Breaking You (Blackthorn Elite 2)

1

Warren

Three years… three fucking years, I have been trying to get her out of my head. Fucking my way through the female population, trying to forget she ever existed. Three years, since I laid eyes on her beautiful face and perfect little body. Three years since I smelt the flowery scent of her hair or tasted the sweetness that always seemed to linger on her lips.

Three years, and there she stands… right in front of me, in the middle of the cafeteria, on my fucking campus. I didn’t think it was possible, but she looks even more beautiful than the last time I saw her. Even from a distance, I can see she’s grown into her body, shapely chest, curves, and legs I could’ve pictured wrapped around my waist.

Fuck that. The thought leaves my mind throbbing. That was before. Now I wouldn’t touch her if she was the last fucking girl on the planet.

She turns to me then, and our eyes lock. Like two magnets drawn to each other in a sea of polar opposites. I hate that I’m drawn to her. Her hazel eyes widen, and I know the exact second recognition sets in. The next second, she looks away, breaking the connection.

In an instant, I become someone else. Just like that, my switch flips. I turn into a darker version of myself, a version that feeds on the pain she caused me. I loved her, trusted her, and she betrayed all of that. She betrayed me.

I’ll never forget the way she looked at me that day, the image is ingrained into my mind. She looked so sad and confused as her family drove off my parents’ estate. I wanted to hurt her, crush her like a fly, but I refrained. Being content with sending her away and never seeing her again. My silence over her betrayal was enough for me.

She knew what she had done, there was no coming back from that kind of lie. I tried to reason with myself, tried to say there was no way it was true, but the proof was there. In black and white.

“Who is she?” Parker asks, pulling me out of the haze I was in.

“She’s no one,” I snap, showing more of my true colors than I intended.

“Dude, she’s obviously someone. I’ve never seen your face change so quickly. It was almost like you were seeing a ghost.”

I force a smile, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it looks more like a snarl. “That’s because I was. She’s no one, nothing. Forget you saw her.” I don’t want Parker to get involved in this. Not wanting to talk about it with my best friend any longer, I jump up from my seat and head toward Harper.

Everything around me fades away, the clanking of lunch dishes, the gossiping girls I pass on my way over to her. All I can see is her. I zero in on Harper, like she is the only person in this large room.

Just as I get within earshot, she turns again, almost as if she’s sensed me coming. Her entire body goes rigid, and she takes a tiny step backward.

I almost smile. Be afraid. Be very afraid. My muscles burn with energy, and my fingers itch to touch her. Will I hurt her?

“What the hell are you doing here?” I growl.

“I-I go to s-school here,” she stutters, holding onto her backpack strap like her life depends on it.

“No, you’re not,” I order. Circling her arm with my fingers, I pull her out of the cafeteria and through the doors that lead out to the garden, keeping my hold tight.

“Let me go,” she whisper-yells, her eyes darting around the room like someone might see and help her. Doesn’t she know, no one will save her? That no one in this school can touch me or any of the other guys in our little group? Probably not, but she will, soon enough. Ignoring her struggles, I push forward, tugging her through the black double doors and outside. Eyes burn over my skin as we walk out, but it doesn’t bother me. I don’t give a flying fuck if the whole school knows what’s going on.

By the time I’m done with her, her reputation, and whatever rumor is spread after this will be the least of her worries.

“Warren, stop, you’re hurting me.” So sweet, so soft, and sing-song like. That voice, it used to be able to get me to do anything, but now, I just want to wrap my hands around her throat and get her to stop talking. Get the memories of us out of my mind.

Tugging her through the grass, I stop once we reach one of the sitting areas next to the vine-covered brick wall. She trips over her feet, nearly falling to the ground before catching herself. She looks up at me, her eyes wide, her chest rising and falling rapidly, I can see her pulse throbbing in her throat.