Page 19 of Cruel King
When Matthias walksout of the bathroom wearing only a white towel slung low on his hips, it’s like all the oxygen has been sucked out of the room. I can’t help but gawk at how incredible he looks standing there still wet from the shower with droplets of water clinging to his muscular chest and abs and that sexy V from his hips angling down toward what hides beneath that towel.
I had no idea the oldest King brother looked like this. I’ve seen Theo dressed in only a bathing suit during the summer and knew he had a great body, and I’ve been around the younger King brothers when they’re swimming, but somehow I never knew Matthias was so unbelievably built.
My gaze lingers on his gorgeous body for far too long before I look up at his face and see him watching me stare at him. No, not stare. Ogle. I’m ogling him like I’ve never seen a man’s body before.
I’m no better than him with his nudie magazines.
“Hey. I didn’t realize you were in the shower,” I say, stumbling over my words as the most impure thoughts I’ve ever had float through my brain.
He nods but doesn’t say anything. I want to continue the conversation since it feels awkward just looking at him like he’s a piece of desirable meat, but I don’t know what to say.
“I must have fallen asleep. Where did you go?”
Matthias silently walks to his dresser and pulls out fresh clothes to wear. “I was outside helping to clear the walkway.”
Something about the way he says that so flatly, like there’s no emotion in him now, makes me wonder what’s changed in him since we talked last. Then he was sweet and kind. Now he sounds like a machine.
“You helped Jonesy shovel the sidewalk?” I ask in surprise since I don’t think I’ve ever seen Matthias help with anything on the estate.
He snaps his head around and glares at me. “Yeah. Why?”
I smile, hoping to diffuse whatever this tension is that’s grown between us all of a sudden. “Just wondering. It’s just that you don’t usually do things like that.”
“I do a lot of things you don’t know about, little Ava.”
And right there when he calls me that nickname, I know something’s wrong. “Did I do something? Why are you acting like this again?”
My heart sinks when he turns around to face me and I see that same cold expression he always wears when I’m around. What did I do to make him change back to this mean person again?
“You should get dressed. The groundskeeper has probably cleared a lot of the road to your house by now, so you can go home.”
His words hit me like slaps to the face. He doesn’t want me around anymore, even though I don’t have a clue as to why. I’m back to being unwanted little Ava who belongs anywhere else other than near him.
“There’s no heat at my house, Matthias. That hasn’t changed. And my ankle is still hurting,” I say, hating how my words sound like I’m pleading to be allowed to stay here even though I’m no longer welcome.
He shrugs in that way that tells me I mean nothing in his world. “Wear a coat. You’ll be fine. You should be in your house where you belong.”
Those words hit my ears, and it’s all I can do to not slap him across the face for being so nasty once again. I jump up out of the bed and hobble across the room toward the door. My emotions are all over the place, so I swear if he says another unkind word, I’m going to lash out and then probably collapse into a teary mess.
God, why does this person have to be so mean to me? And why the hell do I give a damn that he doesn’t like me enough to even want to be nice?
Just before I reach the door, I spin around on my good foot and snap, “I hate you, Matthias. You’re cruel.”
When he doesn’t say a single word to me after that, I hobble back through the room to where he stands and push against his bare chest. “I hate you! Are you happy now? Or will you only be happy when you watch me limp through a snowstorm all the way back to my house where someone like me belongs?”
Tears begin to stream down over my cheeks as I wait for him to respond, but he says nothing. It’s like I’m not even worth the trouble of answering I’m so low in his mind.
Through my watery eyes, I stare up into his dark eyes and see nothing. No emotion. No kindness. Nothing.
I don’t know why, but that makes me feel even worse, and I can’t stop myself from exploding. “Say something! Tell me what changed in the time that I was asleep and you were in the shower! Tell me, Matthias!”
Of course, he says nothing. I don’t warrant even a murmur. He simply stares at me with a look in his eyes like I’m the one who’s being cruel here.
“I bet you’re happy to see me cry. I don’t understand why, but I bet you are.”
For the first time since he walked out of the bathroom, his icy façade cracks ever so slightly and he winces. “No. I’m not happy,” he says softly.
I wipe the tears from my cheeks and sniffle as I say, “Well that makes two of us. If that was your goal, congratulations. Good job.”