The Better Man Chapter 13 - Preview #2
Full chapter up on Friday! 🎉
In this mid-chapter excerpt, Raoul gets more than exactly what he bargained for. 😅
Raoul ground his teeth. He’d expected the endless needling — it was not appreciated, no, but it was anticipated — however, making this absurd demand which threatened the very integrity of Raoul’s painstakingly constructed plan? Unbelievable. Intolerable! He shot up from his seat, stalking over to the very edge of the slowly dwindling band of moonlight.
“I won’t budge on this,” came Erik’s voice from behind him. ”You can take it or leave it.”
Raoul looked back over his shoulder, squinting across the distance at that brazen masked miscreant, who couldn’t have appeared any more disinterested in Raoul’s answer.
What game was he playing? Surely he was bluffing.
How could Raoul possibly agree? Obviously, anything Erik insisted upon could not be trusted — which was why it was so incredibly vexing that he did have some valid points. Too many, Raoul had to admit. He closed his eyes and exhaled.
“Fine. But I won’t be leaving her down there unless she finds everything to her satisfaction.”
Erik nodded. “Of course. Not to worry,” he said lightly, with a smile so unassuming it absolutely had to be assumed. “I shall see to it that the lady is completely satisfied.”
Blinded by indignation of the most righteous sort fizzing behind his eyes, Raoul nearly sprinted over to slap that smile right off the bastard’s revolting face. But at the last moment, with a silent internal roar of impotent rage, he caught himself — there was nothing to be gained from dignifying that bit of tasteless insinuation with a response.
Besides, Raoul supposed he could only blame himself — he had set that one right up, hadn’t he?
Chapters 1-12 available on AO3 & FF.net 🥳