Once safely hidden away, I slammed her back against a nearby wall, pushed up against her, and hid my face in her neck. If I looked into her eyes right now, I could ruin us both right here and now. “You want to tell me what the fuck that was about?”

Her scent was making it hard to remember how we ended up here in the first place. All I could concentrate on was the fact I had her in my hands again. Two weeks cold turkey and I’d relapsed. It was about as much as I had expected.

She was fire and ice.

And she had me by the balls.

“I don’t owe you an explanation. I’m only trying to right a wrong.”

“Damn it, Monroe.” I reluctantly lifted my head from her neck and abandoned her scent. “You aren’t making this easy.” How could I stay away from her if she were constantly doing things to pull me back in?

“Stop calling me Monroe. My name is Lake, and I wasn’t aware I was supposed to make anything easy for you. Should I show you the same mercy you showed me?”

I grabbed her face with my hands and held her eyes. “I want you to realize what’s at stake here if you keep pushing me.”

“You never played fair before,” she whispered.

Fuck.

I let her face go. Those twinkling blue-green eyes were pure torture to my dick. “I don’t know what I want more—to kiss you or kill you.”

“Why did Coach Lyons let you back on the team?” she asked, blatantly changing the subject.

“He didn’t let me back on the team. He asked me to come back.”

“He actually sought you out?” Her body rocked against mine in outrage.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Why do you think?” I took a step back, needing to put space between us but not too much. She visibly relaxed as she watched me warily. I noticed her palms brace the wall at her side and every other second they would clench.

“You can’t mean the championship is that important?”

“It is for a lot of people.”

“Enough to overlook the fact that you’re a murderer?”

“I didn’t kill Trevor and Anya.”

“Maybe you didn’t light the match, but it doesn’t make you any less responsible.”

“And you?”

“What about me?”

“You continuously point fingers but conveniently forget that you are as much an accomplice.”

“I didn’t—”

I cut her off before she could make any more false claims of innocence. “Maybe you didn’t light the match but you knew and you didn’t say anything. Why?”

She stared up at me incredulously. “And give you another reason to threaten my aunt?”

“Is that your final answer?”

“It’s the only answer.”

“You were never a good liar. By the way… how does it feel to have your aunt back home safe and sound? How many lies have you had to tell so far? When she holds you and tells you she loves you, do you feel guilty? Or do you feel like a hero for all the sacrifices you made?”

“What I sacrificed, you can’t even begin to understand or measure. You’d have to have a heart for that.”

“I may not have a heart, but if I were you, I’d be afraid of what beats in its place.”

I couldn’t help myself. I had to get my hands on her again, so I did. I gripped her hips and pulled her into me.

“Try something like this again,” I growled low and tightened my hold on her, “and one night I will crawl through your window and make you disappear. I won’t need to kill your aunt. I won’t need to hurt your best friend, and I won’t need to use your buddy, Jesse. Do you think they would survive not seeing you again?”

“I’m over you threatening to kill me.”

I couldn’t resist stealing a kiss from her lips, and without pulling away, I whispered, “It wasn’t a threat, and I have no intentions of ever killing you.” I stole another kiss. “I’m much too selfish for that.” I lifted my head to look her in the eye. “Stay out of my way, Monroe. I’m trying to protect you.”

“From you?”

“And from them. But yeah… mostly me.”

“And what if I just want to make you pay?”

“Then I’d say you were playing a very dangerous game.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Lake

School couldn’t end soon enough. It didn’t help that I had a test in all of my classes today, including gym class. The stress of the confrontation with Keiran earlier was weighing down on me as I walked into the precinct. I stormed up to both Detective Daniel and Wilson’s desks with purpose.

“I have information.”

The detectives looked up from their coffee seemingly startled as their faces furrowed with confusion. “Lake, what are you doing here? What information?”

“Information that will help you bring Keiran in. He cannot continue to walk free.” Instead of looking grateful or relieved, the detectives shared a nervous glance. “What?”

“We aren’t pursuing Keiran Masters any longer.”

My stomach lurched before plummeting down to rest at my feet. “What do you mean? How could you not pursue him?”

“Masters also came to us this morning with valuable information.”

“Well, apparently, he didn’t turn himself in because I just saw him at school, so what could he have possibly told you that would make you drop the case against him?”