“Her last message…she left a super long voicemail. I wasn’t going to listen to it, but…” I lose it all over again and start to cry. “It was her and Jim. They were arguing. She was in his car, and he was going on about some crazy shit. He wouldn’t stop. She kept yelling at him to slow down, then—” I stall, the horrific sounds replaying in my mind. Dad shakes me again. “Her screams…I think they…I think they got into an accident. The voicemail hit the max time limit, and I don’t know! I tried calling her back, but nothing.” I can’t continue. I fall apart in my dad’s arms and sob.
His body starts to shake, and he pulls me away from him. “Gabe, take Hazel. Get her the fuck out of here. Take her home.” Gabriel stands and wraps me into his arms. My dad gives me a quick kiss and tells me it will all be okay before he runs out of the club.
I turn into Gabriel’s shoulder and sob. A ripple of fear quakes through me.
“Your father will help her. Don’t worry. He’ll take care of it.” His words turn my blood hot with anger. I push out of his arms and slap him hard across the face. A few gasps sound around us, and he grips my arm, dragging me away. I fight his hold the whole way to the elevator until he tosses me inside.
“Calm down.”
My chest is heaving, and I can’t catch my breath, but I’m too out of control to care. “Fuck you! How dare you! You knew, and you didn’t tell me!”
The doors close, and I go at him, my arms thrashing out, only for him to restrain me. “You bastard! How could you!” I scream and kick, trying to fight him off me, but it’s no use. He’s a giant and I’m no match for his strength. He takes me by the nape and drags me out of the elevator. Fighting in his grip the whole way down the hall, he pushes open a door and throws me into a room.
“Calm the fuck down, Hazel.”
My hair whips in my face as I spin around. “No, fuck you! You knew. How could you!” My chest rises and falls in short, shallow pants.
He eats up the space between us, his grip back and strong around my neck. “How could I have what? Told you your father was doing the exact thing I was—falling in love with someone untouchable to him? That just like me, he found solace and comfort in someone he shouldn’t have? Do you think we planned this? Do you think they did? Life is fucking cruel, pet. And in this sick world, people fall for the ones they aren’t allowed to. Your father is just as much of a victim to your roommate as I am to you.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I snap. I’m so sick of his read-between-the-lines bullshit.
“It means I want something I can’t have.”
My throat tightens with emotion. “But you can have me.”
“Can I, though? For how long? Until we get caught, and I lose everything? Until you destroy your relationship with your father? I’m not your hero. I’m not your destiny. I’m the villain. You’re just too naive to see that.”
The fight in me dies. I exhale a quivering breath, holding back tears. “But I want you to be. What’s so wrong with that?”
He stares at me as if he genuinely has no answer for me. His chest expands, and I prepare for another blow of devastation. “And how do I tell your father I want you too?”
The weight of his words is too much. I crumble to the ground, my heavy tears blinding me. His large frame scoops me in his arms. He coerces my weak legs around his waist and presses my back to the cold wall. “No more tears, little bird. I can’t take it.”
“Then stop causing them.” He seizes my wrists, bringing them above my head, and I prepare for my punishment for acting out. But it never comes. He presses me harder into the wall and captures my mouth. This kiss is anything but gentle or calculated. Gone is the man in control. In his place is a man who demands and consumes. The tension drains from me as I submit to his feverous embrace.
“I don’t know what’s right and wrong when it comes to you. I can’t make a clear decision.” He breaks away, his teeth grazing the tip of my shoulder. Desire floods through my veins. Releasing my wrists, he drops his free hand and slips it underneath my dress and between my legs. His fingers dig into my thigh, and I welcome his rough touch. I wait for them to slip beneath my panties, but they don’t.
“Tell me what I should do? Tell me how I make you mine without burning the entire world down around us?”
I thrust my hips, forcing his hand to slide closer to my sex, yearning for his touch. I want the thickness of his finger to take what belongs to him. Mark me, inside and out. My sex throbs with urgency, and I push up against him, becoming impatient. “Just have faith,” I answer him.
His low, sexy laugh sends another wave of tremors through me. “The faith you seek is the death I’m avoiding.”
“I can’t guarantee no one will get burned, but weren’t you the one who taught me there’s pleasure in pain?” There’s a spark between us that ignites the inferno inside my belly. The way he stares at me as if he’s touching my soul.
“You are and will be the death of me, little bird.”
“Then at least let me promise you I’ll make it worth it.”
The fire in his stare threatens to burn me to ash. He swallows my moan with his mouth, consuming my every breath. His hands are wild, dominating my entire body, and I drown in his fervent need. His fingers dig deep into my flesh, making his mark, and I accept it because there is not a single part of me he doesn’t own.
In the blink of an eye, he drops my legs. He doesn’t give me a moment to gather my bearings and flips me around, pressing my chest against the wall. His front is pressed snug against my back, his cock hard against my ass. A shiver of anticipation travels down to my toes. I’ve woken the beast.
His fingers slide up my nape, threading into my hair until his grip is full, and he pulls back. His mouth claims the skin at my shoulder as his teeth graze my heated flesh. I welcome the pain and wait for him to bite down. The anticipation overwhelms me, and I arch my neck to the side, giving him full access.
“No matter what happens, you will always be mine. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, Master,” I breathe. He tugs harder.
“Say my name. I want you to say my name when I make you come.”
“Yes, Gabriel,” I moan, granting his wish.
His teeth latch onto my shoulder, and I whimper in pleasure. He pushes up my dress, tears it over my head, and strips me of my undergarments until I’m completely bare for him. His clothes are gone just as fast, and he enters me.
I expect his ruthless side, but I get the opposite. Inch by glorious inch, he slides in and out of me, slow and meticulous. With one hand still locked around my hair, the other reaches for my breast. He massages my nipple, then works lower, sliding down my belly and past my sex to strum my clit.
“You’re mine,” he hums, pulling out and sliding back in. “I’m tempted to take you home and chain you to my bed and have you anytime I want. Keep you as my little captive. No one but me gets to relish in your beauty.”
I melt in his arms, barely registering what he’s saying. My legs spasm, and I’m seconds away from collapsing. I can’t handle the slow, gentle side of him. “Gabriel, more. I need more,” I beg.