Breaking You (Blackthorn Elite 2)

“And you’re going to regret doing this. Send me the address, now. I’ll be there asap, and if you were with another guy… Harper, I will go to prison. Right after I kill him.”

I roll my eyes, “You don’t own me, and we aren’t even together, but if it’s going to stop you from committing murder, I can assure you I wasn’t with a guy. I’m at my parents’ house.”

There’s a brief pause, and I wonder what he’s thinking, “Text me the address, and stay put.” He orders like I’m a dog before he hangs up the phone. For a second, I consider not texting him, turning my phone back off, and staying here, but decide against it.

Minus Warren, I love Blackthorn. The teachers are kind, and the work is easy. Attending such a high-profile college is going to get me the best job once I graduate, so I can’t mess this up. This education is going to last me a lifetime, Warren is only going to last the time it takes me to get this degree.

Gritting my teeth, I type out the address and hit send. It was nice to have a little peace, but I guess it’s time to get back to being terrorized.

An hour later, Warren pulls up to my parents’ tiny house in a blacked-out SUV. I kiss my mother on the cheek, grab my bag and walk outside. No point in elongating the inevitable. If I don’t go out there, then he’ll come in here, and that’s the last thing I want.

I make it out the door and three steps onto the sidewalk before he’s at my side. The first thing I notice is his eyes. They’re so dark they might as well be black. The second thing I notice is that he looks tired, really tired.

Guilt niggles at me, but I push it away. Why should I feel guilty about leaving to visit my parents? Why should I feel guilty when he is crazy, and I’m nothing but a possession to him?

“That was a pretty reckless stunt. I thought you were smarter than that.” His fingers wrap around my wrist, and he pulls me to the SUV, basically dragging me along the way.

“You’re right, it would have been smarter not to tell you where I was.”

“You think so? You think I would’ve stopped looking for you?” He growls into my ear, and I can feel the heat of his breath on my skin. I shiver, my body responding to his closeness.

Why do I want him? Even when he’s mean and cruel—so cruel it hurts—a small part of me still clings to him, craves his presence.

“Never. The answer is never. You’re mine, every fucking inch of you is mine. When you chose to stay instead of walking away, you gave yourself to me.”

The possessiveness in his voice is something I’ve never heard or even felt before. Opening the door for me, he shoves me into the passenger seat, then slams the door shut. Shifting in the seat, I’m stunned into silence because I’m not sure how this will end. Where is this going? I still haven’t figured out why he thinks all these horrible things about me, and I’m not sure how to get it out of him either.

When he gets in and starts driving, the tension in the vehicle mounts. It’s so heavy I can barely breathe. Warren white knuckles the steering wheel, probably envisioning it as my neck.

“I need to ask you something… and you need to tell me the truth. This is really important.” His voice is a little calmer than before, and there is a weird urgent need to his tone as well.

“Okay, what is it?”

“When we were dating… or before, did someone hurt you?” His question catches me completely off guard. I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this.

“What do you mean, hurt me?”

“Like abused you, raped you, or hurt you in any other way?”

“What? No! Why would you ask me that?” I’m so confused by his question. Where is this coming from?

“Are you sure?” He presses.

“Yes, Warren. No one hurt me. Not when we were dating, not before or after. I swear.”

Just when I thought I couldn’t get any more confused, he gets angry again. Hitting the side of the steering wheel like that’s the only way he can channel his uncontainable fury.

“I’m going to have so much fun fucking you, making you scream my name. I’ll make you regret everything. Make you beg for my forgiveness.”

“I didn’t do anything… all I did was go and see my parents. I’ve never hurt you.” Out of the corner of my eye, I see his body vibrating.

Is he going to hurt me? Punish me? Explode into the hulk? I don’t understand why he’s acting this way, why he blows up like this.