“Dear God.” My legs shook, and I grabbed the side of the tub, steadying myself as I sat on the edge. “Neon is alive? How…how is that possible?”
Granite brushed his fingers across his forehead then finally managed to look me in the eye. “Neon isn’t dead, Alyx.” He visibly took a deep breath. “I lied.”
“What?”
Two simple words, yet I couldn’t wrap my head around it. “You lied?”
He placed his hands on his side, the leather of his cut creaking with the movement. “Yeah. I lied.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why? Why would you—”
“I had my reasons.”
“Like what?”
Granite stared at me from underneath his lashes, watching me like he was waiting for me to break at any moment. “What they did to her, Alyx, it was—”
“It couldn’t have been worse than killing her.”
He snorted and shook his head. “Believe me. I think she’d rather be dead.”
A sudden fit of rage swept through me, and I launched myself at him, fists balled and ready. My fists slammed against his chest, and I kept screaming. Cursing and beating him, I wanted to hurt him like he had hurt me.
“You son of a bitch! You lied to me!”
He didn’t even try to fight me. He just stood there, allowing me to punch him, taking every hit and facing my anger.
I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t stop from wanting to hurt him. All I saw was him, her, the lie. It was slamming against my ribcage, clawing at my insides, shredding me into nothing but slivers of rage.
“You lied!”
“I had to.”
“You fucking lied!”
“Alyx, stop.” He took a step forward and grabbed my arms, keeping me from hitting him again.
“Why?” I yelled, not realizing I was crying until I tasted the salt on my lips. “Why did you lie?”
“I did what I needed to do.”
“Bullshit!”
Granite let go of my arms, and I managed to slap him across the face, his head jerking to the side. I gasped and swallowed hard after I realized what I had done.
Granite pulled his lips in a thin line, jaw clenched. “I guess I deserved that.” A glimmer of anger flashed across his green irises, and a chill ran up my spine. “But that is the last time you ever hit me. Do you understand me?”
“You lied to me, you mo—”
“Do you. Understand me?”
I refused to respond to his demand of obedience. Who the fuck did he think he was, telling me what I could and could not do after he just dropped the biggest fucking bomb on me? “I can’t believe you lied to me.”
“I did. But I’m telling you the truth now.”
“After you let me grieve for fuck knows how long.”
Granite moved to the other side of the bathroom, leaning against the wall.