As his fingers stroked me roughly, his lips sought mine. We were hungry for each other and I knew that every moment we’d shared, no matter how brief, had been leading to this. I wasn’t sure if this would be a one-time thing or what. Right now, as pleasure vibrated through my body and I shook with want, I didn’t care. All I wanted was for him to make me feel good.
The games we’d been playing for weeks now had been building a frustration inside both of us—a frustration that only we could relieve by giving into the unavoidable.
My hands slid from his arms to clutch at the bed sheets. My hips grinded against his fingers, aching for more and the release that was so close.
I tore my mouth away from his and my teeth dug into his shoulder as the most powerful orgasm I’d ever had ripped through my body—and he wasn’t even inside me yet. Oh God. Could it get better?
Panting, I collapsed beneath him, my limbs lying languid at my sides. He pressed his forehead against the curve where my neck met my shoulders. We both breathed heavily and were unable to move.
Finally, he lifted his head. I thought for sure he was ready to continue to the grand finale, but that wasn’t the case.
His face was full of hatred—whether aimed at himself, or me, I wasn’t sure.
“Get out,” he hissed venomously, pushing himself off the bed and away from me.
I couldn’t move.
I was shell-shocked.
My mouth opened and closed.
Tears of anger pricked my eyes as I slowly sat up, snapping the button on my jeans back in place. I hated him in that instant, because he’d made me feel such insane pleasure and then yanked it away so quickly. He was impossible. I couldn’t figure him out at all. What kept holding him back? I wasn’t asking for a relationship and flowers and sweet words.
God, why did I always have to do this? Get involved in broken things that weren’t mine to fix?
I was beginning to see that there was no fixing Caelan. He had been far too damaged and his scars ran too deep. Mine did too. Only I didn’t show mine like he did. I didn’t lash out. Or drink. Or do drugs.
But I hurt too.
Couldn’t he see that I was as broken as he was and we needed each other? Why was he able to so easily ignore the powerful force twining us together?
“Get out!” He yelled, his hand whipping into the lamp on his bedside table.
My eyes closed and I flinched as the plug was wrenched the outlet and the lamp went flying across the room, smashing on the floor with a crash.
“Get the fuck out, Sutton!”
My eyes flew open as he grasped my arms, his fingers digging in to the point that I felt bruises forming. He shook me forcefully, so that my teeth clanked together.
He kept shaking me and I felt like a rag doll clasped between his hands.
“You’re hurting me!” I screamed. “Let me go!” I wiggled. “Caelan! Stop!”
As quickly as he had grabbed me, his hands were gone.
His mouth parted with shock. His fingers thrust through his hair as he stared at me.
“I-I-” Words failed him.
His Adam’s apple bobbed with a hard swallow as he backed away from me. “No, I couldn’t,” he whispered to himself and I had no clue what he meant. His eyes were haunted and he looked scared. I didn’t understand what he had to be afraid of. Shouldn’t I have been the one running and screaming? He’d assaulted me.
He kept walking away from me until his feet touched the tiled floor of the bathroom. He slammed the door shut and I heard a crash. I could only assume he’d broken the mirror.
I stood slowly, gathering my cat, my dignity, and my pride.
I would not let Caelan Gregory break me down. I was a fighter and I stood strong. Nothing scared me. Not screams. Not pain. And certainly not his temper. I stopped being scared a long time ago.
CHAPTER 10