Page 119 of Poison Aches
“Please, Angel. Your brother thinks you’re many things, but I know when you make a vow, you never break it.”
Fifteen years ago, I vowed to find my biological parents.
And he was the boy I made that vow to.
“You do know everything.”
This time, it’s a simple fact. No need to question…no need to guess. Emmett Easton knows all my secret schemes, the things I keep in the dark.
“But you’ve been silent about it all these years because…” I stare at him squarely. He calmly sits back in the large, comfortable seat and sips my champagne while watching me with a cunning look. “You are an asshole!”
“I am?” he smirks.
“You do everything for a reason, of course you’re an asshole!” I snap, as my heart triggers a chain reaction throughout my body dangerously close to a panic attack. “I know for a fact that you make it a point to know everything about everyone, feeling the pulse of every living thing in your cold, dead grasp just so you can use it to your advantage!”
“Is it?”
“You’ve obviously been watching me, keeping score, tallying up my misdeeds?—”
“You mean your crimes.”
“—and making sure to have them ready to use to blackmail me, threaten me, and make sure you trap me!”
I’m at the point of hysteria.
How long has this man been watching me?
How long has he known what I’ve been after when I’ve made it a point to keep a secret from everyone in my life, including my best friends?
This means even when I thought he was ignoring me, he was fully aware of myactivities.
I feel exposed, laid bare…completely at the mercy of an unpredictable jerk that knows more about me than I want him to.
“Shouldn’t you be thanking me?”
“My God, Emmett, thank you for what?”
“The only reason why your life hasn’t been blown all the way to hell yet is only because I’ve kept it that way.”
I scoff. “Because you’re so moved by passion and care for me, huh?”
“Trust me, Angel, you don’t want to know what moves me concerning you.”
I fall silent, not knowing what that means, but I’ve since learned that with Emmett Easton, lowering your expectations to nonexistent is the healthiest thing you could ever do for yourself.
Another thing that I know about Emmett Easton…he doesn’t do anything for nothing.
To others he’s a quiet ‘kumbaya’ guy who never involves himself in petty things like Noah or makes trouble for the hell of it. No, Emmett is calculated. He’s a mastermind that sees spoils of war where others only see damage and no way out.
“Quit walking me in circles… you want to use me, don’t you?”
He doesn’t refute it.
“Why?” I ask, watching him directly.
This time, he doesn’t hold on to pretentious airs. He drops the smirks, half smiles and the pretense.
“I can go to the ends of the earth and even under it, but I swear, no one knows me the way you do,” he says smoothly, deceptively, with something akin to danger flashing in his cold, sharp eyes.
