Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
T hey were still going over the pros and cons about the wisest course of action when Priss’ phone rang again.
“You forget something?” Priss answered on speakerphone.
“Get out! Moon is on his way there. He knows!” Lana screamed through the speaker.
They both jumped out of their chairs, and Priss didn’t waste time ending the call.
“I’ll get my purse.” Larissa ran toward the door as Priss grabbed hers.
“I’ll lock the front door. We can sneak out the back.”
Larissa looked at Priss and saw the frightened expression on her face then realized she was shaking.
“It’s going to be okay.” Larissa didn’t know who she was trying to reassure—Priss or herself. “You go ahead. I’ll stay and talk to him—”
Priss pushed her through the door. “You are not going to stay here to deal with that maniac.”
As they were rushing through Priss’ doorway, Larissa knew Priss wouldn’t leave her to deal with Moon alone.
“I’ll get my purse.”
She had just made it to her door when the main office door opened, and Moon walked through. Terrified, they both froze in place.
“Can I help you?” Priss asked unsteadily, trying to play it off.
Moon’s eyes narrowed on Priss.
Feeling as if her knees were going to give out from under her, Larissa watched as Moon strode toward Priss. Then her breath stopped in her chest when Moon’s hand came out and he bent down to kiss Priss, who didn’t fight him, standing still as Moon kissed her. The kiss ended almost as soon as it had started. Then Moon lifted his head to stare down at her. “You’re not the one I fucked.”
Shifting, he turned to face her, his infuriated expression changing to fury. “Oh… hell no.”
Larissa barely managed to swallow the fear down that had her threatening to break into tears as he started advancing on her.
“Let me explain …” she began.
Moon covered her mouth with his, sweeping his tongue inside, replaying the night she had gone inside his room. Stiffly, she kept her arms down, trying not to push him away, sensing any movement would send a tidal wave of fury crashing over her head.
“Leave her alone!” Priss’ yell had Moon lifting his mouth.
Realizing he had backed her against the outer wall of her office, she tried to slide to the side to escape and go inside to give herself more breathing room.
Moon’s fist hit the wall next to her head, preventing her escape, and his body effectively blocked her from sliding the other way, leaving her no choice but to stare up at him warily.
“I swear I didn’t mean for anything to happen,” she tried to explain again.
Moon turned his head to glare at Priss. “Leave.”
Priss’ shoulder reared back. “I’m not leaving you with my sister!”
“It’s okay, Priss.” Larissa nodded toward her office. “We can talk in there.”
Relieved when Moon stepped back enough for her to enter her office, she gave Priss a reassuring glance, who wiggled the phone she was holding. Larissa felt somewhat reassured as she closed the door between them.
Her heart was fluttering so wildly as she walked to her desk that she was afraid she would pass out. Thank God, she managed to sink down in her chair before she did.
Lana’s description of Moon looking as if he had been put through a meat grinder was being kind. His eyes were almost swollen shut and were beginning to turn an ugly purple shade. His nose was swollen, and his lips were split where you could tell he had taken hits. He wore his arm in a sling, walked with a limp, and favored his right side with the way he was lowering himself into the chair in front of her desk. Knuckles on both of his hands had been bandaged and wrapped. From all the amount of injuries on him, she was surprised he wasn’t wearing a neck brace.
Once he was settled, Moon’s eyes traveled over her, making her feel as if he were stripping her blouse off her.
“I …”
“So, do you normally sneak into men’s bedrooms who don’t know you, or were you just looking for a thrill by fucking a biker?”
Larissa stared, aghast at the conclusion he had drawn.
“No! I’ve never done anything like that before in my life,” she replied adamantly. “I was only there because my sisters wanted to go. I tried to talk them into going home.” There was no way she was going to tell him that Lana had been the one who wanted to get up close and personal with him.
“For someone who didn’t want to be there, you sure made yourself at home.”
Larissa winced at the snide way he was talking to her. “I didn’t know it was you who … I …”
“You fucked?” he finished for her.
She felt red flood her cheeks. “Winter took me upstairs to use the restroom, and I was coming back down when I saw a couple having sex in a bedroom. I was embarrassed and didn’t know what to do—”
“Walk on by and mind your own business would have been my suggestion,” he offered snidely.
“I was going to. Then I heard a door opening and ran into your room to hide. I didn’t want the couple or the person coming up to see me outside the door,” she explained. “The room was dark. I didn’t even know you were inside until you spoke.”
“You could have easily just left.”
Larissa tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “I could have,” she agreed. “In both instances, I was so focused on not making a fool of myself I made bad decisions.”
“That’s a fucking understatement.” Sarcasm dripped off his tongue. “You misrepresented yourself by acting like two of my friends.”
“I did,” she acknowledged, embarrassed. “There’s no excuse I can make. I still can’t understand why I did it.” Giving him a perplexed expression, she sought to make sense out of it. “I can’t explain something I don’t understand myself.” She laid herself bare, attempting to make amends.
“If you wanted to be fucked so badly, all you had to do was ask. Let’s put that shit aside for now … what really pisses me off is you not owning up to what you did. Hell, I would have given you a whirl if you had asked.”
Her teeth snapped together at the suggestive way he was looking at her. “I would have thrown myself over the staircase if I’d known it was you.” Insulting him, she stared back.
“I just had the fucking hell beat out me trying to find out who was in my room that night, so excuse me if I’m not coming across as a gentleman. But what the fuck ? We saw each other in town a couple of times after that—”
“Three.”
“Three times after that night.” His glower made her wish she had remained silent. “And it didn’t dawn on you once to at least give me a hint that it was you?”
“It did,” she admitted. “I was just too embarrassed to say anything.”
“You should be.” Moon used his good hand to brace himself as he rose up from the chair.
Larissa felt the burning sting of tears at the back of her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
Contempt filled his expression. “That’s the same fucking thing Winter said to me. Deceptive people are always sorry when they’re caught. All you had to do was be upfront and honest.” Moon gave her an insulting look. “I could have rocked your world.”
Each word felt like a knife shredding her pride into tattered strips. She had to tell him.
“There’s something you should know …” Her heart beat in her throat.
“I only want one word coming out of your mouth—goodbye.”
Huskily, she gave him what he wanted. “Goodbye.”
With that one word, Moon walked out the door and out of her life.
Bursting into tears, Larissa laid her head on the desk.
“Are you okay?” Priss comfortingly rubbed her back.
She didn’t raise her head. “He hates me,” she sobbed.
“Does it matter if he does?”
“I didn’t want him to hate me.”
“What are you going to do?”
Larissa raised her head to brush the tears away.
“Give him what he wants.”