arched his brow at me. “What did you say again about not looking for a coin, Angel?”
“What is that? What are you reading?” I ran to him, reaching for the phone.
He stood on the wall, holding it higher, laughing as he continued to read. “But somewhere, he has his hands on you, and whenever he even looks at you…” West looked down at me. “I can’t fucking think.”
I reached helplessly for the phone. “Stop.”
“Giving up everything,” he mocked. “Living with that regret. It would have been easier than this. I never should have let you go.”
I didn’t realize I was crying until my tears blurred his mocking face.
“You’re getting a lot of text messages, Angel. It’s kind of annoying. Keeps me up at night.”
“How many more are there?” My words were broken. I grasped at his arm, digging in the soft fabric of his shirt, but now I used it more to hold myself up.
“Dear Snitch,” he continued. “It’s been a week. The dust has settled and…”
“And what?” I looked up at West, hope in my voice.
I hated that there was hope in my voice.
I was desperate for more words from Grayson. It didn’t matter that they were coming from my captor’s mouth.
“And what?” I tugged on the hem of West’s shirt, practically begging.
West looked down at me, studying me with a vicious curiosity arching his brow.
“Should I send him something back?” he asked lightly.
This is what it felt like to lose all the blood in your body. For time to actually stop. Because I saw him starting to type a response, but I couldn’t move my fingers. They felt frozen, like the time I made snowballs without any gloves.
“Dear Grayson…” West started. “What should I say, Angel?”
“Stop…”
“Dear Grayson…he felt so good inside me.”
I shoved him, but it was weak.
He laughed harder. “You don’t like that one. Okay. How about… Dear Grayson, why did you let me leave? You should have tied me to the bed. It’s torture here. I don’t know if we’ll survive. I think…I think I’m going to kill myself. By the time you get this message, I’ll already be dead.”
I stumbled back, tripping over my heels.
If Grayson got that message…
That would kill him.
West held his thumb to send.
“Goddammit, stop, please, I’ll do anything. Just don’t send that.”
He paused, thumb hovering. “Anything?”
I nodded. Everything was a blurry, teary mess. I felt like I’d swam the length of Crowne Beach, limbs sluggish.
“You would do anything for me, Angel? Anything for your rapist?”
I stared at the floor, tears falling. “Yes,” I croaked.
“Let me sleep in your bed.”
Six
STORY
West flanked the other side of my bed. He hadn’t left to change, only stripped out of his muddy riding boots and white shirt, leaving him in his tailored camel pants. His bare chest, tapered waist, and defined arms were backlit by the luminous gray night of Scotland. He looked regal. Like a prince from an old era come to take what rightfully belonged to him.
Grayson said if there was even a one percent chance of failure, he’d make us do it his way.
West knew about the coin—seemed to know so much more than we did.
The plan was already falling apart and it was barely the end of week one.
West slid into bed, beneath the sheets. The weight dipped on his side. I gripped the sheets, staring dead ahead at the single candle.
You can be very callous.
I’m beginning to think you like that about me.
Was West right? Did I have a weakness for cruel princes? Was there a broken lock in my heart somewhere that allowed them to sneak by?
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
His voice was too close.
This night doesn’t belong to you.
This sideways vision doesn’t belong to you.
“You don’t want my honesty, West.” My voice was too thin. Too afraid.
“Try me.” His voice slid on my skin, his closeness confirmed when his soft touch glanced my cheekbone. I flinched.
West rolled to his back on an exhale, putting his arms above his head, biceps flexing. “If you’re trying to seduce me, you’re doing a terrible job of it.”
I blinked. “What?”
“You don’t think I know your plan, Angel? Seduce me, destroy my engagement, destroy everything I have on you and Grayson, destroy Du Lac Enterprises, turn the tables and put Grayson Crowne on top so you can ride off into the sunset together.”
“That’s not—”
He sighed, shooting me a look like please.
Fine. If I was going to continue this, I guess I had to acknowledge the truth: I was at a severe disadvantage. West