Page 19 of Dark Daze

"Didn't you say the other day that was me?" I lowered my hand and tried not to panic.

This was exactly what I was afraid of. He could tear my life to shreds if he wanted to. Killing me would be less painful.

"You still belong to me, but that doesn't mean I won't destroy you for taking my daughter away." His face was a mask of stone cold ruthlessness. I'd seen him give other people that look countless times, but he never looked at me that way.

"And you wonder why I didn't tell you," I said, as cold as him. "If you knew, you would have taken her away from me when she was born."

He was very still for a few moments. "I lied when I said I didn't care if you left town. I was pissed off. You walked away from us, and I let you. If I knew you were pregnant, I wouldn't have let you leave. We would have gotten married and raised her together."

"Would we?" I asked. "Would I have gotten a say in that?"

He stepped closer and reached up to tangle his fingers in my hair. He clenched his teeth and pulled me towards him. "That's how it would have gone. I know it. You know it. Why do you always have to fight me on everything?"

I looked him right in the eyes. "Because you like the challenge."

He laughed softly and tangled his fingers tighter. "That right there is why we belong together. Plenty of other women are happy to open their legs for me, but you always kept things interesting. Trying to run away from this life was like trying to run away from yourself. Your heart is darker than you think. It might even be darker than mine. The sooner you admit to yourself…" He shrugged one shoulder.

"You know what, I don't give a shit. You made your bed and I'm going to make you regret it. By the time I'm done, Nova won't even remember you."

He shoved me back away from him and stalked out of the room.

I staggered a few steps until my back touched the wall. I leaned back against it and stayed like that for a while.

I lowered my head until my face was surrounded by a protective wall of hair. I trembled all over, but I didn't cry. Fuck that.

I was a badass. I got off on pain and death. My heart was as dark as he said it was. He was right about that, and running away never put any of it behind me. Not really.

He was also right that we would have gotten married if he knew I was pregnant. We would have made each other as miserable as shit. I was as determined to get away from Dusk Bay as he was to stay. Even if this was still home, I had to have the time away. I couldn't, wouldn't regret a moment of it, even if Nova missed out on a few things.

I focused on my breathing until my heart stopped racing so hard. I couldn't let him take her away from me, no matter what I had to do to prevent that. Even if I had to kill him.

I pushed myself off the wall and headed out the door. I barely got more than a couple of handfuls of steps before I saw the two people I wanted to see the least. Both of them looked like they did nothing wrong in their lives.

Assholes.

"Daisy?" Hilton in particular looked at me like a cat that got the cream. Seven times like he promised.

Seven times too fucking many.

"Are you okay?" Gunnar asked.

I pushed past them both. "Piss off."

Gunnar made a grab for my arm, but I jerked it away before he could touch me.

"Leave me alone," I hissed. "You've done enough damage." Leaving them both gaping, I stalked away without looking back.

7

"What's wrong with you?" Bella asked sharply. She grabbed the bag my bridesmaids dress was in and yanked at the zip. "You haven't even seen the dress yet."

"What?" I tore my eyes away from the view of the garden and looked over at her. "Nothing. Sorry, my brain was a million miles away."

"Yeah, no shit," she said. "Did you and Ric have a fight? He's been stalking around for the last couple of days like a wounded bear. It was kinda funny at first, but now it's getting annoying."

I shrugged. "No idea," I lied. Her wedding was in two days. I didn't want to dump my shit on her. She was stressed out enough making last-minute plans and hoping the flowers turned up, and none of the guests died between now and then.

The flowers probably would turn up. The rest, I couldn't guarantee. If the flowers weren't delivered on time, I could guarantee someonewoulddie. No one in Dusk Bay would mess with Bella's wedding.