With Every Heartbeat (Forbidden Men, #4)(101)

A headache formed between my temples. I sighed and rubbed at it, wanting to be anywhere but here.

“Fine.” Ten swiped his wallet off the coffee table. “I’m out of here. Call me when the bitch is gone.” He slammed the door on his way out.

“He’s not very happy that you lied to him either,” I explained when Cora just stared at the closed door as if bewildered.

She turned to me slowly. I braced for the apology, for the tears, and maybe some pleading. I totally didn’t expect her to clear her throat and paste on a cheerful smile. “So, I’ve given you a day to adjust to the shock and get over what happened.”

My mouth fell open. Say what?

Folding my arms over my chest, I arched an eyebrow. “Oh, you did, did you?”

“Mmm hmm.” She nodded and blasted me with another grin. “I know it didn’t sit well with you, so I’ll agree to be strictly monogamous from here on out.”

I blinked.

Was she freaking delusional?

After waiting for another beat to make sure she wasn’t somehow pulling my leg, I slowly shook my head. “When did you ever think what we had was some kind of open arrangement where you could just sleep with whomever you liked?”

“Well...” I don’t think she was expecting such a direct question like that, because she faltered. “I...we never had that talk. I thought you knew—”

“No, dammit.” I stepped closer to her. Her eyes widened as she lurched a step back. “I didn’t know. Who would know that? And we didn’t have the talk because we didn’t need to have that talk. No normal couple has that kind of talk.” I was a social idiot here, and even I knew that. “Starting a relationship with someone implies monogamy.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but I held up a finger.

“And you knew that otherwise you wouldn’t have bothered to hide it from me and lie about it.”

“I only kept it quiet to spare your feelings.”

I laughed in her face. “No, you did it because you’re a lying, faithless whore...just like Ten said.”

Cora’s jaw fell open. “I cannot believe you just called me that.”

Yeah, well, I couldn’t believe that’s what she’d ended up being. Setting my hands on my hips, I glanced away. “If Ten was right, if the only reason you came here was to get me back, you should just go now. We’re not getting back together. Ever.”

“Are you sure about that?” She stepped closer and lifted her hand to run her index finger down the center of my chest.

She was lucky I didn’t break her finger for touching me. But I managed to restrain myself. I settled for catching her wrist in a viselike grip and sending her a glare.

“What?” She giggled and sent me a flirty smile, stepping closer. “You can’t tell me it wasn’t amazing between us, especially in the bedroom.”

I glanced away dryly. “I’ve had better.”

I didn’t realize what I revealed until she gasped.

A split second later, her free hand came around to crack me across the cheek with a stinging, loud slap.

Totally not expecting that to happen, I couldn’t stop it from cranking my face around.

Jaw on fire from her palm, I slowly turned to stare at her.

“You f*cked someone else?” Fury oozed from her pores. “When did you f*ck someone else?”

I closed my eyes, calling myself ten kinds of idiot. She knew she’d been my first. She’d always known she was my first. When I opened my lashes, I found her quivering as she glared at me.

“Don’t worry,” I assured her with a cold, hard voice. “Unlike you, I didn’t cheat.”

“But...” She shook her head, her eyes showing me how furiously her mind worked to calculate the time in her head. “We’ve only been apart a day. How could you find someone else in a f*cking day?”

I shrugged. It seemed like something Ten would do at a time like this, and I could certainly do with a little bit of Ten’s attitude right about now.

“Oh my f*cking God,” she roared. “I cannot believe this. You stuck your dick in another woman. You f*cking bastard.”

When she curled her fingers, claws extended, and went for my face, I caught her wrists again, stopping her. Then I propelled her away from me. She must’ve realized I wasn’t going to let her hurt me, because her next strategy was to grasp her waist and double over as if in extreme pain before she burst into hiccupping sobs.

The weeping was so extreme, I arched an eyebrow because it was so obviously fake.

In the past, tears had always melted me. I absolutely could not stand watching a woman cry. But Cora’s put-on tears enraged me. And the crude way she’d described what Zoey and I had done sent me right over the edge.

I leaned forward. “Imagine how I felt yesterday, finding out you’d let other men stick their dicks in you.”

When she looked at me as if I’d betrayed her, I shook my head. “Are you forgetting which one of us was faithful?” I jabbed a finger at her. “You cheated on me, Cora. You betrayed me and slept with I don’t know how many other men while we were together. So I moved on. How dare you stroll in here, without a single apology, and just expect me to...I don’t know, thank you because you’re willing to give us another try? Well, no. It...is...over. It was over the minute I read that text. And whatever I’ve done with anyone else since that moment is none of your damn business.”