Page 70 of Bloodstained Wings
“You love me, don’t you?”
I hesitate. Of course, I love him, but if he did cheat on me, does that mean he really loves me? Could I love a man who tosses me to the side so carelessly? I can only imagine what he would do if I were found giving a pole dance to another man, let alone in the lingerie Carter bought me!
A searing heat fills my chest, and I feel sick with the pressure.
Constant, never-ending pressure.
He doesn’t move his fingers off my lips yet. “You know I wouldn’t cheat on you. They’re going to try to prove otherwise or angle a sting operation on me to make it look like I’m cheating or that you’re having a fling with my once-rival.”
He leans forward, his lips nearly touching mine, still pinched between his fine grip. “You can tell me the truth, dove. Do you think I did something to hurt you? Do you think I cheated?”
While the photo was a daunting thing to see, I doubt Carter would have the ability to cheat on me and then come home and fill me with cum as he had. He’s got excellent rigor, but he’s not Superman. He needs a break, too, no matter what he may say during sex.
I shake my head in finality.
“Good girl,” he praises, kissing my forehead. “I didn’t want to punish you. Not after everything that has happened the last few days. But this doesn’t excuse you from wearing another man’s shirt. We will handle that later, though.”
He releases my lips and stalks to the end of the bed toward the bathroom.
My lips purse on their own before I blurt, “What? You get to see another woman half-naked, but I can’t wear Rich’s T-shirt to be modest?”
He stops, the muscles in his back flexed and unkind. “Repeat that, dove.”
“I could have walked around his penthouse naked. There was blood on my shirt, Carter. There was blood on everything I was wearing. I ran from the detective. I was arrested in our living room, and I was scared, okay? I wanted something to wear, and he offered it.”
He turns slowly, hands gripping the footboard of the bed. “I didn’t appreciate that slut giving me a dance. Whatever camera she hid didn’t show how I figured out it wasn’t you and how I threatened her life if she tried something like that again. I fought her off because I don’t find her the least bit appealing.”
“But you did at some point, right?”
His nostrils flare. “What the hell are you talking about.”
“She looks like Brooke!”
We both shiver, and I can’t believe I have to bring her up again, but it’s the truth. Carter was using my likeness to get over Brooke, and even though that wasn’t the case when we fell in love, it was the original purpose of his interest in me.
It’s the same as every long-haired, petite brunette in the city with a curvy figure. He wanted to get what he could never have, and I’m not going to pretend that this slandering journalist doesn’t look just like Brooke Blackthorne.
When his teeth finally unclench, his eyes dart through me. “You want the truth?”
I nod steadily. “Tell me what I already know, Carter. You’ve fucked her before, haven’t you? And now what? Do you want her again? Is that it?”
“Goddammit, I don’t want anyone but you. I’m not making that clear again.”
“Then explain it to me, Carter. Please. I want to understand why she’s trying to do this. She’s trying to get under my skin, telling everyone I’m cheating on you, and you’re cheating on me. For what purpose?”
“She wants me to pay.”
“Pay for what?”
He opens his mouth to speak, but something cold flashes in his eyes instead. He shuts his mouth and shakes his head at last. “I won’t say.”
I swallow hard. “What did you do?”
“Why are you assuming that I did anything, dove?”
“Because if you scorned her, she’s not going to stop until we’re just as miserable as you made her.”
He stands up, his hands sliding around the belt loops of his jeans. I’m happy to see that his belt is missing; part of me worried I’m tied up to take punishment. Which does remind me, why the hell am I tied up? I ignore it, though.