I can’t fight my orgasm. She’s thrashing wildly in my arms, screaming out a climax, pulling me right over the edge with her. She’s draining me more and more, and I’m roaring against the rage inside that I’ve let her, fighting against the unfairness of what she’s done to me . . . against the deception.
I could have loved you . . .
Was that what drove her to betray me? Had she given up hope on us and then sold me out because of her anger? Did she hate me like I hate her now? Was her lust filled with the same rage I endured?
Her inner muscles milk every last drop from me, and the fury inside banks for a moment, making me realize that McKenna hasn’t only hurt me, she’s caused chaos in the lives of my longtime friends. Men who would move the world for me if I asked them to, and that is what I can’t forgive.
I hang my head, catching my breath, feeling empty right down to my bones.
“Gabe,” she says softly.
When I lift my head, I find her hair a mess, her makeup running, and confusion in her eyes. Before I would have loved this view, now I feel like I’m standing in a world that I don’t control.
“What’s wrong?” she whispers, cupping my face.
I withdraw from her, getting away from the comfortable warmth of her touch, and pull my pants up over the condom, not worrying about that now. Only then, with distance between us, do I face her. “That was me taking what I’ve wanted to take before I force myself to fire you.”
Her eyes widen, lips part, a soft gasp escapes.
I lean forward, staring into gorgeous eyes that lie. “Tell me why you sold me out to the fucking tabloids.”
Chapter 2
McKenna
My palm connects with Gabe’s smooth face, and the sting blasts across my fingers, tingl
ing down into my arm. Teeth clenched, my chest squeezes, my heart shattering under the foreign coldness in Gabe’s hazel eyes. He’s towering over me, his three extra inches seem so much taller today. His sculpted mouth is set into a firm line, and his angular cheekbone flushes pink. It’s him, the man who’s been filling my dreams every night, but I don’t even recognize him.
Gabe recovers quickly; his head slowly turns to face me once more. “Do not do that again,” he warns.
I take a step back when he steps forward, trying to get away from all that coldness that’s chasing away the heat in my body. Then he’s got me pressed against the wall, trapping me between him and the wall. “You will answer me,” he growls. “Why have you sold me out to that fucking tabloid?”
My head is spinning, my voice all but gone. The anger he’s projecting is so unlike him I’m trying desperately to catch up. I’m still reeling that he finally crossed the employee-boss line, trying to recover from the fact that Gabe was inside me, so much so that I can’t begin to process what he’s accusing me of now. “Pardon?” is all I can manage.
“No more games, McKenna,” he bites off, his cheek now flaming red from my hit. “Tell me now.”
I’m staring at him, trying to understand where all this is coming from. I saw him yesterday here at work, and while he seemed distant, he wasn’t like this. Hell, I thought from how much flirtier he’d been over the past few months that we were finally going to start dating, and he was simply figuring out the logistics of that. I thought there was something special between us. No, I know there was. My chin quivers but I force the tears not to come. “I have honestly no idea what you’re talking about right now.”
One brow arches. “Pretty lies from a pretty mouth.”
Feeling a second away from bursting into tears, I sneak under his arm and gather my pants and panties off the floor. My chest is rising and falling, my emotions in my throat; the accusations he’s made cut like knives into my belly.
“You’re not going anywhere until you answer me,” he states behind me.
His tone is as threatening as I’ve heard, but I won’t be bullied. Not by a man who I cared for and trusted, and who apparently fucked me out of rage. There’s a deep throb in my temple as I’m trying to make sense out of this. I’ve never sold anyone out for anything but somehow I can’t find the words to tell him that. Broken in ways I’ve never been broken, I pull on my panties, and my hands are shaking when I step into one jean leg.
“I know, McKenna,” he says through clenched teeth, thrusting a hand through his dark-brown hair that’s even more unruly than usual. “I know everything. You can’t hide behind your lies anymore.”
Maybe it’s his tone, or the fierce way he’s looking at me, but my shock begins to fade. “That’s the second time that you’ve called me a liar,” I say to him, wiggling myself into my skinny jeans, pulling them up over my bum, both cold and hot and wishing I was anywhere but here. “That’s two times too many.” All my heartache is suddenly gone. Rage that burns wicked and hot replaces the pain, because how fucking dare he? “What have I ever done to deserve to be shit on all the time?” I yell, glancing up at the ceiling, screaming to anyone who will hear me.
It never stops.
Nothing good can ever last.
For one year, I had a small piece of happiness that I thought maybe meant fate was finally being kind to me for once. But why I thought that was possible is utterly beyond me. Fate hates me. I button up my jeans and then tell Gabe sternly, “I’m going to say it one more time, Gabe. I have no idea what in the hell you are going on about.”
Arms crossed over his thick chest, his eyes narrow into his slits, the anger in the depths palpable. “You know exactly what I’m talking about because why else would you hit me.”