His lips ended their journey on my jaw. He removed his hand from my mouth, searching for something in my eyes desperately as his breathing grew heavier. His eyes were liquid black, gleaming with desire. My throat constricted at his arousal, blood rushing through my veins in excitement.
“Why did you kiss me back at Kayden’s grave?”
I just stared at him, totally baffled by his question. My mind was still enveloped in that sweet fog, intoxicated with his kisses, so I needed time to catch what he was talking about.
Finally, reason won over passion, and all the pleasant feelings Hayden had created in me disappeared, replaced by a potent wave of shame, anger, and regret.
“I didn’t kiss you back. I just went along with you, hoping it would end soon so I wouldn’t have to feel such disgust anymore,” I lied without blinking, glaring at him spitefully. To my twisted satisfaction, he went stiff above me, the fire in his eyes turning into the ice.
“Bitch,” he spat and gripped my wrists above my head even harder, punishing me. He was becoming aggressive in a hot minute, all rousing, ardent feelings forgotten. “You deserve everything I do to you. You deserve suffering and pain.”
“Let me go!”
“No. I will never let you go. Never.” His gaze slid over my trembling body under his, and a cold smirk formed on his face. “Maybe I should steal your virginity after all. Just like I stole your first kiss.”
“You’re horrible!”
“Just like you.”
I stared daggers at him, wanting to hurt him like he’d hurt me. I wanted to shatter his control. I wanted to make him less powerful...
“You didn’t steal my first kiss,” I said spitefully, hoping this would throw him off guard.
Once again, he froze, letting me see the fleeting confusion on his face. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that wasn’t my first kiss.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
He stood up with a deep frown, separating himself from me. An unexpected longing filled me because I didn’t have his body against mine anymore, and I felt ashamed for it. I raised myself and sat on the edge of my bed, watching him pace around my room as he grew more restless. I wondered what was going on inside his head.
“Who kissed you?”
I averted my gaze. “That doesn’t matter.”
He grabbed my chin and made me look at him. “Who kissed you?!”
Why the hell did he care?
“Kayden!”
He opened his eyes wide and stepped away from me, looking at me like he couldn’t believe what he’d heard. “So, you two were in love,” he said, sounding like he was asking for confirmation from me. Why did it matter to him?
I certainly couldn’t tell him the reason why we kissed. I would never tell Hayden that. “That’s none of your business.”
His face twisted in an ugly grimace of fury and madness, and for the first time since he entered my room, he looked like he was going to smash something.
“ You bitch !” he screamed. “You’ll pay for everything! I’m done sparing you!”
I jumped to my feet, beyond angry. “Sparing me?! Are you kidding me? You destroyed everything good in me! You made me a wreck! You hurt me in so many ways, and now you say you were sparing me? Are you out of your mind?”
“I still didn’t destroy everything, but I will,” he responded fiercely and marched over to my window. Startling me, he yanked my blinds violently, removing them from the upper part of the window and breaking them into pieces.
I screamed, frightened, not believing what I was seeing. He couldn’t be doing this!
“What are you doing?!” I rushed toward him and grasped his arm to separate him from the blinds, but he snatched it out of my hold and pushed me away.
“I’m finishing something I should’ve done a long time ago.”
I stared at the pile of broken blinds on the floor, feeling like my legs were going to betray me any moment. Tears formed in my eyes, so close to spilling out.
“Why did you do this?” I couldn’t stop my voice from being whiny. Those blinds kept me hidden from him. They made me feel safe. Now, they were gone.
He moved to the door, ready to leave. He faced me one last time, shaking in rage. “You can never hide from me. Put up the blinds again, and I’ll come back and completely fuck your shit up.”
Chapter 23
“I ’LL KILL YOU,” HAYDEN said to me, hovering above me on my bed. My room was in total darkness, but I could see his fierce eyes staring into me, reaching my soul and trapping me.
“Hayden, don’t do this.”
“I will, and I will enjoy every single second...” He pressed his lips against mine, taking me by surprise. His tantalizing kiss made me hungry for more, unleashing my long-denied feelings. I stopped resisting and responded to him, melting inside when our tongues met. His hands moved all over me, drowning me in these addictive sensations that only made me want more. Much more.
I felt like I was going to burst from happiness... My Hayden...
I winced and tried focusing on Jonathan and Adelaine’s game of chess, but I had a hard time paying attention because my thoughts kept rushing back to the dream I had this morning. My chest constricted at the thought of Hayden’s lips and hands on me, which awoke something deep inside of me that had been suppressed for so long...
I felt ashamed for having such dream. I stopped dreaming about kissing him a long time ago, but something changed after Wednesday night, and I was unable to stop thinking about his kisses or his behavior. I hated that I was allowing him to affect me like this.
I could brush off his first kiss at the cemetery as a prank, but why did he kiss me in my room? Why was he kissing me like this, leaving nothing but the thirst for more?
After that fiasco, I decided to work on our project outline alone, hoping to be able to finish it on my own. It was above my head since I knew little about website building, but I was done begging Hayden to cooperate and use his programming skills to help. I had only six days left before the deadline for the outline, and I’d already wasted a lot of time.
I got a call from the police last night, and they told me they had found out that the number behind those messages was no longer in use. The burner phone was located in some trash can, so the investigation reached a dead-end. He advised me to report anything suspicious to them in the future and to take care.
I couldn’t believe this person used a disposable phone to harass me. I was edgy because of this whole situation, and I couldn’t know if this was something I should really worry about or if someone only went above and beyond to scare me.
“Do you even listen to me, young girl?” I flinched, meeting Jonathan’s piercing stare.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I was just thinking about something.”
“Look at her. She is always so cute when she blushes,” Adelaine cooed. Ugh. Why did she have to point it out?
“You look distracted. What’s wrong?” Jonathan furrowed his brows in worry, and something melted in me because he cared enough to ask.
I couldn’t tell him about the threats or the weird behavior of my bully. “I’m thinking about tonight’s party. I’m so nervous.”
That wasn’t exactly a lie, because I was nervous. Melissa and I had agreed to dress up in the retirement home after work, and I admitted I had no clothes suitable for parties. I never needed those, so there was no point in buying them. She assured me she had the right clothes for me and would bring them with her.