Sweetest Venom (Virtue #2)(39)

But it’s pointless.

Weary, I cross my arms on my stomach and let my guard down for the first time since I saw Ronan. I’m bone tired and all I want to do is crawl up in a ball and cry.

I laugh bitterly. As much as I try to outrun that man, he won’t let me.

I sigh and decide it’s time to get back to the party. The urge to walk straight into Lawrence’s arms seeking safety and affection takes over me. Guilt corrodes me, but all I can think of is being close to him, of being comforted by him and his spellbinding kisses.

I’m straightening my dress when I hear someone’s footsteps. Thinking that it’s Lawrence who followed me, I paste a fake smile on my face and turn around. “Sorry about before. I didn’t mean to run out like that … I just—”

“Hello, Blaire,” a man says, leaving me hot and cold all at once.

I try to swallow but it feels as though my mouth is stuffed with cotton. “What are you doing here?”

My night companion steps into the moonlight, allowing me to see his achingly beautiful features. He looks like a different man dressed in a very expensive tuxedo. Unreachable. His brown hair slicked back and perfectly shaven, he could pass as a stranger. And as he walks toward me, I notice that he seems more confident, too.

“Enjoying your world, Blaire,” he says, smiling. I note that even his smile lacks the warmth that used to make my stomach flutter.

“Really? And how do you like it?”

He shrugs. “It’s all right.”

I know I should leave it alone, but I can’t help myself. I must know. “I didn’t know you were into older women.” My eyes, starving for a sight of him, travel the length of his body. I see the expensive watch he’s wearing, one that he couldn’t have afforded on his own. “Are you f*cking her for money?”

He smiles cockily. “Like I said, I’m enjoying your world and everything it entails.”

I laugh, trying to hide how much he’s hurting me. “Oh, how the mighty have fallen.”

Ronan grabs a packet of Marlboros from the inside of his black coat, ostensibly undisturbed by my gibe. He takes out a cigarette, places it in between his lips, letting it hang loosely, and lights it up. After taking a long drag, he tips his head back and blows the smoke in the air. As I watch him do that, I suddenly realize that it isn’t just his looks that have changed. He has changed. There’s a reckless and confident air about him that wasn’t there before. Something about him screams that he doesn’t give a f*ck what you think about him, all the while looking like pure sex.

“Don’t you know smoking can kill you?” I reach for his cigarette, grab it, and bring it to my mouth, taking a drag. “I didn’t know you smoked,” I say and hand it back to him as I blow out the smoke.

His eyes meet mine as our fingers brush, the contact making me shiver. “There are worse ways to die.”

Ronan takes me by surprise when he reaches for my necklace and caresses it, chuckling sarcastically. “Nice, Blaire.”

I slap his hand away forcefully. “Don’t touch me.”

“Funny. I seem to remember a time when you used to beg me to do exactly just that.”

“Did I? I have no recollection of it,” I reply dismissively. Looking away from the hell burning in his eyes, I stare at the night. Wrapping my arms around me, I try to stop myself from reaching for him and touching him again, confessing to him that I do remember everything.

“Do you ever think about me? About us?” I hear him ask.

Every day and every night. You haunt me in my dreams and in every waking hour that I am without you. “No. What’s there to think about?”

Ronan stands next to me, closing the space between us. Raising a hand, he rubs my lower lip with his thumb. The moment he touches me, I fight the instinct to close my eyes and get lost in his touch.

“What is it about you that drives me so f*cking insane?” As his brown gaze holds me captive, his touch turns painful. “That won’t set me free of you? Even when I’m f*cking her and my cock is buried deep inside her cunt, you still manage to poison my thoughts.”

“You’re a pig,” I say, pushing his hand away.

I don’t want to be alone with him for another second, so I turn and begin to walk away. Before I take more than a few steps, Ronan grabs my left arm and twists it behind me as he pulls me flush against him, making me gasp. I struggle to break free but it’s no use. I’m at his mercy, and he knows it. I’m butter in his hands.

Breathing hard, Ronan cups my tits. His touch is rough and meant to punish us both. “Does he f*ck you as good as I did?”

His hand snakes down, touching me there, burying his fingers between my legs, past the resistance of my dress. “Does he eat your * as good as I did?”

“Stop it, Ronan,” I beg, breathless and aching with passion and pain.

“I loved you, you know? But now I see you and I know that I wasted my time.”

Battered by his words, I use the only defense that I have left—my body. Rubbing myself against him, I lower my free hand and rub his erection. “Then why is your cock so hard?” I purr.

He lets my arm go, putting some space between us. He seems cool and in control of the situation, but I know that deep down he’s not as unaffected as he appears to be. “Because there’s no denying you’re a good f*ck. Maybe that’s all you were.”