Playing Dirty(126)

“Would you like to hear me rap?”

“Oh dear god, no.”

I crossed the room towards her but she moved away, putting the bed between us. A few days ago that bed would have been an irresistible temptation; now it just seemed like it was taunting me.

“Keira, what happened?” I asked. “I thought we had something.”

“We did,” she replied. “We had sex.”

“We had more than that. I know we did.” I was sure of it and, despite Keira’s actions, I was sure that it was mutual.

Keira met my gaze and I could see tears starting to swell in the corners of her eyes. “I thought that too. But then I heard you and your mother having a little chat about your upcoming wedding.”

She practically spat out the last word, and the bottom seemed to fall out of my stomach as I heard her.

Fuck.

She’d overheard us yesterday, and now she really had the wrong idea.

Shit, shit, shit, I should’ve told her about my mother’s ludicrous plan, and I shouldn’t have bothered playing along with my mother to avoid a big dramatic argument yesterday. I should’ve just acted like a man and told her the truth—that it bloody well wasn’t happening, and that was that. I’d been trying to avoid conflict by completely avoiding the issue and waiting for it to blow over like it usually did, but all I’d done was create more conflict.

“Keira, let me expl—”

“A Swedish princess?” Keira interrupted, trying and failing to sound blasé. “And a pretty one too. I Googled her. She sounds ideal for you. I hope the two of you will be very happy together.”

“Look, it was my mother’s idea.” I knew how pathetic it sounded. “She told me about it a while ago. Of course I was never going to go through with it. I was just humoring her during that chat yesterday. No one can tell me who the hell to marry, so she needs to mind her own damn business.”

“That may be true, but you didn’t even respect me enough to tell me about it. You’ve had ages to tell me. I heard her say you’ve known for months. Seems kinda suspicious that you haven’t brought it up at all, right?”

I sighed, holding my palms up in defeat as she glared daggers at me. “Yes, but I thought it didn’t matter. It doesn’t. She doesn’t. This is what happens in royal families: these things get set up and they fall through. My mother was worrying because I hadn’t settled down yet, so she went and made arrangements behind my back to try and make me worry about settling down, that’s all. She’s done it three other times before now, and it’s never worked out because I didn’t want it and neither did the other girl. I assumed that’s what would happen with Alexandra,” I said before pausing for a deep breath. “But now none of that matters anyway, because I’ve found someone I really want to be with. And it’s not Alexandra, believe me. It’s you. You’re the only person who matters in my life, and you know that.”

Keira rounded on me. “I know nothing of the kind! All I know is what I heard, and when you’re sitting around basically making plans with your mother to marry someone else behind the back of the woman you supposedly care about, then—news flash—you don’t really care!”

I sagged. It was hard to argue against someone who was right, and everything Keira said was true—except that I did care. I cared with all my heart. Unfortunately, I’d done a really stupid thing and made her not trust me. This whole situation was thirty shades of fucked up, and I could see exactly why she was so mad at me.

It was all my fault.

“You’re just upset now because you can’t get what you want,” Keira snapped, little veins pulsing at her temples. “Someone took away your plaything. Your little whore, as your brother said.”

“No!”

“Yes! That’s all I ever was to you!” Tears now streamed down Keira’s face as emotion poured out of her. “You used me! You used me and you left me with…” She seemed to have more to say, but for some reason she bit it back. “I want nothing to do with you.”

With that whispered parting shot, Keira ran out the door, leaving me devastated in her wake, but also confused. However much our time together had been largely focused on sex, we’d also talked a lot, and I’d gotten to know Keira very well. We’d chatted about nearly every subject under the sun, and I found reading her as easy and natural as breathing. I didn’t doubt that she meant every word she’d just yelled at me, but I was also sure that there was something more, something that she was keeping back, which held the real reason for her over-the-top reaction.