it sound so easy, as if I wasn’t dying in there.

“What happened, Reina?” he repeats in a less patient tone.

“I went to class and…” My fight with tears turns intense. I can feel myself losing to the pull. “Someone trapped me. I…I…”

“You fainted?” he finished for me.

I shake my head. That’s not what happened. I had a flashback, but none of it makes sense now. It’s like an old, fuzzy, gray movie with white and black dots.

“You found me?” I peek at him through my wet eyelashes. There’s a sick type of gratefulness for this man whirling inside me.

A shiver runs down my spine at the thought of what could’ve happened.

Asher is a jerk, but he’s a jerk who saved me.

“Lucy called me,” he says with ease. “You’re not important enough for me to notice your absence.”

I pause my imaginary thank-you dance, and my fingers twitch for something stabby—preferably a knife straight to his throat.

Why the hell does he have to ruin my image of him? Every time I get close, he becomes an asshole and ruins it.

“Sorry to have ruined your plans.” I stare out the window.

“It was nothing important, just coffee with Brianna.”

My body tightens until I’m sure some muscle or tendon will pop. I didn’t know Asher and Bree were close enough to have coffee without me.

Coffee.

It’s an excuse husbands give their wives when they’re cheating on them.

Breathe, Reina. You don’t care about this asshole.

He and Bree can get married and have demonic babies for all I care. But if they think they can play me for a fool, they have another thing coming.

I open my mouth to roast him alive but immediately close it. What right do I have when I’ve cheated on him first?

This is that karma thing, isn’t it?

For a long minute, silence stretches between us like a third passenger. Asher drives with his usual poker face while I seethe on the inside.

Volcanoes and hurricanes are running rampant in my head. I want payback, but I know if I act rashly, if I blindly give in to my emotions, the whole thing will flip against me.