He scoffed before he took a drink. “You grow up in a six-hundred-square-foot box and have three older nosy-ass sisters in your business all the time, claiming it’s for your own good, then you’ll see what a big deal privacy is. I cannot stress enough how much I hate the thought of my belongings being touched without my consent. By anyone but me.”
Obviously they’d searched his things a lot and left him very bitter from it. “I said I’m sorry and I really am—I promise I won’t do it again now that I know how much it bothers you. Now who is she? I figured out your sisters and your mother. But she doesn’t seem to fit.” The unknown woman was much taller than his sisters and even more beautiful than Shahara. He’d only had one photo of her standing near a rundown cargo ship Desideria had assumed was his. In spite of her cold eyes, the woman had looked angelic and so sweet that it’d sent a wave of unfounded jealousy through her.
Caillen didn’t respond for a few minutes as he glared at the floor as if it, too, had offended him somehow. It was obvious he still had very strong and very ill feelings toward the woman—at least she hoped it was toward the woman and not her for her snooping. “Her name’s Teratin.”
He used the present tense which meant the woman was still alive—another thing that really annoyed her when it shouldn’t. You can’t kill her, Desi.
The peculiar thing was that she did want to hunt her down and at least punch her.
But she had no intention of letting Caillen know that. “That’s a pretty name.”
“Yeah well, lots of poisonous things have pretty names.” There was no missing the venom that shot daggers toward her as he met her gaze. He hated that woman with a passion that was staggering.
That degree of animosity surprised her and in a part of her that would make her mother proud she was glad he hated her. “If you don’t like her why do you keep a picture of her in your frame?”
The heat in his gaze was scorching. “To remind me not to trust anyone. Ever. That no matter what comes out of someone’s mouth—no matter how much they say they’ll never betray you—one tiny, insignificant thing can turn them against you forever.”
Her heart clenched at the pain she heard beneath his angry tirade. Given the decentt’s a prorable man he’d shown himself to be, she couldn’t imagine someone hurting him.
Had he done something to deserve it?
“What’d she do to you?”
Caillen glanced away as old memories surged. Teratin had seemed like such a decent person when he’d met her. Unassuming, even sweet. Bashful just enough to be endearing, but not off-putting. Little had he known at the time that all of that was well-practiced affectation. Hell, she’d even been easy to talk to most days.
A snake hidden underneath a pretty cover. Damn him for being stupid enough to be deceived.
He felt the tic in his jaw as he took a drink of water and tried to squelch the need he still had to hunt the bitch down and kill her. “We were together casually for about three years.”
She arched her right eyebrow northward in an expression that would have amused him if they weren’t discussing the Great Evil. “Define casually.”
Yeah, that was the crux of it. One word, many definitions. Too bad his perception of their relationship had been completely different than her psycho ass.
“We had sex a couple of times, dinner a few more and hung out from time to time whenever she was in town. I never sought her out. Not once. But she’d come see me for no particular reason. Said she just liked hanging out with me, and I felt sorry for her that she didn’t have anyone else to be with—in retrospect I should have realized anyone who travels from one planet to another just to spend an afternoon with you is krikkin insane. But I like to give lunatics the benefit of the doubt and if I have one flaw in life it’s that I too often take people at face value even when I should know better. I swear, one day I’m going to learn to be jaded with the loons and underdogs too.” Something easier said than done. He knew to be jaded around takers and grifters. But he was a sucker for anyone with a sad story. Loners who had no one. People who weren’t liked by others. Any underdog could take him.
Most were decent. But a handful…
They were nuts to a level that defied human understanding.
He tightened his grip on the bottle as he took another drink and rode hard herd on his temper. Gods help Teratin if he ever came across her again. Most likely, he’d kill her.
And he’d relish her death rattle.