The Bad Boys of Summer by Sienna Valentine

again. And it’s all my fucking fault.
    “What?” Iris turned to look at me, swallowing thickly. “Slade, I thought—”
    “It was fun, Iris,” I said, trying my best to sound as aloof as possible. I knew how to break a woman’s heart, even better than I had seven years ago. If I didn’t do it now, then there’d only be more heartache later. “But I think it’s time I left.”
    “You can’t just leave!” she said, confusion clouding her cerulean eyes. “I don’t understand. We just—”
    “We fucked, Iris,” I said, giving a practiced chuckle. “There’s nothing really to talk about. We had a good time, and now it’s time to part ways. I can get myself a room somewhere.”
    I saw the hurt on her face wash over her like an ocean wave. Her eyes filled with tears and her bottom lip began to tremble. I knew that it had to happen, to save her from what I’d do to her if this kept up. I needed to protect her—from me .
    “This isn’t fair,” she protested as I stood up and started to make for the living room to collect my clothes. Of course it wasn’t fair, but I had to put her at a distance if I ever wanted to be able to live with myself again. If she got attached to me one more time, I didn’t think either of us could take it. “How are you just going to do this to me and then leave?”
    “I’ve done it before,” I reminded her with a cold shrug as I picked up my pants. “What made you think that this was anything more than an excuse to get laid, Iris? I mean, did you really expect this to become something?”
    I turned around, intent on driving the argument home with another cutting remark, but instead I felt the hard sting of Iris’s hand on my cheek. I was stunned, not just from the force of her blow, but from the utter shock that she would actually hit me—not that I didn’t deserve it.
    “You’re never going to change, are you?” she asked, though I knew better than to answer. She was shaking, staring at me with such betrayal and hate—the kind I hadn’t seen since that day at the pool house. I hated to see her like this, hated what I’d done to her with only a day’s worth of time. I felt like a monster, some horrible animal who only had the ability to wreck everything around it.
    “I trusted you,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper, her face burning red as her anger began to boil inside of her. “I trusted you to help me get our brother home .”
    “Well, that was poor judgment on your part,” I said, gently touching the cheek she’d assaulted. “You really ought to have known better, Iris. I’m not the guy who sticks around.”
    “No,” she said, glaring up at me, “you’re just the piece of shit who fucks his own stepsister and runs crying like a child when his daddy gets mad. Go. I’m not going to let you hurt me the way you did before. I don’t want to see you in my apartment again.”
    “Works for me,” I said, shrugging as I put on my jeans and my shirt and grabbed the keys to my rental. “There aren’t any shortage of rooms at the motel.”
    “Good. Hopefully that’s the only place that’s stupid enough to let you sleep in their beds,” she said, throwing my belt at me as I left through her front door. I heard it slam just behind me before I could even turn around. I heaved a sigh before slowly walking down to my car.
    This is for the best , I told myself. She’s better off getting hurt a little now rather than having her heart really broken later .
    But the more I told myself that it was best to just cut and run, the less I wanted it to be true. Time and experience had shown me otherwise—all I was good for was hurting others. Maybe it was time I just cut all of my losses and headed home. I’d already ruined whatever chance I had of doing what I came there for; Kellan was adamant about hating me, hating our family. I’d never reach him. I’d failed, just like I failed Iris when I’d abandoned her, when I’d betrayed her trust.
    It was