“And tell him what?” he counters defiantly, slapping those silly girlish fantasies out of my mind.
He might be called the Dark Prince of Asheville, but I’m no helpless princess waiting to be saved, especially when the only danger in this room is him.
“I’ll tell him that you broke into my home. That’s breaking and entering. A felony. You can’t sweep that type of thing under the rug no matter how much money you have or who your daddy is.”
I know that gets his attention as he lifts off the bed enough only to remain seated on its edge. His stormy eyes are filled with a vehemence that can almost be touched with the tips of my fingers.
“I’ll tell him you invited me over.”
“That’s a lie.”
“Is it? Since it seems I can’t keep up with yours, why shouldn’t I take a page from your handbook?”
“Fine. Just tell me what you want?”
“At this very minute, I’m not sure,” he whispers, his gaze still roaming over my body.
I’m about to order him out again when he pulls me by my trench coat belt and forcefully sits me on his lap.
“Leave,” I growl, trying to fight him off, but his grip is just too strong.
“Or what?”
I still have the mace in my hand, and he feels me shift. Easily enough, he grabs it out of my hand and throws it onto the other side of the room. He pins me in place with one arm hugging my waist while his other hand grasps onto my neck.
“Take it off.”
I swallow dryly at his hoarse command, my heart beating a mile a minute.
“Take what off?”
“Don’t test me, Scar. That ugly fucking baseball hat you’ve got on. I want it off.”
Scar.
Even when he uses the endearing abbreviation of my name mixed with such a hostile order, I still melt into his embrace. The effect I let him wield over me is dumb and moronic, but Easton has always had this type of magnetic pull. He could either tug at my heart strings or break them, and I would still let him do his worst.
Slowly I pull the cap off my head, my long hair trickling down my shoulders. The relieved sigh he lets out cracks my heart right down the middle. I hate how he always does this without so much as trying.
“Happy?” I quip dryly.
“Would you think less of me if I said yes?” he counters with a halfhearted laugh.
East shoves his head into the crook of my neck, and I feel myself tilting it more to the side to give him all the room he needs. He plays with the ends of my hair, his grip tightening on my hip as he breathes me in. Easton has always been able to torture me at will, but this? This is just plain hell.
My core clenches as his thumb caresses the front of my neck up to my chin and then pulls back my bottom lip. It’s an enormous strain trying to keep my eyes open when my tongue is just inches away from tasting a little bit of paradise. He continues to feel the texture of my lip, his own mouth breathing against my neck.
“Why do this, Scar? Why keep secrets from me when you know I’ll find them?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Enough games!” he growls, holding my chin hostage in his forceful grip. “Give me an answer.”
“No,” I snap, not showing the slightest appearance of intimidation.
But to be honest, Easton intimidates the hell out of me. There is a danger in his eyes. A melancholy I recognize perfectly. I see it embedded in mine every time I look in the mirror. It’s provoked by pain and anguish, and more importantly, by secrets—ones that can corrupt your soul if not spoken. Whatever Easton’s are, I can’t be a part of it. I have to carry my own, so I don’t need his to burden me further. Because the minute they do, I’ll drown trying to save him. I’ll forget all about my own nightmares, just so I can vanquish his. Opening our darkness to one another would leave me in a toxic mess of pain. I can’t let that happen, no matter how tempting he makes it to fall into his dark void.
“Where did you go?” he asks after a long-stretched pause.
Where you can’t find me.
“I’m sorry I missed your performance tonight. But you left me no choice,” he continues on as I don’t give him an answer. “Tell me, do you like having all those men’s eyes on you? Is that what gets you hot?”
I try to snap my head away from his grasp, but he’s too strong for me to escape.
“You don’t know me,” I bite back.
“Oh, but I do. You can lie all you want, but I know you.”
“You think you scare me?”
“Yes,” he deadpans.
He’s right. He does scare me. But not in the way I’m usually terrified, and he knows it.
“Just tell me what you want and be done with it. I’m tired. I want to take a shower and go to sleep.”
“Is that an invitation?” He chuckles, his warm breath tickling my skin.
“No,” I scoff.
“What are you afraid of?” he asks, leaving me perturbed by the question.
What am I afraid of?
Everything.
I’m weak and frightened all the time, while Easton is strong and self-assured. I might even be envious of him. But what scares me most is how my skin buzzes to life whenever he’s near, even when he’s acting like a total jerk.
“I don’t want to play your little game anymore, East. Just leave,” I repeat, this time facing him head-on.
His quicksilver eyes go half-mast, and my heart does a double take at the threat behind this one look.
Don’t kiss me, East.
Please don’t kiss me.
He reads my silent plea in my eyes, but inches closer to my lips just the same.
Please, don’t. You’ll end me if you do.
His thumb lightly caresses my cheek, my body instantly craving for more.
“Why? Why now, East?”
I don’t have to add much to that question. We’ve been so good at staying away from each other. Why did he have to pick now to change our dynamics?
He lifts me off his lap and falls back down on the bed, pulling his forearm to cover his eyes. I stay seated next to him, keeping my eyes fixed on the ceiling fan above me, swallowing dryly as I try to pull oxygen back into my lungs.
“Because we’re fucked, Scar. One way or another, that’s how this ends.”
The desolation in his voice pierces my heart. I shut my eyes and focus on my breathing, only to gasp out when Easton pulls me back to fall beside him. He nestles into my neck, his hand tugging at my hair.
“But it doesn’t even matter anymore,” he whispers in my ear. “Because you and I… this… was always inevitable.”
He presses a kiss to the small sliver of skin behind my ear, sending shock waves throughout my body, only to pull himself off the bed, leaving me wide-eyed, breathless, and confused.
“You see, you’re in my way now, Scar. And all that’s left is for me to break you.”
“Not if I break you first.”