Page 26 of Ravage
I kick my foot back to try and nail him between the legs, or at least stab him with my heel, and he shifts in time, so I only catch his thigh. He curses and shoves into the backs of my knees to drop me, then pushes me against the wall while I’m off-balance. His body covers mine, pinning my legs and arms against the cool wallpaper.
“For fuck’s sake, Raegan,” he hisses. “You always make shit more difficult than it has to be.”
He huffs at me when I glare in his direction, even though there’s hardly any light to see by. I can’t see if he has a weapon aimed at me either. If he thinks I’m going to go down quietly, then he has another thing coming.
But then, my mind and body don’t always work on the same page.
Even with my life possibly on the line, my body comes alive at the feel of him against me. At his hot breath and smooth tone in my ear. At the almost sweet but delicious smell of him around me. I have to fight the urge to grind back against him. Fuck it. Maybe I’ll do just that to scare him off.
I shift my ass the tiniest bit so that it’s leaning into him, and he grips my hair. I’m forced to suck in my lips to keep any sounds to myself while also cursing him to the moon and back in my head for affecting me like this. This is not a turn on. And especially not with him.
Not when it reminds me of all the times he’d been close to me like this before.
When he’d kissed me senseless.
Even after all the time that’s passed and the guilt that weighs heavily in my mind, my body is transported right back to how it felt being near him before as if no time has passed.
“What are you doing?” he demands. Like I’m a crazy ho rubbing up on him when he’s trying to…I don’t even know what yet. Kill me? Threaten me?
Shit. That’s exactly what I’m doing, isn’t it?
Why does he have to smell so good and feel so good, though? Why can’t he smell like trash?
Why can’t my body forget him?
His breath tickles the back of my neck and it’s goddamn hard to suppress my shiver, but I manage it. “What are you doing in this city, Raegan? Are you working on a job for GE?” His voice is like cognac. Smooth and strong and so easy to get drunk on.
I focus on his words instead. On the confirmation that he still believes I’m working with the enemy.
I don’t know why seeing Jack again made me think things might be different after so much time. That maybe they’d realized something had to be wrong. Did any of them ever question what I said and wonder if there was more to it?
Tears threaten to choke me, but I force them back.
It’s better this way. I can’t tell them the truth about what happened back then.
“I’m not working with them,” I tell him, steel in my voice. “I’m hunting them. Let me do what I need to do and then I’ll be gone before you know it.”
There’s a pause like we’re both holding our breaths before he breaks the silence, his voice soft and deadly. “Am I supposed to believe you’ve changed sides? That GE was worth killing Vera for, but something else changed your mind?”
Gritting my teeth against the truth, I force out, “Believe whatever you want. I’m telling you that I’m here against GE.”
His fingers tighten in my hair, drawing a subtle gasp from my lips. “Unfortunately, you’ve already broken my trust before. I’m not taking that risk again where someone else gets killed. Leave this city, and I’ll leave you alone. But if I see you again, consider us enemies.”
A stab in the gut would hurt less than the words he whispers like poison that floods my veins. I knew if I ever saw them again, it would be like this.
It doesn’t matter whose side I’m on now. It doesn’t erase what I did.
This is the way it should be.
I harden my heart and fortify the wall between me and them.
“We already are,” I whisper, my voice thick with emotion.
“Is everything alright over here?” Elias interrupts, and Aiden quickly releases me and steps back. Light suddenly fills the hallway from an open room where Elias has turned it on to better illuminate us.
Aiden’s hands are already perched in the pockets of his black pressed slacks as if we’d been standing in the dark having a casual conversation. His brown hair is short and styled back, but aside from height and build, he looks just like he had when I’d seen him last. His eyes are cold as he looks at Elias like another enemy. Do they know each other?
“Everything’s fine. Just old friends catching up,” Aiden answers smoothly.
