Veils of Rivalry Chapter 28

Blaise's POV

Allie is crying herself to sleep in the other bedroom. Cole went outside to clear his head after he informed me of my girlfriend’s sexual advances. I’m not even surprised. I’ve seen how she looks at him when she thinks I’m not aware, but she fails to realize that I miss nothing. Maybe that’s why I keep her around. At least I know where she is when she’s riding my dick.

“Allie is upset, Blaise.” Mia reaches for my hand. “I can’t let her sleep alone tonight.”

I look at our interlaced fingers, stroking my thumb over her pale wrist. It’s such a gentle move, sweet almost.

How fucking ironic.

I snatch her wrist, making her suck in a surprised breath. The move is sudden and unexpected. That’s the thing about Cole. He brings out the darkness in me. Now, that poison is bleeding all over the girl I’ve pretended to care about for far too fucking long. I won’t hesitate to snap her neck if she touches him again. I’m nothing but a cold-hearted, unfeeling, and uncaring monster. The truth is there in her eyes. I scare her.

“Blaise?” she asks, nervous.

As I stroke a strand of hair behind her ear, she holds her breath. Something about the flicker of doubt in her eyes soothes my inner turmoil. Even so, I cup her chin and claim her mouth. Our lips crash, and I frown, kissing her harder.

Why the hell is it that I feel nothing when I touch anyone but Cole? My girlfriend could be an object. I taste the coppery blood on her tongue, and my heart remains a dull, steady beat. It doesn’t matter how hard I kiss her or claw at her clothes, skin, or hair. I don’t feel a thing. It never bothered me before to use people for my gain, like pieces in a chess game, but now it seems like I have a queen on my board—the most valuable player—and I can’t fucking get to it. Cole smirks at me from behind a wall of pawns, protected by his rooks and bishops. My king can’t defeat his army, and I’m yet to decide if he’s a coward or if he’s smart for building his walls this high.

“Blaise,” she breathes when I spin her around. “Allie is upset in the other room⁠—”

“Shut up!” I yank down her pants, palming her bare ass while keeping her cheek pressed to the wall with my fingers around her neck. I smack her pale skin, and she yelps, but I still feel nothing.

Not a fucking thing.

Numb.

Empty.

I attack her neck with biting kisses. Moaning, she juts her ass against me. The bitter taste of her flowery perfume assaults my taste buds. I rip my belt open, determined to feel…something.

“What’s gotten into you?” she asks as I free my dick.

I clamp my hand over her mouth to shut her up, and she whimpers, aroused and scared.

I’ve always played the perfect boyfriend.

Always been what I thought she wanted. I’ve tried to fit in.

“If she comes looking for my cock once more, I’ll give it to her.”

Cole’s words taunt me, slithering beneath my veins like prickly thorns. Fuck him and his threats. He won’t be touching anyone without my permission.

Mia’s eyes roll back into her head when I ram my dick into her tight cunt.

I still feel nothing.

She squeals, and I pause when the door creaks. He’s here, watching me fuck my girlfriend. Cole sets me on fire as he drops a metaphorical matchstick to the gasoline trail on the ground.

I feel again.

My heart thuds to life, beating so damn hard that my chest aches. Mia’s walls ripple around me as I sneak my hand beneath her wooly sweater to palm her tits. She doesn’t arouse me, but the thought of riling up the man behind us sure as hell does.

It’s easy to ignore her sickly perfume and squealing whimpers when every snap of my hips knocks another pawn off his board.

I’m hunting his fucking queen.

“Moan for me, Mia,” I growl in her ear, pinching her nipple. “Let my brother hear how good my dick feels. How you love it tearing through your cunt.”

She stiffens, but soon melts into my touch, and I slip my hand from her top to play with her clit. I’ve barely grazed her slick pussy lips, when I’m wrenched away and punched in the face. Collapsing to the floor, I laugh like a fucking maniac. “You’re so predictable.”

Cole glares at me and my still hard, slick dick. I push up onto my elbows and smirk at him while Mia hurries to pull her pants back up. She flees the room, mumbling apologies.

“Why so angry?” I taunt.

My dick pulses against my T-shirt. There’s a wet patch on the navy fabric. Cole grinds his teeth as he stares at it. He pulls on his short hair before kicking me hard enough to make me double over and choke out a strangled laugh.

“Fuck!” I cough, cradling my stomach. “That hurt.”

I’m finally alive again. Alive in ways I’ve never been. So what if I have to hurt him to taste freedom from the suffocating darkness? It’s worth it.

He is worth it.

“You can’t keep your fucking hands to yourself, huh?”

“What’s the problem? Don’t you like it when I fuck my own girlfriend? Maybe I should fuck yours instead. Oh…that’s right, you broke up with her.”

Cole grabs my hair and knees me in the head.

I laugh even harder. My nose is busted. I swipe my hand through the pouring blood before collapsing onto my back, tasting iron at the back of my mouth. “Feel better yet?”

Walking past me, he plops onto the bed, shoulders slumped. He puts his elbows on his thighs and drags his fingers through his hair.

I frown as I sit up and wipe more blood from beneath my nose. It’s everywhere, coating my arm and soaking the front of my T-shirt.

“Why are you trying to piss me off?” he asks, tugging on the strands.

I glance at him. “What makes you say that?”

“Why the fuck are you doing this?” As he lowers his hands, he levels me with a look that cracks my heart wide open. “Why are you putting on a show?” He motions to where I fucked Mia not five minutes ago, and I look over as though I’ll see what he saw.

“You think me fucking my girlfriend was a show?”

“Wasn’t it?” His voice crackles. “Everything you do is a show. The girlfriend. Your grades. Your friends. Football.” He glances away, fisting his hand, and then he looks back at me. “What’s real, Blaise?”

My heart clenches tight, and I look past him at the snowflakes outside. “I don’t know.” An inch of snow lines the bottom of the window, but it’s warm in here. Warm and safe in a way I only ever feel when Cole is around. I can’t place the ache in my chest.

“I broke up with her because I can’t pretend with her anymore. My feelings are just…nonexistent.”

When I look back at him, the ache in my chest burns brighter. I want to crawl closer, but I stay rooted to the floor. My dick is still out, flaccid, but Cole never looks down. His eyes search my face, offering me a rare glimpse behind the anger that’s always close to the surface. Beneath it hides a depth I doubt many have witnessed before. It’s both intriguing and scary as fuck. I realize, as he breaks eye contact to look out the window, that I want him to trust me.

“I don’t do feelings either,” I admit, trying to explain something I struggle to comprehend myself.