Chapter 8 #3
His eyes darken to terrifying, and I know I just pushed him off a cliff I probably shouldn’t have, but this domineering stuff will never work on me.
Yeah, maybe I used to look up to him, and maybe once upon a time I might have been with this town thinking Kasen Throne was about as close to perfect as any person could be, but I’m not that vapid anymore.
Yeah, he’s handsome and tall and built, and the way he looks at me with sin in his eyes is that look I know melts other girls’ panties.
But he’s the charismatic, all too good on the outside but completely rotten on the inside kind a girl like me can’t afford to be associated with.
I know his family is behind most of the corruption in this town.
And that means him since he’s now in charge.
“Who are the Southern Breakers, Dove? I’ve been patiently waiting for you to fill me in about where you have been, but you have run out of time. Why were those thugs beating you up, and exactly what work were you doing for them?”
I try to step away from him, but I have nowhere to go.
I’m trapped between his solid body and the wall.
Part of me had hoped he wouldn’t remember the mention of that name, and there is no way in hell I’m telling him anything more.
There is no way any of them can know about my life back there.
I don’t want to be his, but I don’t want him to look at me with pity either.
“I’m tried, I’m going to bed,” I snip, stepping past him.
“My room,” he barks from right behind me, an anger in his tone that I don’t appreciate.
I spin back to him, my body suddenly on edge for a whole new reason. “What?”
His lips twitch up at the sides. “I told you, you’re not going to be alone while some creep is leaving you threats.” His eyes run down my body, then meet back with mine, boring right through me with an intensity I can’t stand. “You will stay with me.”
I massage my scalp, trying to get rid of the thumping that’s now taking over. He’s delusional. Even more impossible than he ever was before. “I’m not sleeping with you.”
He closes the gap between us, our bodies chest to chest, a stupid amount of heat radiating off him.
“Oh, birdie, this isn’t my fun way of trying to seduce you.
You will know when I want to fuck you. Right now, you need sleep, and you will do what you’re told or I will make you.
” His hand presses into my lower back, and turning me, he nudges me forward.
I want to fight him, but my feet move. I’m tired and feeling sick, and the truth is that message did scare me, and without a gun under my pillow, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to have him round just in case. So, I let him guide me into his room.
He flicks on a light and pulls back the covers.
His bed is all dark and moody like him. The sheets are charcoal, and the rest of his room is neat and tidy, almost looking unlived in.
But the scent in this place is overwhelmingly him.
Danger laced with addiction. That’s what it would be called if it was bottled.
I was so obsessed with him, my friend’s big brother.
I knew he was bad to the bone, and back then that was exciting.
And he’s right, back when we were teens, everyone thought we would end up together, that we would be perfect for each other.
Everyone except my parents, and that’s why nothing ever happened between us.
Well, that and the other boys we spent so much time with.
How could I be with Kasen when I had a thing for the four of them.
It never felt right, but they were all important to me.
I didn’t want to screw up what we had. Every member of the Deadwater Crew meant so much to me.
And that’s why when they were happy to have me shipped out of town, it killed me.
They were everything to me, and I meant nothing to them.
“Sleep,” he demands when I haven’t moved.
I glance between him and his bed. This is a big moment, or it would have been to fifteen-year-old me.
But the reality is, this might be his bed, but tonight it’s just a place to close my eyes, nothing more.
He is no one to me. I climb in and lay my head down on the super-soft pillow, trying not to groan when my tired body relaxes in.
The sheets are as silky and luxurious as they looked from the outside.
The flick of a belt and the distinct swoosh of pants dropping hits my ears. Oh, dear God, he’s getting unchanged with me right here in his room. My heart kicks up a beat, even though I will it not to.
Don’t look, Dove, I chant to myself.
Then the bed dips beside me and he pulls the covers up around both of us. I keep my eyes firmly closed and turn away from him. He might have stolen a kiss from me tonight, but that’s all he will ever get. “If you don’t give me what I want, I have ways to take it.”
I flick my angry glare at him. “What does that mean?”
“In the morning when you’re feeling more agreeable, you’re going to tell me the story of what Miss Dove Dawson has been up to these past ten years. All of it. Not missing any details.”
Asshole. “I hate you,” I whisper loud enough so he can hear me.
I need him to know it. Then I turn away from him and stare out the window, watching the salt air lick the glass.
That’s where he’s wrong; tomorrow I’m out of here.
And none of the boys I grew up with will know my reality or just what I had to endure to survive.