Page 21 of Forever Golden
Dane stands and my gaze rises with him. “You heading out?” I ask.
He nods. “Yup.”
“I’ll ride with you,” Sterling offers.
“Cool. We’ll meet back here when everything’s done. And if I’m lucky, I won’t lose my shit and do something stupid while I’m up there with Vin,” I add with a laugh.
Guess it’s not really funny, though, seeing as how I’dloveto light into him.
The guys head out and I’m on my feet, too. It’s go-time.
* * *
“Pretty sure I raised you to knock before barging into a damn room, didn’t I?”
I ignore Vin’s bullshit and slam the door to his study behind me. Despite the fact that twenty-four hours have passed, I’m still just as pissed as the second I laid eyes on the image of Southside climbing out of his SUV. He sees it, the rage spilling over, and it has him on his feet, staring back as I charge toward his desk.
“Mind telling me what the fuckyou were doing at Blue’s house last night?”
He doesn’t speak, but the slow smirk spreading across his face says it all. It tells me he thinks what I feel for Southside means nothing. It tells me that he sees her the same way he sees every other girl in this town—as an expendable resource.
“I think you should bring the volume down before we continue this conversation, son.”
“Son?” I scoff, wishing I could say more. “Just… answer the fucking question.”
He’s calm—or at least pretending to be—while I’m anythingbutthat.
“You’re clearly hopped up on emotion, but didn’t I warn you about her several weeks ago? She’s toxic.”
I know where this is going and I’m already shaking my head. “No. Bullshit.”
“Think what you want, but I came to you like a man. Even laid my sins bare so we could come to an understanding. But what the fuck did you do? You rejected the truth because, apparently, pussy’s more important than your pride,” he scoffs. “She’s making a damn fool of you, West.”
I look him dead in the eyes, ignoring all the meaningless noise that just left his mouth. “How is it that you just managed to do all that talking, but never got around to answering the fucking question?”
He holds my gaze and then lets out a breath, deciding it’s time to come around his desk and face me.
“For what it’s worth, that post you saw was poorly timed and misleading. It wasn’t what it looked like. I’ve got no romantic interest in her whatsoever. Whatever we had, it’s dead now.”
Does this asshole really think I still believe his bullshit? I nearly laugh hearing the act he’s putting on.
Fucking pathetic.
“Why were you there?”
He lowers his head, and his expression turns solemn. Like he’s deep in thought, troubled. Meanwhile, I’m one hundred percent certain this dick doesn’t even have a heart.
“I was there because she asked me to be.” He sighs, pausing for dramatic effect. “She’s threatened to hurt herself in the past and she sounded unstable, so… I went to her.”
Hearing his excuse, I can hardly stomach it.
“Listen, I’m sure she’s told you a completely different story and, if I’m being honest, she’d be smart to do so,” he reasons. “She’s playing a sick game, West. Whatever she said about me, about why I was there, she’s just trying to protect herself.”
I meet his gaze again and there’s a wicked gleam in his eyes.
“Tell me exactly what she told you.” The words leave his mouth with a calm edge to them, like the psychopath he is.
He presses me with his stare, thinking I’ll cave and trust him, but he has no fucking clue how done I am with his ass. That gleam dims and his expression goes cold. He knows I’m not cracking. So, when I fail to answer, he starts in with the lies again.