Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 69759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Remy lets out a frustrated growl. “Fuckin’ women. Fine. You want to know, then I’ll tell you. I couldn’t give a fuck what you and Pres have got goin’ on. He’s fuckin’ you because it’s winning the war.”
I blink.
Everything in my world feels like it freezes and I’m standing, unable to move.
Fucking me to win the war.
Fucking. Me. To. Win. The. War.
“It’s fuckin’ genius, really,” Remy goes on, as if he can’t tell everything in my life has just stopped. “Best way to take down the enemy is to get them on your side. Fuckin’ you, makin’ you feel good, has stopped all the shit. It has worked, hasn’t it? Best tactic I’ve heard. He’s smart, girl, you should know that about him by now.”
He’s been having sex with me to put me right where he needs me? On his side.
He has been using me to win the war.
And it worked.
I fell for it.
I fell for it so fucking hard that my heart is twisting and my body feels numb.
It hurts.
More than I could have guessed it would.
“Don’t get hurt over it,” Remy tells me. “All is fair in love and war, right? Now, can I go?”
I nod sharply, and he turns, walking away.
I take a shaky step, then another, and it feels like I’m going to lose it any second. I walk out of the clubhouse, not making eye contact with a single person. I walk across the parking lot and into my apartment, my body numb. I sit down on my porch after getting my phone, and I call Ramona.
“I need you,” I whisper.
“I’m coming.”
She arrives only ten minutes later, and the moment she sees me, she comes rushing over. Ramona knows not much shakes me, but this has me so fucking shook I can’t get my mind to stop spinning.
Riggs is clever and fucking smart. He picked the ultimate tactic, the one thing he knew would get him exactly what he wanted. The few weeks he has been seducing me, I have left him alone. We’ve gotten along and everything has gone well. Plus, he’s been getting sex out of it, so it’s not like it’s something that is difficult on him. That mother fucker, my hurt is mixing with rage, and that’s a toxic combination for a girl like me.
“Talk to me,” Ramona says, waving her hand in front of my face to snap me out of my haze. “You’re scaring me.”
“He was fucking me to win the war,” I whisper angrily.
“Who? Riggs? What are you talking about, honey?”
“He was having sex with me to placate me and make me fall for him, so I’d stop trying to get him out of the garage and our issues would end. He was using me to be the winner.”
Ramona gasps. “That smart motherfucker.”
She’s right, he is smart.
He’s also cruel and insensitive.
We said no harming the other person or their property. We never said anything about heartbreak, or the cruel act of making someone get feelings for you that you know damn well isn’t real.
“You care about him, don’t you?” Ramona asks carefully.
“Yeah,” I tell her the truth, no point in lying. She’s my best friend, she knows me better than anyone. “The worst part is, we were only fucking. I’m not certain how I managed to get this giant fucking crush on the man.”
“Hate increases emotions, you two started off so wild and I guess that created the same intense feeling and that just slowly turned into lust and then you bonded. It’s not uncommon with this kind of situation, but it is cruel of him to make it happen.”
“What do I do now? If he finds out I know and that it hurts me, he’ll win. If I pretend, he’ll know I’m lying because there is no way I can be with him like I was, knowing it’s all an act. Either way, I’m screwed.”
Ramona’s eyes flash. “Honey, you play. You play so fucking hard that he is forced to figure out you know and you win this god damned thing, you hold your head high and you do not let him see it hurts. You’re way too good for that.”
She’s right.
It might hurt, but I’m not going to let Riggs mess with me.
Not now.
Not ever.
If he’s cold enough to play the game in such a wicked manner ... then so am I.
13
MY PHONE RINGS ON THE counter beside me. Riggs name flashes up for the fifth time today, and for the fifth time, I haven’t answered it. Hell, I haven’t answered his calls for two days now. The garage has been so busy, he hasn’t been able to get over here to find out why. He did come and knock on my door last night, which I ignored and pretended I was in bed.
I’m sure he probably knows I know by now, but what he doesn’t know is that he’s not going to get emotion out of me, nor am I going to admit defeat. No. This has only made me that much wilder, that much more determined. I need him gone. In the last few months he’s whipped me around like an old shoe. I can’t continue to live right next door to him, not now I know the kind of man he truly is.