“You lied to me. You said you were staying with a friend.” I pin her with an accusing glare.
She rolls her pretty hazel eyes, “I didn’t want you to know where I live. Well, now, you know. Congratulations. Sorry, it’s not up to your standards. There are no butlers, or maids, no chefs, and the bed doesn’t have Egyptian cotton sheets.” No, there definitely isn’t any of that here. This looks like a room that a whore would use to sell herself out of.
“Actually, my standards are pretty low. I’m here with you, aren’t I?”
“Whenever you’re done with your insults, you can go ahead and leave, doors over there in case you can’t pull your head out of your ass and find it.”
Good one. Ignoring what she said because I don’t really care what she has to say, I get straight to the point. The real reason I came here.
Taking a step toward her, I let myself turn into the predator. “Heard you sucked off someone else at the party. James, I believe. That’s going to stop. If you have to stay at this school, the only cock you’re going to suck, ride, or choke on will be mine.”
“Of course, someone saw what happened.” She shakes her head, her eyes colliding with mine. Fire sparks between us, zinging through the air. “I did not and will not fuck anyone else, and above all you!” Her words slice through me like a dull knife, and before I know what I’m doing, I close the distance between us in one large stride. I’m like a caged monster that’s been freed. My hand flies up, and my fingers wrap around her delicate throat. Fragile, so fragile, like glass. Pushing her back until she falls onto the bed, I climb on top of her.
“You spread your legs for who knows who, but not for me?” With my free hand, I start to undo her blouse. The heat of her skin beckons me forward. She’s a beacon of light in my dark mind, and I want to dull out her light. Trying with little effect, she slaps me away, but that just makes me tighten my grip on her throat.
Careful… I tell myself, my eyes piercing hers. The blackness bleeds out of me, filling the room to the point of suffocation. I can’t breathe. All I can do is feel. Feel the pain, the sadness, the anger. That’s what seeing her does to me. It brings out the worst in me.
“Don’t,” she pleads, and I try to ignore the panic in her voice, but it calls to me. I want to hear her cries, of want, of fear.
An inch from her face, I snarl, “Don’t what? Hurt you? Break your heart like you broke mine?” Her eyes widen at my words, confusion reflecting in them like she doesn’t understand what I’m saying, or why I’m acting like this. Surely, she doesn’t think that I forgot her secret? She opens her mouth to say something, but I don’t let her. I can’t listen to another lie coming out of her mouth.
Easing back, I let my eyes roam down over her perfect body. She still looks so innocent; she still looks like my Harper, and that only makes all of this so much worse.
All over again, she’s here in front of me but somehow lost forever. I’m so fucking furious, I feel like I’m going to burst if I don’t let this out. Anger overwhelms me, overriding all reasoning, and I let go of her throat, knowing that I’ll squeeze too hard and cut off her air supply if I don’t. I want to hurt her, not kill her.
Balling my hand into a fist, I rear back and punch the mattress beside her head. I don’t know what’s happening to me. The rage burns, it owns me. Harper covers her face, protecting it like I’m going to hit her, and that only infuriates me more.
Getting off of her, I turn and punch the closest wall. Pain shoots through my hand and up my arm as it makes contact with the old plaster wall. I welcome the pain. I hold on to that physical pain because it hurts less than the kind of pain she causes me. Taking a deep breath, I compose myself enough to speak.
“You need to shut up, or this is going to end badly for both of us. Your voice makes me lose my fucking mind, and I want to hurt you, not kill you, so please shut up.”
Her body trembles on the bed, and I take another calming breath. One. Two. Three. I count back to myself because counting and breathing are the only two things saving us right now.
“I heard you’ve been dancing at the local strip club, so why don’t you give me a little show to calm me down?”