Twisted Together - Winters Pepper - Страница 66
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Fine, I would answer that one.
“She died when I was young.”
“Oh, that’s awful. How?”
My mind drifted, bringing to life a woman who I vaguely remembered.
“Quincy?”
I popped my head into her boudoir. I wasn’t allowed in there unless she summoned me. I’d just turned twelve and would be leaving for boarding school soon in London. I couldn’t wait. “Oui, mere?” Yes, mother?
“Come here. It’s like I haven’t seen you in months.” It wasn’t quite months, but it was definitely a week or two. I tended to avoid her—avoided the lisping, tearful woman who I’d never been close to.
She gathered me in a hug, clogging my throat with peach schnapps and lavender oil. “You stay away from your father, you hear me? Just stay away.” She burst into tears; I unwillingly hugged her back.
I knew why she wanted me to stay away from him.
I knew his darkest secret.
“Q? Are you going to drink, answer, or dare?”
I shook my head, dispelling the memory. This game successfully stirred old thoughts I wished would remain buried. I wouldn’t put myself through it again. I wouldn’t be able to stop her from entering my mind if I pursued that line of recollection.
I drank.
The easiest of my family members to talk about—yet, I couldn’t. Fucking didn’t have the strength.
The man in the suit moved to sit in a booth. On his own. My leg twitched, brushing my knife against the chair leg. Why doesn’t he have a date? The beast inside broke its hibernation, sniffing for a threat.
Tess frowned but let it go. Silence fell between us. What question could I ask that wouldn’t spin around and bite me on my ass?
Tess rushed, “You said you share your father’s name. If you hate it so much, why didn’t you legally change it?”
My fist curled around the glass as dark rage seethed in my gut. He was definitely not up for discussion—in any form.
“Let it go, Tess. Family is not permitted in this stupid game.” I looked into my glass, swirling the amber alcohol. I was tempted to swig again, but…she already knew the answer. It wouldn’t make a difference as I’d already admitted to it more than once.
Dragging a hand through my hair, I said, “I kept it because it’s a daily punishment. A reminder that no matter the temptation, I will never become him. The man named Quincy was a fucking monster—those genes live in me. I can never forget that.”
Tess reached across the table, grazing the back of my hand with cool fingertips. I recoiled from her touch, nursing my drink. I didn’t like this fucking game, and I couldn’t stop the anger swirling inside.
My eyes fell on the man again. He seemed innocent but the hair on the back of my neck stood up. The beast inside sharpened its claws, ready to attack.
Were we being stalked or were my senses overrun with suspicion?
“Q…you’re many things but you will never be him.”
You sure about that, Tess? I didn’t have the urge to go dark yesterday because I’d been high on love—intoxicated on doing the right thing and healing her—but what about next time? Would I still be tamed, or would I eventually want more than she could give me?
I laughed coldly, brushing the subject away. She wanted to pry—fine…I had just the question. “My turn.” Glaring, I asked, “You told me you fucked your old boyfriend when you went back to—”
Tess’s cheeks flared with temper. “I didn’t go back. You sent me away. Don’t confuse the difference.” Her annoyance shimmered around her like heat waves, matching my anger, feeding, weaving…thickening the air between us.
This is getting dangerous.
Alcohol, prying into each other’s past—it was a recipe for a screaming match or worse, me losing control.
“Fine!” I glowered. “I sent you back. Not that that’s the issue right now. What I want to know is, why the fuck did you tell me that? Hadn’t I scared you enough? Why did you deliberately provoke me when you knew what I battled with?”
Tess lifted her glass. The alcohol brushed her lips. Her eyes locked with mine, refusing to answer.
I balled my hands.
But then she lowered the glass without drinking. “Because I sensed you needed to be pushed. I sensed your unhappiness. I know you’re only truly happy when you let go.”
Goddammit, I’d been afraid of that. She was way too reckless—always giving me things she wasn’t strong enough to give.
“So you tied a bow around your pretty fucking neck and threw yourself into a life where I could do anything I wanted?”
She glanced quickly around the restaurant, eyes burning with heat. “Yes. And you know why? Because I need pain like you need to inflict—you taught me—”
“Taught you or made you?”
She planted her hands on the table, trembling with temper. “You didn’t make me anything, so get off your ego trip and listen for once. I learned about my dark desires way before you. I stayed with a boyfriend who I loved as a brother because I was too damn afraid of being alone again—but I always knew I wanted more. Needed certain things. If anyone used each other in this scenario, it was me using you.”
She slouched back in her booth, taking a gulp of alcohol.
Franco pulled the curtain aside, revealing his table and his cocky smug-ass face. His eyes darted between us, mirth glowing in his green gaze. “Not that I mind listening to this, but keep your voices down.” He winked at Tess. “For the record—you’re doing a damn good job getting answers I’ve been wondering about, too. Keep it up.”
Pointing a finger at me, he said, “Don’t make me hit you for swearing at your fiancee.”
I snarled, reaching to smash his face, but he jerked the curtain back into position, chuckling at my fucking expense. Bastard. Absolute bastard.
Needing to do something with my hands, so I didn’t sucker-punch my head of security, I drank. The swallow was small—I’d finished my second whiskey.
Exchanging the empty for a full one, I nursed it. Looking at the man alone in his booth, I tried to calm myself, noticing he’d ordered and nibbled on a breadstick. See? Nothing to worry about.
I risked a glance at Tess.
Her eyes were down; her glass also empty. She looked up, catching my eye. Giving me a tentative smile, she whispered, “I don’t think I want to play anymore.”
But I didn’t learn anything new. I hadn’t got nearly enough out of her. She started this—I’d say when we finished.
Pushing the new martini toward her, I muttered, “It’s not over until I say it is.”
She shifted in her seat, picking at the grey netting on her dress. “I don’t think this game is meant for people like us.”
My eyes narrowed. “Des gens comme nous ?” People like us?
“People with too much darkness—too much to hide.”
My skin bristled. My mind filled with images of every dark thing I wanted to do. How could I want to do such god-awful things to her, when I was madly fucking in love? How could I sit there and argue when every protective instinct was focused on threats I couldn’t see but knew were coming?
I sighed. “You wanted to play, Tess. So play.”
Her blue-grey eyes met mine. “Fine. I can’t remember whose turn it is.”
“Mine.” Was it? Who cared—it was now. “Do you have a middle name?”
Tess paused, stunned at my seemingly innocent question. “Um, Olivia.”
My heart thawed, letting go of the lacing anger. “Olivia. Tess Olivia Mercer.”
Her eyelashes fluttered. “Not yet…but I hope—soon.”
I let a tight smile spread my lips. “Sooner than you think, esclave.” Two days to be exact. Two days before I could relax, knowing she would be cared for for the rest of her life if anything happened to me.
For some reason, I liked her not knowing—creating the surprise. Fuck, I still had to call Suzette. I’d shoot her and bury her in a shallow grave behind my garage if she so much as invited one person I didn’t know. And Franco’s entire team of bodyguards would have to restrain me if she’d invited camera crews. This was private, and I wouldn’t share my life for no amount of money, company promotion, or sick human curiosity.
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