“Mia … I’m…” I tried to get the words out, but my emotions strangled me. Her eyes shined like glass, and her chin trembled as tears freely spilled from the corners. She held on so tight, but we weren’t close enough.
We could never be close enough.
Our lips crashed, and my body instantly let off the wall, wanting to merge with her. With the familiarity of her scent and taste, my soul fed on her, satisfying its only deprivation—Mia. But just as quickly as she pulled me together, she pulled away from me, and her hand came across, striking my face.
My face didn’t feel it, but my heart sure did.
She stood before me, her eyes mixed with emotion and her bottom lip shaking.
“Seven months!” she cried out, “Do you have any idea what you’ve done to me?” My head shook, and I took a step forward, but she backed away from me, and that small distance she created cut deeper. “I let my guard down for you, I loved you with everything, and in the end, you…” her palms hit my chest, and I did nothing but take the beating, “I was on my knees, Ollie, then you pulled everything out from under me and for seven months I crawled through every fucking memory and every empty promise!”
Each word penetrated me, tore me open worse than her hands on me. Over the last seven months, I had been able to get by without her because I was already dead inside. Yet, I helped her destroy her walls for me only to leave her unarmed.
And the way I left stripped her of the belief I created for us.
I took another step forward, and she shoved me against my chest again.
“How dare you,” she choked, her voice defeated. Her brown eyes filled with hatred—hatred toward me. Strands of her hair glued to her wet cheek as tears continued to fall from her eyes. “I’m scared to close my eyes because every damn time, all I see is you, and when I open them, you’re not there! You were gone!”
I’d seen this side of her before, but it was during a time she fought against herself. She’d held the same terror in her eyes before when I’d taken her down in the shower room and I clutched onto her under the water.
In her eyes, I was the new enemy, but I refused to accept it.
She came at me again, but I snatched her wrist and pinned her against me, holding her close to my chest. “I’m here now,” my mouth hovered over hers as she trembled in my hold, “I’m right here.”
She fisted my shirt at my chest and yanked me down until our mouths collided. The rest of me turned to liquid as her soft wet lips stroked mine unapologetically, speaking her pain and unwavering love for me all at once. I inhaled a more stable breath through my nose upon her exhale, breathing her in.
Mia.
Poetry.
As if no time passed between us, our lips moved in sync while the rest of my body forgot about the sickness and caved to our needs. I spun Mia so her back was against the wall and mine fused to her where it belonged. Her lips parted for me, allowing me in and I took what I unknowingly craved for the last seven deadly months.
“I love you, Mia,” I grabbed her face and waited for her eyes to open to see this is real, “I’ll always love you.”
Lights sparked in her eyes like it did the first time we kissed, and though I never needed confirmation, it was all I needed to dive into her again.
Slowly, my tongue caressed hers, the taste of apple juice still embedded in her buds. Ignoring the tremors in my hands, I held her soaked face as she sucked my lip. Warm hands glorified my bare skin under my shirt, fighting to ease the bitter withdrawal.
For her, I fought to be strong, but I only grew dizzier from the sickening affliction. My head dropped to her shoulder, and the door to the room swung open.
“Jett?”
My head snapped up, and a red-headed security guard stared at the two of us from the doorway. Instantly, I lifted myself off her, and my gaze darted between Mia and the red-headed wanker.
Mia’s face was blotchy and wet—golden-brown eyes, battered.
Her breathing faltered from what just occurred between us.
The security guard’s eyes jerked between Mia’s condition and me, and suddenly, he launched at me. The cracking sound of my nose came from inside my ears as my head bounced back. My hands shot over my nose and eyes when another force sent my back into the sink. A weltering pain stabbed my lower back.
“Stop it!” Mia’s screams echoed in the bathroom. “Ethan, stop!”
Chapter Four
“The truth is, I’m not normal.
Is that too much for you to handle?”
—Oliver Masters
mia.
“OLLIE … OH MY GOD…” I cried, pulling Ollie to his feet and leaning him against the sink. His elbow rested over the edge, unable to hold himself up fully.
“Ollie?” Ethan asked surprised from behind me, but I ignored him as I frantically pulled paper towels from the dispenser and ran it under cold water. The tears hadn’t stopped flowing as I turned off the faucet and returned to Ollie’s side.
Moving Ollie’s hand away from his nose, I replaced it with the paper towels and tilted his head back, holding them in place to stop the bleeding as he grumbled incoherently.
He came back, and my mind couldn’t keep up with what my heart was doing to me. Ollie closed his eyes with the cold towel pressed against him, still partially leaned over the sink.
“I can’t believe this shit,” Ethan growled and smacked the tiled wall with his palm.
The seven months of living in hell reached a boiling point and spilled out of me as I turned against the one person who had been on my side since Ollie left. Taking three harsh steps toward Ethan, I pushed him once in the shoulder. “Why did you do that?”
I’d gone my twenty years without ever laying a hand on anyone, and in ten minutes I’d physically hurt the two people who ever cared about me. I knew what I was doing, but I couldn’t stop myself at the same time. There was an abundant amount of emotions hitting me at once, and the moment Ethan walked in and hit Ollie, he became an easier target to release seven months of the pure hell I’d been living in.
My hand swung at him, but he rapidly lifted his arm as a shield and took a step back. “Coward!” I yelled, taking another step toward him.
Ollie’s arm snaked around my stomach and dragged me away. “Stop, Mia. We don’t have time. I don’t have time.” He pinned me to his torso with one hand and walked me backward until my back hit the sink. Ollie’s other hand pressed the blood-soaked towels to his nose as his hips leaned into me, caging me in. “Listen to me. I don’t know how much time I have. We can’t risk either one of us going to solitary.”
“He punched you for no reason!” I looked around Ollie to face Ethan. “You punched him!”
Ollie pulled me back in front of him. His hand cupped my face to re-direct my attention. “I deserved that, love.”
“How are you back?” Ethan asked with nervous hands moving from his belt, over his stubble, then behind the back of his head. His face paled. I’d never seen him so bothered.
“Please, I need a moment with her,” Ollie stressed, leaning over until his palm caught the edge of the sink. I studied his stance. Sweat pricked his temples, his eyes strung out, and he couldn’t sit up straight. Something was wrong.