Iniquitous (The Marked #3)(71)

I was going to need something much stronger to deal with this tonight.

“Yeah, a real tragedy. I mean, who would you guys all lie to over and over again if I wasn’t around anymore?” I brushed past him as I tried to make my way to the den to raid his liquor cabinet.

He snagged my elbow. “If you’re looking for an apology, you aren’t going to find one here. I did what I did to keep your head in the game and I won’t be apologizing for it anytime soon.”

I pulled my arm free. “Then by all means, get bent.”

He tsk’ed me. “Such a lovely mouth.”

“Isn’t it though?” Swinging my hair, I turned on my heel and made a dash for the den.

I honestly didn’t know why I bothered arguing with him. He was unapologetic for absolutely everything he did and this time would be no different. My long-lost vampire mother be darned. I picked up the darkest bottle I could find and poured myself a glass. I just needed to take the edge off—something to help me get my mind off of, well, him. I knew it wasn’t the right thing to do, but I couldn’t seem to give any fucks about it.

“Drinking alone, are we?” he whispered in my ear, suddenly right behind me.

I spun around clumsily and pressed my back against the bar counter. “Can you stop doing that!”

“I can’t help it, angel. I’m agile.” Smiling, his eyes dropped to my shaking hand. “That’s quite a tremor you have there.”

“Yeah, it is. Thanks to you and another one of your little omissions,” I added scathingly as I mimicked his words from earlier.

His gaze climbed back up, stopping at my neck. I could feel the blood pulsing and I swore he agitated me on purpose just to get my blood boiling nice and good.

“I can help you with that if you want,” he said, meeting my eyes again.

Acutely aware of his proximity, I didn’t move an inch when I said, “I bet you’d love that.”

“As would you.” His lips curled. “All you have to do is ask, angel.”

I felt my temperature mount as his words ran over my body with their implications. His eyes were dark pools of sin that were hungry for me almost as much as I was for him. And yet, he restrained himself, even when he didn’t have to. We both knew he could have me if he wanted to. He could compel me into his arms before I had a chance to even pretend to protest it. But he didn’t. He wanted to hear me say it—to beg him for it—like another one of his games.

A game I was never going to win.

Burying my need, I gritted my teeth. “Thanks, but I’ll pass.” I raised the glass to my mouth and threw my head back. The liquid burned like fire on the way down, but it calmed my nerves enough to keep a steady voice. “See? All better now.”

Placing the glass on the counter behind me, I tried to move around him and leave, but he shadowed my step and blocked me. My heart kicked up another notch, and he smiled because he knew.

“Why must you be so stubborn all the time?" He placed his hands on the counter behind me, closing me in. “We both know what you want. Why are you denying it?”

My eyes instinctively shifted to the entrance, worried that Trace would walk in and see this.

“Because of him?” He chuckled as though it were funny, as though I were just fooling myself in the worst possible way. He leaned in and whispered near my ear, “He’s sound asleep, love. No one has to know but us.”

Something inside of me was splintering; pulling away from me and moving towards him, drawing me into the darkness it so desperately craved.

“No.” I shook my head, fighting against my own desire. My own body. “I have to go to bed.”

“He can’t give you what you need anymore, angel. He won’t fill the void or steady your hand the way I can. The sooner you realize that, the happier you will be.”

The heaviness in my heart immediately put out the fire that had been raging under my skin. “Don’t you dare talk about him,” I said, jabbing my finger in his face. “Don’t even say his name or I swear to God I’ll stake you myself.”

“We both know you wouldn’t do anything of the sort,” he said, pushing my hand down and then blinking lazily as though growing bored with this conversation. “I’m only trying to help you, angel, because the longer you fight this, the harder you’re going to fall in the end.”

My stomach twisted. I didn’t want to listen to this.

“And I promise you, angel. You will fall.”

“Goodnight, Dominic.” I tried to walk away, but he refused to drop his arm. “Move.”

“You should know, I don’t take kindly to being denied what’s mine.” There was desperation in his voice, an ache that was birthed from fear—fear of losing control, of losing me. I honestly wasn’t sure.

“I’m not yours.” I pushed his arms down and then walked out of the den.

“You aren’t his either,” he called out after me, but I didn’t bother to look back at him—to give him the satisfaction of knowing his words had hit a nerve with me.

He was playing my own fears against me, pitting me against my heart, and I couldn’t let him win. I refused to give up hope for me and Trace until there wasn’t an ounce of hope left to hold onto. Somewhere, somebody had to have the answers and I was going to find them if it was the last thing I ever did.