Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 84763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 424(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 424(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
By the time Enzo called to let me know Jet was here. That he’d gotten Allegra out, she’d been down there for three hours.
Shit. Why is my life always such a fucking shitshow?
I walk over to the cabinet where I keep a bottle of whiskey and pour myself a glass. I down it in one go and don’t offer him any. Instead, I pour a second and turn to face him. I know what he wants. I saw how he looked at her. And I need to manage this.
“Allegra’s off limits.”
He studies me and I wonder what he sees. Wonder if I’m not as good at hiding what’s in my head as I like to think I am. Jet knows me better than anyone else though because Jet was there when the ground fell out from under me. When Seth’s disease progressed too far, too fast, when my father’s illness took hold of him and destroyed his life. Jet knows about Seth. In a moment of weakness, I told him. I’d needed to tell someone. To talk to someone. I’ve wondered ever since that night if that was a mistake.
“We’ve shared before,” he says, voice low. My hand tightens around my glass. I knew he wanted her. I fucking knew it.
I turn away and shake my head. “No.”
“If she’s nothing more than collateral, why does it matter?”
“I said no.”
“Fuck’s sake, Cassian, you’re not going to fuck her anyway!”
I spin to face him, my mouth open to respond because I knew it was a matter of time before he’d throw that in my face, didn’t I? But before I can, a sound comes from behind me. As if on cue, no, more likely she had her ear pressed to the door, my Little Moth, we turn to find Allegra standing at the door of Jet’s bedroom. She looks from me to Jet and back, her eyes narrowed, fury making her hands into fists, her lip into a snarl. Her hair is a wild mass around her head and she’s fucking beautiful in all her rage, and I remember how she clung to me when I took her down to the crypt. How she changed.
How scared she was.
Her rage had gone, only fear left in its place. Being down there triggered something, some memory. I want to know what. And I want to know if I’m right about the kidnapping. If her father had ordered it.
She steps out of the room then, coming fully into view and when I see what she’s wearing, when I see Jet’s shirt on her, my brain fucking rattles against my skull and all thoughts are gone, but one.
He. Touched. Her.
She’s wearing his fucking shirt.
She’s naked underneath. I know. I stripped her myself. And for her to be wearing his shirt now? Did she want it?
The fury I feel has no words.
I shift my gaze from Allegra to Jet. He’s looking at her too. Hell, he can’t seem to drag his eyes away and I can’t read his expression. My hands turn to fists so tight, my fingernails almost break the skin of my palms.
“Out!” I bellow. “Enzo. Get everyone out. Now!” My voice bounces off the walls, the vaulted ceilings. I don’t look away from Jet, not for the time it takes for the soldiers to clear out. I watch him watch her, watch his gaze move to mine, narrowing to slits.
He wants a fight. He’s itching for it.
I force a slow breath in, count to ten, turn to Allegra. She’s watching us, her gaze moving between Jet and me, settling on me. I get the feeling she’s not sure if she wants to tell me off or go back to hiding in his room. “Allegra.” Her name sounds strange on my tongue. My voice is low and tight. “Come here.” She doesn’t move. “Now.”
It takes her a minute to decide and when she does, she raises her head, makes a hard line of her mouth. Her bare feet pad over the stone floor and up the stairs to the kitchen. She wraps her arms around herself, the sleeves of his shirt so long they drape like bishop’s sleeves. Is she hugging his shirt to herself? Is that what this is?
“You have no right to be angry,” she hisses.
I let my gaze move slowly over her. Let myself feel the boiling of my blood.
“Did he touch you?”
She glances over my shoulder to Jet.
“Don’t look at him. Look at me.” She does, her eyes narrowed to slits. “Did. He. Touch. You?”
“What if he did?” she says through clenched teeth.
My fist comes down on the altar-table so hard I wouldn’t be surprised if it cracked the stone. Allegra jumps, backs up a step.
“He didn’t touch me!” she cries out.
Do I believe her?
I look at Jet. Allegra moves to stand between us. “I said he didn’t.”