Chapter 9 #2
I pointed toward the door, but Gianna was unfazed, still sitting there with her hands in her lap, her voice calm and collected. "Who is she?"
"Who?!" But I knew what she was asking.
"The other woman. Who is sh—"
"There’s no other woman, damn it! Get it through your head!
" I didn’t want to confess to myself that at this point…
there most definitely was another woman.
There was a woman who came into my life at the worst time for all this.
A woman who occupied every single thought that ran through my mind, day and night.
I just wanted to be with her, to be close to her, to look at her, to touch her, to feel her, to...taste her.
“If there’s no other woman, then I’m your girlfriend,” Gianna declared, reaching for a glass on the coffee table I hadn’t noticed before.
“Is that—are you fucking drinking?” I asked, regret overcoming me. If she was drinking, she wouldn’t be able to drive off.
All I wanted, all I fucking prayed for at this point, was for her to disappear from my life. I wanted to rip her out like a splinter. Cut her off and throw her out. She was an infection. A fucking gangrene.
She took a sip, staring into my eyes. And then another, as if to prove her point—she was fucking staying.
Fuck it.
I made a split-second decision and bolted upstairs, grabbing a change of clothes. I didn’t give a shit if she decided to stay and never leave. She could become a squatter for all I cared; I would just abandon it all. The house, her, our past, this wretched reality.
In less than a minute, I was already downstairs, swiping my things off the table and ignoring Gianna, who still sat in the exact same spot, the smile on her face making me angrier.
"Where are you going, love? I just got here,” she called out, her words drenched in sarcasm.
The door slammed shut behind me, and I jumped into my car, itching to make it as far away from her as possible. I’d check into a hotel and sleep. I was not in the right state of mind for anything; I just needed sleep.
But once I got on the freeway, that dangerous and all-consuming idea overpowered me again. No. I didn't want to go to a hotel. There was only one place I longed to be.
Only forty-five minutes later, the little beach house came into view.
I should have turned the car around right then and there. I should have stepped on the gas and fled. Instead, I parked right outside the house and promptly turned off the engine, pocketing the key before my mind caught up with my actions.
Filled with something darker than anticipation, I knocked on the front door.
One, two, three.
Fuck, my chest was shaking. I stood there waiting for her to open the door, knowing that once I stepped inside, I’d never leave.
The lock clicked and Jade swung the door open, the light behind her reminding me just how truly radiant and breathtaking she was.
“Hi, Alex,” she said, unable to stop her smile. The way she pronounced my name began a complete blackout of all remaining logical thoughts that I possessed. Yep, this was the right decision. Maybe she could say my name again while she took my clothes off or something.
"Jade," I greeted her as coldly as I could, hanging onto the last string of control while taking large strides into the house.
What the hell was she cooking? It smelled fucking divine.
There was a boxing match inside my head, and one opponent was going to die.
My emotional side was a champion heavyweight, and my logical thoughts were a random, unknown featherweight.
The champion was absolutely pummeling his opponent but every once in a while, the bloodied featherweight would take a swing.
I stepped inside the living room and almost fell into an armchair. Jade closed the front door and turned to me, her puzzled expression putting a silly smile on my face. Of course, she wanted to know why I showed up out of the blue like this.
"Aren't you going to offer me a drink?" I surprised myself with that question. I was fucking delusional, wasn’t I?
Holding back a laugh, Jade blinked at me and waited for an explanation that I couldn’t provide. Perhaps she knew that.
“What can I possibly offer my kidnapper?” she called out once she headed to the kitchen. “I have coffee, tea, even wine! I also made lemonade."
“Lemonade would be great. You like that nickname better than misogynist, Preziosa?”
The fire in her eyes was immediate and so was the inferno inside me. She reached inside the fridge and pulled out a pitcher of lemonade, killing me with her gaze.
Strolling closer with the full glass, I noticed the way her little summer dress hugged her tantalizing figure in a tender embrace.
It had tiny green flowers sewn into it, complementing her dark brown hair and perfectly tanned skin—like the dress was custom-made for her, not picked up at an unknown department store.
It was too feminine. Too short. Too much. My fingertips itched to feel. Itched to know just how smooth her skin was. How fast she could melt under my touch.
Her shoulders were exposed, and they were so perfect, so round, made for my kisses.
“I hate Prezi—”
“I know. It’s perfect for yo—”
“It’s stupid and unoriginal. Surely you can think of something better.” Jade held the glass just out of reach of my outstretched hand, showing me who was in control.
Her. Her. Of course her.
I sat up but she pulled the glass away, demanding something instead. “Think of something better.” She put me on the spot, but I could barely even remember my own name.
She looked down at me, our heights reversed for the first time, and I hungrily breathed in the air around her. It smelled like her, damn it. The whole house was her now. Warm and soft, filled with seashells and damn organic lavender honey.
It was all just so fucking…delicate.
“Okay, I’ll call you malyshka.” I ripped my gaze away from her long neck and focused on the glass again. “Can I have a drink now? Or you’re going to leave a man to die?”
Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but she didn’t move the glass closer. I reached for it, but she stepped back, the spark in her eyes turning me into an animal.
“What’s…mashishka?” She mispronounced the word and it was the single most fucking adorable thing I’d ever heard.
I stood up, and Jade’s bare shoulders dropped, her head tilting up to keep eye contact. “It means heathen.” I stepped closer, and she stepped back again, awakening the need. The need to chase her, claim her, make her fucking mine.
Mark her.
“The devil.” Another step and her back brushed the kitchen island. “Soul sucker,” I whispered but she heard me—she was only an inch away. “Unhinged brat. Give me the glass.”
Jade knew exactly what she was doing. In fact, she was a fucking actress—the way she hid her smile, swayed her hips, wrapped me around her pinky finger like I was a toy to play with.
“Ask…nicely.” She emphasized her words, both of us knowing why. I’d said it to her, right here, in this room, holding onto her hair, her ankles and wrists zip tied. I was in control back then.
She held all the power now.
“You’ve become awfully bold for a captive.” I reminded myself that she was still a captive. “You should be fucking serving me lemonade on a silver platter. I let you live.” I was sputtering pure nonsense, but Jade laughed, and I was ready to keep talking.
“You let me live, huh?” Amusement filled her pretty eyes. “If you wanted obedience, Alex…you should’ve kept me tied up. Maybe thrown me in that hypothetical basement for good measure.” She lifted one eyebrow, clinking the ice in the glass. “But I think…I think unhinged brat is more your taste.”
The ring of my phone startled us both. Jade’s shoulders jumped and so did the lemonade in her glass. It spilled onto her wrist and I looked on wistfully, knowing who the call was from.
“Get the fuck out of there right this fucking second, Alex. I’m not fucking joking!” Andrei’s angry voice sounded in my ear as soon as I picked up the phone. Jade blinked up at me, waiting for the warning she couldn’t hear.
“There’s no coming back from this, Sasha. Do not cross that line! I need you to stop thinking with your dick and get the fuck away from Jade.”
I turned away from her, growling into the phone in Russian, “Stop talking about my dick in the same sentence as her, it’s making everything worse! Don’t call me.”
I hung up on him and—
“Alex?” Jade called from behind me. Gentle fingers slid on my forearm, and she led me toward the armchair again, helping me sit down.
My head was spinning. “Here. Drink some lemonade.” She passed me the glass; such worry in her eyes.
I downed the whole thing in one second. It was perfect, not too tart, not too sweet, simply delicious. Like her.
“Are you okay?” She took a seat on the coffee table right in front of me. So close. Within reach. But I was fading. “You look a little pale. And tired.”
I last caught a glimpse of myself in my rearview mirror right before getting out of the car and I indeed looked like Dracula.
“I—” But I didn’t know what to say. I studied her bright eyes, wondering how it all fucking detonated like this. How did my personality deteriorate this way, and why…why couldn’t I find my balls and walk away from her?
"Alex?" My gaze immediately found hers and my whole body zinged at the sound of her voice saying my name.
God, it smelled so nice in this house. Jade was so effortlessly beautiful and being in her presence was peaceful. The static in my head disappeared when I looked into her eyes. The dark storm looming overhead lost its power when she was near, and for the first time in days, I could breathe out.
"Jade? Can I just stay here? For a bit?"
The heavyweight delivered a knockout.