Where the Sun Hides (Seasons of Betrayal #1) (12 page)

“Tell me, when you stood in that office with me, worried
about that little
suka
, what did I say?”

She swallowed, the sound almost audible as her eyes flitted
to the side and back again. “That she would be fine with your brother, but I—”

When he took a step toward her, she took one back, and they
repeated this dance until her back was against the wall and he was merely
inches away. He shouldn’t have been delighted in her fear, but the sight of
it—the way she trembled slightly, her breath catching in her throat—called to
the darker urges inside of him.

“Imagine my surprise when fucking Italians show up and beat
my brother to shit because your
friend
told them that he drugged her.”

“Amelia woul—”

“Who is Franco?” He really wanted to know, and despite his
promise to his brother that he wouldn’t be going after the Italians, he would
at least have an ending place for his rage once he got the green light.

Understanding seemed to light up her eyes. “Amelia’s
boyfriend, but he—”

“Is that what you do?” Kaz asked, interrupting her once
more, dragging his gaze down her front like he couldn’t help himself. “You and
your little friends. You go out, get fucking slaughtered on drinks, and then
cause problems? Is this some kind of game for you? Is that what you want,
someone to fuck with?”

She was just standing there, staring up at him as though in
a daze, but he was too pissed for that shit.

Slamming his open palm against the wall to get her
attention, he said, “Answer me, you little
suka
!”

“Fuck you!” She exploded, shoving two hands against his
chest and pushing him away.

Her strength was laughable compared to his, but he did take
a step back, waiting to see what she would do next, because while her fear
called to him, that fire in her eyes excited him more.

Violet clenched her fists at her side, staying pressed
against the wall as she glared at Kaz. She was grateful he had taken a step
back from her, because it let her take a second to think, but it didn’t offer
much more.

She could still see him. The tightness of his jaw, the
darkness in his features, and the anger radiating over his entire body.

He was so pissed.

At
her
.

And he still looked good.

She kind of hated him for that, too.

“Who do you think you are?” she asked him.

Kaz cocked one eyebrow. “I—”

“No, you get to listen now.” Violet’s anger forced her away
from the wall where she felt a little more grounded, and right back at the man
who thought he had some kind of right to storm into her apartment, demanding
answers like she was the only one who might have them. Her finger snapped into
his chest hard, making his gaze drop down to her hand. “Fuck
you
.”

He chuckled—dry and deep.

Violet ignored the way it rocked his chest and her hand. “I
don’t care who you are. You don’t get to come in here like that, putting your
goddamn hands on me and dragging me around like some doll.”

Again, he just smirked.

That time, he bared his teeth a little, but he was still
watching her hand.

It irritated Violet like she couldn’t explain.

“Look at me!”

Kaz did, instantly. “What?”

Violet stilled. The one word had been practically spat from
between clenched teeth—like she was nothing to him, and she wasn’t worth his
words, looks, or attention.

She didn't believe it, though.

He’d come here.

That meant something.

“You don’t get to do that,” she repeated quieter.

“Your friend got my brother’s head bashed in—do you not
understand that? Your little lies—saving face, whatever the fuck it was—nearly
took his life tonight. If you think you don’t deserve to be called out on
bullshit like that, I have news for you.”

Violet shook her head, frustrated. “I don’t know what
you’re talking about. I told my father what happened.”

“Lied,” Kaz corrected.

She jammed her finger at him again. “I did not!”

Kaz, like she was an annoying little fly that kept touching
him, brushed her hand away from his body. “Don’t do that again.”

Violet barked out a laugh. “Why, because you don’t like it?
But it’s completely okay for you to grab me like a piece of property and haul
me the fuck around.
Right
.”

She poked him again.

“Fuck you,” she muttered.

Kaz’s jaw clenched, and his gaze narrowed. “Stop.”

Violet didn’t drop her hand, but she didn’t poke him again.
The heated anger in his tone was enough of a warning to say she had pushed him
to a line and he was teetering on it. His fists, balled tightly at his sides,
said he was holding back.

“I did not lie,” she said quietly. “I told my father what
happened at the club with the drinks and Amelia.”

“With the addition that my brother was the one to do that,
yes?”

Violet’s frustration exploded again, but this time, she
didn’t let it blow up at him. She turned away, throwing a hand high in his face
as if to wave away his stupidity and his assumptions.

She didn’t even get to turn around completely or drop her
hand before Kaz had grabbed it tight in his own and spun her back around.

“Don’t you fucking walk away from me right now—don’t put
your hand in my face like you’re fucking dismissing me!”

Violet’s back met the wall with a hard smack. The air left
her lungs with a gasp when he grabbed her other hand and pushed it down at her
side. Kaz clouded her vision—all of him—dark, angry, and ready to
hurt
.

Strangely, she wasn’t scared that time.

Swallowing hard, Violet refused to meet his gaze. “Let me
go.”

“I like you right where you are.”

But he was too close to her.

Close enough for her to smell his cologne and see the
flecks of blue in his gray eyes. Close enough that she could feel the tremor
crawling over his arms and the way his muscles jumped when he pressed against
her.

Too close.

She shouldn’t be turned on by a man who did to her what Kaz
had done.

“Tell me the truth,” he demanded. “You lied.”

“I didn’t.”

Violet didn’t even know how to begin explaining her
situation to Kaz, but his assumptions were entirely wrong.

“Do you understand the gravity of lying about a man like
that in this kind of business?”

She blinked. “Yes.”

His hold on her wrists tightened to an almost painful
point. “And you still did it!”

Violet’s head snapped around, her gaze cutting to his. “I
did not!”

“Standing by and doing nothing as someone else lies is the
same thing, Violet.”

“I didn’t do that either, asshole.”

He released her one arm, and pointed a finger right in her
face. It almost reminded her of a gun ready to blow as it came closer.

“You did, you fucked us over when all I did was try to help
you that night. But I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, right? Rich little
sukas
like you have to get your kicks somewhere when you’re bored of draining
your daddy’s pockets dry.”

Violet’s mouth dropped open, and a pain sliced straight
through her heart.

He didn’t know her.

He knew nothing about her.

And his words
ached
.

Reaction from pure fury alone was the only excuse Violet
had for her next actions. With her hand free, he had left himself exposed.
Before she could properly think over what she was doing, she smacked his hand
out of her face with a huff.

Kaz dropped her other hand, surprised.

She was raising it just as fast.

When it cracked across his cheek, the sound reverberated in
the condo.

Nothing else made a noise.

He didn’t even breathe as he took a single step back, his
thumb stroking his jaw as his stare focused in on her again.

She didn’t move an inch.

Violet knew better than to hit a man when he was in a rage.
A normal man would walk away, but a man prone to violence might not.

She opened her mouth to speak—not to apologize, but to tell
him to leave—but she didn’t get the chance to say a thing. Kaz was on her
before she had even blinked.

His hands were at the top of her throat, forcing her head
up as he crowded her to the wall again. Violet’s eyes widened, her heart racing
as she felt his long fingers tighten just enough to scare her.

“Don’t hit me,” he said.

Violet tensed as his hands began to move down her throat
with a slowness that made her shudder. Maybe it was the roughness of his skin,
or the heat of his palms dragging down the column of her neck, but his touch
didn’t quite feel threatening like it first had.

She sucked in a deep breath when his thumbs rested against
the hollow of her throat. He didn’t press to cut off her windpipe, but rather,
just let his thumbs rest there like they could hurt her with her next blink.

“I didn’t lie,” she told him. “And I didn’t know she did.”

Kaz’s gray stare never wavered from hers. “It’s easier for
me to believe otherwise.”

“That’s something you’ll have to deal with, I guess.”

Her words were bravado, and very little else. It was
getting more difficult by the second to ignore the shake in her hands or the
pulsing ache between her thighs.

This was not good at all.

“This could be so easy,” Kaz said, still watching her in
that way of his. “Just a little press of my fingers right here, and then what
you did is answered for.”

“Except I didn’t do it.”

His lips parted to speak again, but he hesitated.

“I didn’t,” she repeated. “And you won’t hurt me for not
doing anything at all.”

Kaz’s mouth curled at the corners, and he flashed his white
teeth in a mix between a sneer and a grimace. She felt his fingers tighten to
her throat and his thumbs press against the hollow just enough to make her
stand a little straighter, freeze under his hands, and
wait
.

She didn’t have to wait for long, but his next move was not
what she was expecting.

Violet blinked and Kaz’s mouth was crushing down on hers
rough, hard, and demanding. The shock of his kiss made her gasp, and his tongue
instantly sought out the heat of her mouth. His hands never left her throat,
but they had loosened enough that she relaxed. And when his tongue struck hard
against hers, she was already fisting his jacket and pulling him closer.

He groaned against her mouth, the sound originating from
somewhere deep in his chest. Violet’s eyes were locked on his, only shutting
for a brief moment when his teeth sunk into her bottom lip.

The shock of pain was
electric
.

Jesus.

She whined low, and pulled him closer again.

There was no hiding how she shook and he let out a ragged
sigh as his forehead rested to hers.

Silence echoed.

He watched her like that, saying nothing.

She didn’t mind—she no longer wanted to move.