Third Time's a Charm (Holland Springs #3)(68)
“Fuck you.” He stalked off, leaving Rose in the middle of the dance floor.
She wanted to give a little cheer as she carefully navigated her way through the astonished crowd, finding the nearest unoccupied corner and sinking gratefully into a convenient bench shrouded in black. She looked for Gabriel, but he was nowhere to be found.
“Do you think if I disembowel Everett and hang him by his entrails, everyone’ll think it’s a part of tonight’s celebration?”
She turned to face the owner of the seductive voice and her heart beat in a choppy pattern. The plain black mask did little to diminish his looks; it only enhanced the way his hair glittered in the light and the mesmerizing green of his eyes.
“You heard?” Of course he heard. The entire ballroom heard what she said.
“I should’ve snatched you away, but I didn’t want to cause a scene.” A glimmer of humor and admiration entered his eyes. “Got a bit of the devil in you tonight, eh?”
“Why would you want to snatch me away?” she said, nervously licking her lips.
“Because I’m jealous as hell.” He rubbed the back of his neck, the gold chain around it gleamed and for some reason she couldn’t ask for it back. “I’m jealous of every smile, every laugh…every touch. I’m jealous of every man who’s not me.”
“But you said that you didn’t care if I’d had a hundred lovers.”
“I was mistaken.”
She pursed her lips. “Meaning you lied to me. Again.”
“Meaning I was trying to get a point across.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Dammit, woman, you drive me insane.”
“By expecting the truth from you?”
“By expecting the best of me.” Taking his hands out of his pockets, he tenderly cupped her face. “I’ll always fall short.”
She turned her head and his hands fell away. “Let me be the judge of that.”
“I don’t want to fight.”
Sasha was the opposite of Jason, the perceived hero. Jason was a great lawyer, a public defender. While Sasha was a man dressed in all black, a villain trying desperately not to be the hero while doing his uncle’s bidding. A villain desperate to keep his mother safe. Something she’d neglected to remember when his betrayal had cut her heart into tiny pieces until nothing remained.
“What do you want, Sasha?” she asked quietly.
He took one of her hands and bowed over it. “May I have this dance?”
“But there’s no…” Her words died away as the band began again, playing one of those silly little love songs. Her favorite. “How did you know?”
“I texted Skye a few days ago to ask.” A rueful smile tilted his lips at the corners. “I wanted to make it special for you, even if you weren’t my date.”
The ice that had recently formed around the hollow where her heart had been began to melt as Sasha waited patiently for her to make up her mind. Unable to help herself, and because she wanted the memory of Jason’s hands on her to be wiped away, she moved closer. Laying her head on his chest, she pretended that this morning never happened. That they were still a team, working together to save her land and his mother.
“Rosebud, please listen. You don’t have to say a word—mostly because I don’t want you shouting out the size of my manly parts,” he said, and she bit her lip to keep from laughing. From crying. “But I’m sorry. I did help with the back taxes scheme. One of my uncle’s attorneys looked over every piece of information about you and your family. She was the one who found the discrepancy. Honestly, I thought it wouldn’t come to this. That, with my plan, Nahalah Industries would withdraw funding and everyone would leave you alone. Including me.
“I’m not asking you to give me another chance, because I know I don’t deserve it. But you deserve the truth. All of it,” he added softly.
Another chunk of ice melted. “Thank you.”
“I’ll be leaving next week.”
She missed a step and stumbled, and only his strong arms kept her from falling. “But I thought you were staying for six months. Oh, another lie.”
“That’s everything, sweetheart.”
Struggling for breath, she placed her palm against his chest. It shouldn’t hurt so much he was leaving. She should be glad that someone so manipulative would be out of her life. But she wasn’t. A fist grabbed her lungs and squeezed them tight. “I can’t do this.”
“Let’s go out on the balcony,” he murmured and escorted her outside.
Once there he let go of her and she collapsed in the nearest seat, her hands covering her mask. She wrenched it off and threw it over the railing.
“You’re unmasking a tad early, but when in Rome…” His mask followed hers.
“Stop making jokes.”
“Rose, I—”
“I leave my baby with you and you’re out partying?”
Chapter Twenty
Rose stood so quickly that she stepped on Sasha’s foot and he grunted. “Sorry.” Her gaze never left her sister’s face. “Summer?”
“We’ll talk later, Rosebud,” Sasha said, pressing a kiss to her cheek.