Dangerous Lies Read online

  Then he steps back away from my body until the sun hits me in my face, reminding me that something sinister is about to happen.

  I look at Langston standing naked in all his glory. His cock is hard, but he ignores it. He made me come, but he didn’t fuck me. The one more time thing was about getting me riled up, giving me one more gift before he hurts me.

  He walks over to a bag I didn’t notice before. He digs inside with his back turned to me.

  I hold my breath, waiting to find out my fate. What horrible crime do we have to overcome?

  When he turns back to me, he’s holding a knife.

  I tense.

  I can handle a knife, though. Cut me, slice my skin, mark me. I’ll still love you.

  Langston’s eyes darken.

  “I wish we had more time,” he whispers.

  “Me too,” I whisper back.

  My eyes look down, then up. “Do what you have to. Hurt me; I already forgive you.”

  “You won’t forgive me for this.”

  He paces back and forth a second. He doesn’t want to hurt me, just like I didn’t want to hurt him, but we have to save Declan.

  “Whatever it takes,” I whisper.

  His eyes meet mine again. They’re dark orbs; I can’t see any of the whites of his eyes. A hurricane of feelings roars in his eyes.

  He could say it.

  I love you.

  I can’t stop him. I can’t shut him up with a kiss. I can’t throw my hand over his mouth. I could try to talk over him, but he would still say it.

  Suddenly, I’m panicking again. I struggle against the ropes, but they’re bound so tightly. Langston himself taught me how to escape bindings, even his own, so I don’t give up. I glance up, and I see a stray end of the rope. Maybe if I can tug on it, I’ll be able to get free?

  Langston says something, and it draws my attention back to him. He’s twirling the knife around in his hand.

  “The next location to find the treasure is Tokyo.”

  “Okay,” I say. Now, stop stalling and do the thing so you can untie me, and we can get out of here.

  “Tell the kids I love them,” he says.

  I frown, confused. “Sure, do you want me to stay here while you go? I don’t think they’ll let you get the treasure by yourself. I’m pretty sure I have to be there, too.”

  He shakes his head.

  “I’m sorry,” he says again.

  “It’s okay. Stab me or whatever, and then we can go.”

  That’s when he turns the knife around and directs it toward his own heart.

  “Langston….what are you doing?”

  “Have Enzo cut out my heart. It’s going to be too hard for you to do it. Then take it to Tokyo. The exact address is in the bag.”

  “Langston, no!”

  “I love you, huntress. I always have.” Then he jabs the knife into his chest, directly into his heart.

  He collapses to the floor, away from me.

  “Langston!” I yell.

  I wait, looking for any signs of life.

  He groans.

  He’s still alive.

  But then I see a puddle of blood on the ground underneath his body.

  I can’t tell if his chest is rising or falling.

  “Langston!” I shriek again.

  My yelling does nothing. This is why he tied me up. This is why he was so heartbroken. He knew he had to die, and he knew I would try to rescue him unless I was bound.

  I reach for the rope that’s hanging down. My fingertips just barely touch the bottom of the rope.

  “Don’t you dare die, Langston!” I yell through my tears. They’re flowing uncontrollably down my face. I’m going to have to get used to the tears because if Langston is really dead, there is no way I’m ever going to be able to turn the tears off.

  I cling to the end of the rope and pull with everything I can, but nothing happens. I try to jerk my wrists free, but somehow the ropes tighten. I can barely see through my tears.

  “Help! Help!” I scream at the top of my lungs, knowing there are yachts nearby, but I don’t see any headed our way.

  I tug again, and again, trying to free myself. Nothing happens. I can’t move.

  “Langston!” I cry out again, desperate for him to get up, for him to not die, but that’s not my life. He’s gone. I can sense it. He would do anything to save Declan, even die.

  He just didn’t think through the whole tying me to the mast, so I can’t escape thing. Hopefully, he texted someone to come here, because if not, who knows how long it’s going to be until someone comes to look for us.

  My stomach flips, and I think I’m going to puke. My entire body trembles as saltwater sprays my face.

  I want to collapse into a ball. I want to grab onto an anchor and drown myself, so I can be with Langston, but that’s not fair. The kids need me if they can’t have their father.

  Tell them I love them.

  Fuck you, Langston.

  Fuck you.

  I hate you.

  I sob again, uncontrollably. A wail leaves my body that I’m sure rattles the entire earth in a massive, global earthquake.

  I hate you so much, Langston.

  I feel the ring on my finger.

  He married me.

  He protected me all the way to the end.

  He loved me.

  I take it back—hearing those words meant more to me than I realized. Hearing him actually speak the thing I’ve known all this time out loud proves that we should have been saying those words to each other since the first time we felt them, fuck the consequences and the broken heart. Knowing we’ve loved each other for years and not having said anything now that he’s gone is ruining me.

  “I love you, too,” I whisper.

  I squeeze my eyes shut as another heart-wrenching scream leaves my body. My heart is shattered. I will never love again. There is no way to repair the millions of pieces of my heart.

  Say it again, Langston’s voice says.

  I open my eyes and see a hallucination. Maybe it’s his ghost already haunting me?

  Whatever it is, he’s floating in front of me with a glow around him.

  Say it again.

  “I LOVE YOU!” I scream at the top of my lungs. “I’ve always loved you,” my voice breaks. “Why did you leave me?” Then my voice leaves me; I open my mouth, and nothing else comes out.

  “Only you would wait until I die to tell me you love me. But if death is the only way you’ll tell me you love me, then so be it,” Langston says.

  My brain must have finally lost it because I’m pretty sure Langston is standing in front of me, very much alive.

  “I’m going to kill you,” I murmur as my heart finally beats again.

  25

  Langston

  I chuckle through my own tears.

  Hearing her shriek and cry over my fake death almost broke me. Lying on the ground, covered in fake blood, trying not to move was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I’ve never heard such pain. It was like a pack of wolves tore into my own heart as I felt her heartbreak ooze off her, knowing that the only way to save her is to be patient and let her feel everything.

  If my plan hadn’t worked, I would have felt horrible forever. There would be no way that either of us would forgive me for causing her so much pain.

  Thank god, it worked. She finally said the words, and she can’t take them back.

  Despite the agony we were both in, hearing her say she loves me was the most magical sound I’ve ever heard. I would die a thousand deaths if that is the only way I get to hear that she loves me.

  Liesel’s face is covered in tears, snot, and sweat. Her hair is matted to her head. Her body glistens with saltwater still clinging to her body. Or it might also be tears, snot, and sweat.

  I’m not sure she has fully processed that I’m alive and not dead. I’m not a figment of her imagination; I faked my death.

  I cup her face. “Huntress? Talk to me.”

  “No,
get the hell away from me!”

  She struggles with the ropes, trying to wiggle free. Seeing her naked body shimmy in front of me stirs my cock to life. Damn, do I want to fuck her senseless now that I’ve heard her admit that she loves me. Although I’m pretty sure when she gets free, she really will kill me given how angry she seems to be.

  “I’m alive. It was all fake. I had to get you to admit you love me—”

  “And pretending you were dead was the only idea you could come up with? You’re a monster!”

  I grab her face, and she jerks her head away.

  “Untie me,” she says.

  I inhale her scent. “Not yet.”

  Her eyes shoot back at me with fire. “Untie. Me.”

  “Not until we finish talking. My task was to get you to admit you love me.”

  “I don’t—”

  “You do. You have this entire time, same as me, but you wouldn’t admit it. I did a night of romance and a morning of lovemaking. We’ve already been through hell together, and you still wouldn’t say the words out loud. Why? Why didn’t you want to tell me?”

  “Why didn’t you?” she snaps back.

  Touchè.

  We stare each other down. I need to untie her and let her release her wrath, but I’m not ready just yet.

  “How did you get the supplies? The knife? The fake blood?”

  “That’s what I was doing while you locked yourself in the bedroom. I had my team bring me Rose’s toy knife and blood from her Halloween costume last year.”

  “What did she go as?”

  “A prince who had just slain a dragon. The knife was her sword. Atlas went as the dragon.”

  Her lips lift in a smile at the mention of our kids. When she sees me notice, she immediately glares again.

  “Untie me,” Liesel tries again.

  “I will, but first, say it again.”

  She shakes her head. “You’ve heard those words leave my mouth for the last time.”

  “No, I’ve heard them for the first of a million times. Say it again.”

  “No. I’ll say it in front of the person who will give us the next clue, but that’s it. I’m not letting you hear me say those words ever again after what you put me through.”

  “You can hate me all you want. You can punish me and make me pay for my tactics, but it worked. And you can’t take it back now; I know how you feel. There is nothing to be afraid of anymore.”

  Her eyes drop in guilt, scared of some unknown fear. I consider telling her why I never wanted to admit to loving her, but it’s my burden to bear.

  I lean in close until our lips are just grazing each others. “I love you,” I say against her lips.

  My hands reach up to untie her. I can’t be greedy and expect to hear those words again until we reach Tokyo.

  “I love you,” she says back.

  I grin the widest smile I ever have before.

  “I love you, you fucking bastard,” she says.

  That makes me grin more.

  “Now, untie—”

  I release her arms.

  She gasps.

  Her hands fall to her sides as I kneel down and untie each of her legs. Then I stand in front of her. We are both naked. I’m covered in fake red blood.

  Tentatively, her hands reach out and touch my chest where I fake stabbed myself. Her fingertips roam over my body as if she still needs to confirm I’m really here and not dead. I let her explore my body. She runs her hands over my pecs, my abs, and then she dips lower.

  I hold my hands at my side, letting her do whatever she wants with me. She should be able to do whatever she wants—I’m an asshole.

  Her nails dig into my flesh.

  I hiss but still don’t move. “Whatever it takes, remember? I had to do whatever it took to ensure Declan’s safety.”

  She nods, but she won’t just let this go.

  She grips my cock in her hands.

  I freeze.

  I want to stop her before she does something she regrets, like cutting off my cock or balls for hurting her, but I won’t. I will endure whatever punishment she thinks I deserve.

  She slides her hand roughly up and down my length.

  I suck in a ragged breath. My body shudders in delight as her nails skim over my sensitive flesh, but I doubt what she has planned has anything to do with pleasure. I try to calm myself down, to get my cock to settle, but when she’s touching me, there is nothing I can do that will stop me from getting hard.

  She strokes me again.

  I about come undone.

  She smirks, enjoying the control she has over my body. Then she kneels—fucking kneels like the goddess she is.

  “What are you doing?” I ask, too quickly.

  “You don’t get to ask me that after what you did.”

  She strokes my cock in her hands as she wraps her lips around the tip. Flashes of what she did to that poor guy on the sex-game yacht, where she practically bit off his cock come to mind. And I would deserve it if she did.

  I try not to let myself enjoy it as she pushes her lips down my length. My cock hits the back of her throat, and she extends her tongue to lick my balls with the entirety of my shaft inside her mouth.

  I hold back a groan and hold my breath waiting for her to turn vicious, but she just keeps sucking. Until I can barely stand, until my eyes roll back in my head, until I become dizzy with desire, she sucks. I can’t hold back much longer.

  Just when I’m starting to let my guard down, I feel my feet knocked out from underneath me.

  I fall hard on my back.

  Liesel climbs on top of me.

  “I hate you,” she growls as she straddles me.

  “I know, but I’ll never hate you again,” I say.

  She shakes her head stubbornly, and then she’s pushing herself down on top of me. My cock sinks into her. She doesn’t move initially; she just lets my cock stretch her.

  Her eyes close, and a tear rolls down her cheek.

  “Hey,” I say, brushing her cheek. “I’m sorry. You’re not going to lose me.”

  My words cause more tears, which makes me frown. I try to sit up. I’m not sure fucking is the right thing to do now, but then her hand is at my throat, and she’s pushing me back down onto the floor. Her hips move over me hard. When she finally opens her eyes, there’s a fierceness to them that shines through the tears.

  She bounces on top of me, hard and fast. There isn’t anything gentle about it—no long, loving strokes, caresses, sweet nothings. This isn’t about lovemaking. This is her telling me how much she hates me.

  I test the waters, meeting her thrust as she slams down on me. The look in her eyes turns more feral, so I take that as an affirmation that she wants me to fuck her, just as she’s fucking me.

  She pushes down harder on me, losing complete control in her thrusts. There is no way she’s going to come if she keeps fucking me wildly like that.

  Her grip on my throat loosens in her frustration, so I flip us over until I’m on top and in control.

  I fuck her, slowing our strokes down so I can rub her clit and make her come.

  She growls at my slower, more purposeful strokes. Her nails dig into my ass as she begs me to speed up. She leans forward and sucks my lip into her mouth, biting down hard.

  I groan at the taste of blood in my mouth.

  She pushes me hard in the chest, causing me to lose balance enough for her to roll us once again, so she’s on top. I reach for her face, but she grabs my wrists and pins them overhead as her body fucks me furiously.

  I could easily get out of her grasp, but the look in her eyes tells me if I try it, she will murder me—so I don’t.

  My hips meet hers thrust for thrust.

  She arches her back, but her eyes stay locked on mine.

  “I hate you,” she spits out again.

  “I love you,” I say back.

  Her eyes sparkle at my words like she’s been waiting all this time to hear them, same as me. I’m pretty sure
if I told her, ‘I love you’ enough, she would come from the sound of my voice alone.

  “I love you, Liesel,” I say as she drives her body down on me.

  Her arms move down to my chest to get a better angle as she continues to fuck me, bruising our bodies with each thrust.

  “I love you, huntress.”

  Her mouth falls open, her breathing faster. She’s losing control, but she still spits out, “I hate you, killer.”

  I smile, loving her saying she hates me almost as much as I love hearing that she loves me. I just wish she would say the loving words easily and freely, that she didn’t feel she has to keep them to herself.

  My cock is drenched in her wetness, and I feel myself losing the fight to keep my orgasm back until she orgasms.

  “Come, baby,” I plead.

  “Don’t tell me what to do,” she groans.

  I try to move my hand to her clit to ensure she comes, but she swats my hand away.

  “Liesel, I’m going to come. I need you to come with me.”

  She shakes her head, not stopping her movements. I’m not even sure if my words registered with her.

  “Liesel, I—fuck!”

  My dam bursts, and I come inside her.

  Unexpectedly, she comes along with me.

  I smile, my head falling back in complete exhaustion. There is no way to describe what we just did other than a hate fuck. But the fact that she did fuck me, instead of ignoring me or hurting me, says we can get past this. She won’t hate me forever.

  She falls against my chest, completely spent. Her hand strokes my chest where the fake blood is for a long time as the sun burns our bare skin.

  “I love you,” she whispers.

  I close my eyes feeling those words stronger than ever. She loves me. I love her too. What could tear us apart?

  “I love you, too.”

  26

  Liesel

  I don’t know why I resisted saying ‘I love you’ for so long. Saying it even when I’m pissed at him is fucking incredible.

  We lay in the sun, my head on his chest. As good as it feels, neither of us understands the danger that saying ‘I love you’ has caused; I can only guess.

  Neither of us will take it back now, though.