Page 155 of Perfect Liar
I wouldn’t allow him to shut me out. I snatched the glass out of his hand.
“I won’t be replaced by your damn whisky.”
He kept his eyes on the window, speaking in a low, icy tone.
“You shouldn’t have come in here,” he said.
“You don’t belong in this room, Will.”
“Leave, Elle.”
“Seriously? You know me better than that. Tell me what happened last night.”
I touched his bandaged shoulder, unintentionally making him to wince.
“Leave me, Elle. Move on with your life. I’ll make sure it’s safe for you.”
Anger quickly overwhelmed me, rushing heat onto my neck and across my cheeks. I threw his glass at the fireplace, shattering it and splashing whisky on the marble.
“I will never fucking ever leave you,” I shouted.
He looked at the fireplace but held back expressing what he wanted to say.
“What…so my word isn’t good enough for you, Will, even though I’m supposed to take yours at face value and never doubt you?”
His eyes finally met mine, and we stared at each other for a minute. We just stared until he jerked me down on top of him, the muscles in his shoulders and his arms quivering, my wrists stinging from his tight grip.
I searched his eyes again. Anger, but no rage. There was a big difference. I could handle his anger. Determined not to back down, I confidently straddled his hips, then turned my wrists to relieve the stinging.
He opened his fingers, releasing me.
“You know better than to push me this way, Elle.”
Dark eyes.
Remorse.
Broken pieces of a man.
I cradled his face in my hands and kissed his lips, but he didn’t kiss me back.
“Why are you shutting me out? I would never take any injury lightly, but I know you’ve had worse. And this whole thing with those stupid ass Green brothers doesn’t change anything between us. We can handle it. It’s nothing.”
He pointed to his shoulder, scowling, so angry.
“You’re right…this is nothing.”
Then he grabbed my wrists again, his voice dropping, his eyes still dark.
“But what I’ve done…that is something. You should be worried about living with that fucking nightmare.”
“Now we’re getting somewhere. You tell me what could be worse, what could scare me more than the terrible things I already see every night in my sleep?”
But he didn’t answer me and he didn’t need to, because I got it. I understood he blamed himself for the rebellion against us, and he worried others might follow suit.
“Nothing could be worse, Will. So you listen to me...you’re very persuasive, successful, a powerful man. But the decision those men made to come after us? You don’t get to take credit for that.”
The anger in his eyes started to fade. Still, he snapped at me.