Treachery

I don’t miss the subtle uptilt of her chin. The woman is as rebellious as ever.

“Let it go,” Gabe whispers as he brushes past me to stroll toward the kitchen.

How the hell am I supposed to do that?

She drives me fucking crazy.

Everything about her.

And while I know a relationship between us will never happen, especially after what I’ve done, I can’t help wanting to drag her off the couch and up to my room so I can teach her why my body is the only one she should be touching.

I’ll whip Sawyer’s ass for this the next time I get him alone. But for now, I do as Gabe suggested, ignoring the way they cuddle while I walk into the dining room with a chip on my shoulder from the bullshit that goes on in this house.

I have to remind myself that I didn’t bring Luca here to be within reach. I did it to keep her from being easy prey for whoever wants to harm her. It shouldn’t matter to me that she’s currently snuggling up to a man that doesn’t know he’s dead yet.

So why does it?

Dropping my weight into a chair next to Jase, I catch a beer Gabriel throws me, pop the cap, and drink half of it down in three swallows.

Cards are dealt and chips are tossed in the center, the hand I’m holding as shitty as the one life dealt me today. I can’t win for shit, it feels like. My mood is getting worse as I keep glancing over to where Luca’s sitting and see that Sawyer hasn’t moved away.

Jase chuckles beside me, his eyes on his cards as he tosses a few chips at the pile.

“I warned him not to go over there. But he didn’t listen.”

“He never does, and it doesn’t matter,” I snap, every last nerve I have on edge to see Luca leaning against him.

“Sure it doesn’t,” Jase teases, his eyes flicking to me and back to his cards. “Just like Shane almost kissing her at Yale didn’t matter either. Fucker walked around with a mysterious black eye for a week after that. But I’m sure it was because he tripped and fell into your fist and not a fight.”

I toss a few chips in, my teeth grinding.

Shane got what was coming to him.

“I’m surprised you’re not over there. All that available pussy, and you’re not jumping on it?”

Glancing up at the group of women, he shrugs.

“Already fucked four of them. The three remaining aren’t worth the risk of people comparing notes.”

Jase likes to think he’s slick about his manwhore ways, but every one of those women already know all about him. I’m sure none went to bed with him hoping for more than a good time.

The only woman who’s ever held his attention was Everly. Although none of us have any idea why.

The sound of Luca’s laughter draws my attention, the muscles over my shoulders locking in place when she turns her head for Sawyer to whisper something against her ear.

I shouldn’t be mad.

Shouldn’t be fisting my hands with the need to drag him outside and remind him why she’s off limits.

She’s not mine.

She can’t be.

I’ve done too much to fuck this up.

Yet, she is mine.

Every part of her.

Especially her sassy mouth and rebellious chin. Along with everything else about her that drives me nuts.

I thought I could hate fuck her out of my system back at Yale, tame her, make her act like every other woman I’d fucked.

Except Luca didn’t come crawling back asking for a repeat. She didn’t call me up, wondering what we were. She simply left afterward and never looked back.

The experience hadn’t worked the way I’d hoped. Hadn’t proven she was just like everyone else.

Instead, it had only driven me crazier.

Sliding my chair back to stand up, I stop when Gabriel slaps a hand down on my shoulder to keep me seated.

“Let it go. She’s ru

“I don’t like the process,” I growl.

He laughs at that as if it’s fu

It’s not.

“Fine. Do what you want. But just know that if you go over there now, you’re laying claim on her. In front of dozens of witnesses, I might add. And there’s not even a guarantee she’ll let you. Luca isn’t a starry-eyed Ta

Which only makes her more fun. Nothing affects me like Luca when she’s pissed off. When she’s mad, she’s as difficult as stuffing a cat into a bathtub of water. Her arms and legs stretching out to catch the rim, claws unleashed as she spits and hisses with the intent to take my eyes out.

It speaks to every need I have to drive her into submission. Makes my heart pump and my body hard. There is just something about her that crooks a finger in my direction, daring me to step up and make an attempt at taking what I want.

Gabriel laughs again when my stare stays focused on her.

“I’m just tossing out the warning, Ta

What’s reasonable in this situation?

Or right?

I’d be even more of a dick if I make her believe there can be more between us than the files she has and the money I’ll eventually help her keep.

Luca will never forgive me if she finds out what I’ve done. The intricacy of it. How thorough I’ve been when pulling the strings attached to her life.

And even if she discovers I’d made some of my decisions with her well-being in mind, she won’t be able to look past the games I’ve played to do it.

I’m a complete ass for wanting more from her. A thief, a liar and a bastard.

But then, there are some things in life that are undeniable. There are people that draw us close no matter how hard we fight.

Luca is like a planet that’s drawn me into her orbit. A raging sun that blinds the eye to look at it.

A star that outshines all the others.

I feel like Icarus with my wax wings, my hubris drawing me closer to disaster. I try not to think about the similarities between myself and such a tragic figure. But when looking at who his father was - the man who invented the labyrinth, as if that’s not just like the man who raised me – I can’t help but wonder if I’m not fated to follow in his footsteps. That I’ll eventually fall into the sea myself one day for flying too close to the sun.

It’s Luca’s rage that lights her fire.

The beauty of her anger.

The steel that lines a spirit that is as strong and stubborn as mine.

I can’t help but think it’s a damn shame I didn’t meet her under different circumstances.

And an even bigger shame that I’m not a good enough person to sit back and let her get away from me.