Read Online Flawed Love: House of Obsidian by Lauren McKellar, Bella Jewel - Free Book Online Page B

says staring at Rainer.
    Yes, I wonder what it would be like to fuck him right now, while he’s hot and bothered like that.
    “She’ll be very lucky indeed,” I agree, keeping my eyes on him.
    He spits some blood from his mouth and his eyes scan the crowd. My heart flutters. Is he looking for me? His eyes move straight past me, and focus on Pippa, and that’s when I see it. There’s a softness there, a deep, intense softness that can only mean one thing. Rainer is in love with her. I can’t believe I didn’t see it earlier, and at the realization, something breaks inside me.
    I’ve never seen him look at anyone like that.
    God dammit, what am I doing here? What am I trying to prove?
    “I need some fresh air,” I say to Belle, before turning and shoving through the crowd.
    I push towards the stairs and shove my way through person after person, desperate to get out. There’s a deep pain in my chest that I didn’t realize had gotten so intense. It was okay when Rainer was just Rainer, it was okay that I didn’t know his past, and it was okay that he didn’t remember me. But what’s not okay is the idea that he is in love with another woman. And he is. Hard. His eyes expressed a longing for her that I would die to have aimed at me.
    A tear bursts forth and I keep pushing through the crowd until I reach the front door. The moment the cool, spring breeze hits my face, I gasp it in, taking big, painfully large lungfuls of it until my hands stop trembling. I can’t stop the tears through. I stumble on my heels and an agony unlike anything I’ve ever felt tugs on my heart, seeming to suffocate me from the inside out. I mutter excuse m es to the crowd of people until I’m by the road.
    I look left, and then right. I can’t see any cabs. I guess I’m going to have to call one. I fumble for my phone when a presence comes up behind me. I feel it so strongly, and I know before he speaks that it’s him. Why the hell would he come after me? He doesn’t even remember my face, so why the hell should he care what happens to me? My body goes stiff, but I keep my eyes focused on the road.
    “Everything okay?” he asks, his voice low and thick. “I saw you rush out. Are you sick?”
    He’s just being a good citizen. Of course he is. Why the hell wouldn’t he do the gentlemanly thing and make sure I’m safe? I want to scream in frustration, but I just keep my eyes to the road.
    “I’m fine,” I say, but my voice is thick and broken. “I just need to get home.”
    He curls his fingers around my arm and spins me towards him. He’s still shirtless, seemingly unaffected by the group of girls who have stopped to gawk at him. He’s got sweat running down his chest, his face is slightly bruised, and there’s a little blood around his lip. He smells incredible. Like a man would smell right after sex. Wild sex.
    “You’re crying,” he says, studying my face, running those gorgeous brown eyes over me as if he truly cares.
    “And?”
    His brows furrow. “Something upset you.”
    “Yes, but it’s fine. I’m going to go home. Great fight.”
    He doesn’t let me go. “You’re hiding something, aren’t you?”
    I flinch. “I beg your pardon?”
    “You . . . you have something in your eyes. Hurt. I don’t know what from, but I effect you somehow.”
    God, he’s too smart for his own good. He always was. He used to be able to read me like a book and it would seem it’s the same now. I look away, because if I meet his eyes, I’m afraid he’ll see the pain in their depths. The real pain. The pain of knowing the man I love so dearly is in love with another woman.
    “You just remind me of someone I . . . loved.”
    He’s silent for a moment. “Did something happen to him?”
    “Something like that,” I whisper.
    “I’m sorry I bring back painful memories.”
    My eyes flash up to his. “No, not it’s not like that at all. Believe it or not, I’ve enjoyed spending time with you.”
    His eyes study my face,