I knew I needed to stay calm... but he was being so totally bullshit! He was trying to talk himself into leaving me, and for what? Because he saved my life? An insane rage fluttered in my lungs, trying to get out.
"Promise me," I whispered.
"What?"
"You know what." The juice was starting to come loose and I could feel the anger pulsing up my throat. He was being such a fuck about this, always dwelling on the negative.
He heard the change in my tone. His eyes tightened like vise-grips. "I don't seem to be strong enough to stay away from you, so I suppose that you'll get your way... whether it kills you or not," he added roughly.
"Good! I hope it DOES!" I screamed. He hadn't promised, though—a fact that I had not missed. The panic was only barely contained; I had no strength left to control the anger. "You told me how you stopped...now I want to know why," I demanded.
"Why?" he repeated warily.
"Why you did it. Why didn't you just let the venom spread? By now I would be just like you, you jerk. We could be in love forever."
Fredward's eyes seemed to turn flat black, and I remembered that this was something he'd never intended me to know. Alice must have been preoccupied by the things she'd learned about herself... or she'd been very careful with her thoughts around him—clearly, he had no idea that she'd filled me in on the most basic mechanics of vampire conversions. He was surprised, and infuriated. His nostrils flared, his teeth ground together, and his mouth looked as if it was a pair of gridlocked tectonic plates that were close to slipping loose at any moment.
But it didn't seem like he was going to answer anytime soon, that much was clear.
"I'll be the first to admit that I have no experience with relationships," I said. "But it just seems logical... a man and a woman have to be somewhat equal... at least when it comes to

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Chapter 24

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