Page 74 of Cruel Delights
“She’s a stupid, drug-addicted bitch that lives in a fantasy nine times out of ten. Take anything she says with a grain of salt,” he spits, turning away from the door.
“How did she get in your place? Does she have a key?”
“Do you think I’d give someone like that a key to my penthouse? I thought she was getting the keys through my housekeepers or security team, so I fired the last group and rehired new ones. I have no idea how the hell she got in just now.”
“She was from the party. The… the Midnight Society party.”
His expression darkens. He strides past me, but I’m not giving up that easily. I follow him back into the gourmet galley kitchen.
“And so were you,” I tell him. “You were with her that night.”
“So what, Lyra?”
“You were in the audience, weren’t you? You saw me. You saw what happened on stage.”
He’s unsure how to react. For the first time since I’ve known him, Kaden loses his decisive, self-assured air. He plants both hands on his kitchen countertop and peers at me with his dark, brooding eyes vacant of direction. He doesn’t know how to answer or where to lead the conversation.
“Tell me the truth. You’ve known all along. You saw me bite off that guy’s dick and you pretended like you had no idea who I was! Suddenly, our meeting at Urban Greenery doesn’t feel so unplanned. It feels a lot more orchestrated.”
He sighs, his handsome face flat with exhaustion. “Lyra…”
“No, Kaden, you knew! You bumped into me on purpose, didn’t you? You tracked me down!”
I don’t expect him to fess up. Why would he? If he’s been orchestrating some grand scheme on behalf of the weird elite club he belongs to, his loyalty is to them. He owes me no allegiance. Every interaction we’ve had up until this point has been by design.
My arms wrap around myself as a protective shield. I feel used and confused. I feel empty. Once again let down by someone I had begun to let into my life.
Turns out, Kaden’s more of the same.
I turn to go.
“Lyra,” he says slowly. “I did track you down. I knew who you were from our first encounter. That’s true.”
A disgusted sound escapes from my throat. “Why would you do that to me? Why lie?”
“I… was intrigued. I saw you the night of the party and knew you weren’t a member.”
“How would you know that?”
“I know all the members. And you were obviously not one.”
My chin quivers as I stare at him in disbelief. “You saw what happened to me on stage… and you thought you’d find me to do what? Fuck me when your pal failed?”
“I wanted to get to know you. You were so different than every other person at that party, you held my attention. For the record, Klein deserved to have his penis torn off.”
“You wanted to get to know me after you saw me bite a guy’s dick? So you tracked me down and then pretended not to know who I was? You think that’s okay?”
I turn away from him and start down the hall. I don’t care that I don’t have any clean panties. I’ll throw on my dress from last night and make do on the trek home.
One thing is clear: I need to get the hell away from Kaden. He’s doing the following thing now. He dogs my footsteps into his bedroom and tosses shut his door to barricade me inside.
“Kaden, you’re not stopping me—”
“You’re not listening to what I’m saying.”
“It doesn’t matter. We’re done.”
“You’re not done. We’re not done. We’re just getting started—”