Chapter 5
C H A P T E R5
Just You And I In This Hellhole
Cade
The Present
12:02 a.m.
I got paired with my ex-girlfriend for Initiation Night.
As it so happened, the universe was finally working in my favour.
Or, at the very least, Shaun was. When the first round of dares was being distributed, he peeked at mine, ripped it from my hands, and swapped it with Jamie Callahan, a junior on the hockey team, who was team number six.
“Thank me later,” Shaun had said.
This was the favour he was talking about.
And I was not complaining one bit.
When I snuck into St. Victoria with all the boys from the hockey team, I made sure to stay in the shadows. I was afraid if Ella spotted me, she’d get out of dodge before I had the chance to be near her, speak with her, fucking breathe the same air as her.
My chest tightened with a twinge when I traced her silhouette by the row of lockers. Excitement slowly veined over her visage as she perused the crowd with the confidence of a girl who’d only ever stood on a pedestal.
God, she was beautiful as ever.
My memories didn’t do her justice.
That modelesque body was poured in tight, high-waisted, black jeans that looked painted on her skin, a cropped black leather jacket that emphasized her badass allure, and her palm-sized tits were covered in a triangular-shaped orange bralette that was sexy and indecent. Even standing from afar, she got me so fucking hot. Not to mention, Ella’s black mane was now chopped into a straight line just above her shoulders, showcasing that slender neck that used to be layered with my love bites and teeth marks.
During our three-year relationship, Ella usually wore her luscious waves down to her waist. I’d been obsessed with her hair. Running my fingers through it when she lay her head on my stomach. Washing it thoroughly when we showered together. Fisting it as I fucked her from behind like a dirty little princess.
But I didn’t mourn the length of it. Not when she looked that good with her new cut. I was already fantasizing running my fingers over her nape and testing the short strands against my strength.
When everyone broke off to find their partners and Ella said she was looking for number six, I bowed out before she could find me. It might seem like a cowardly move, but I needed to buy some time to mentally prepare myself for the storm that was my ex-girlfriend.
She wouldn’t be happy with our pairing. I was banking on her throwing a fit. Anger meant emotions and anything was better than the indifferent front she’d assumed whenever we ran into each other. Montardor was a big city, but the elite society ran in the same circles, including our families. I saw Ella a handful of times throughout the summer because of galas, family dinners, Olivia and Emilio’s playdates, and so on.
Glimpsing her usually came with a mixture of joy and hurt.
But I didn’t care as long as I saw her .
Now I waited for the little heartbreaker inside the library, leaning against the wall beside the ancient double doors, my arms folded across my chest.
On cue, I heard the familiar click-clack of her high-heeled boots entering the hallway of the north wing. The sound caused my blood to pump faster.
Ella’s pace slowed as she reached the doors—which I purposely left ajar to catch her off-guard—and after a few seconds, she shoved them open and sauntered into the dark library like she owned the place.
The doors swung back and clicked shut.
Ella was a few steps inside when I snagged her wrist from behind, pulled her back into my front, and swiftly turned us around until we were pressed against the wall.
She screamed bloody murder. “Holy—”
I covered her mouth with my palm to muffle the sound, letting the warm metal of my silver rings graze her glossy lips.
Her scent—orange blossoms and jasmines—shot through my system like an aphrodisiac. Ella was my very own walking, talking drug. One inhale and the addict prancing inside me felt satisfied after weeks of need.
My lips journeyed to her right ear, brushing the gold hoops. “Guess who, princess?”
I relished the shiver cascading down her back as realization sank into her bones. She straightened with awareness in my hold and I barely contained my smirk. When I knew for certain she wouldn’t scream again, I dropped my hand to her neck, my body keeping hers plastered to the hard surface.
A flash of disappointment hit me. She wasn’t wearing the necklace I gave her. Knowing Ella’s temper, she probably incinerated it with a flamethrower.
“ Cade ,” she spat my name like a curse.
I nearly groaned from how perfect it sounded on her tongue.
“Surprise, surprise,” I taunted, brushing two fingers over her pulse to feel it thump, thump, thump . “Missed me, baby?”
Ella shoved her elbow into my rib with vicious strength. I stumbled back with a breathless, “Fuck.”
Pain—because shit, that hurt—and pride—because I’d taught her how to fight—unfurled within me. I would have praised her if the circumstances were different.
Ella whirled around, thrust me against the wall, and dug her forearm into my throat.
In a silent threat, she pressed her limb harder against my jugular. Just enough to drive her point across: she didn’t appreciate me sneaking up on her.
“You asshole.” She seethed, eyes burning with intensity. “What are you doing here?”
Starved, my eyes desperately ate up the sight of her. It wasn’t enough. It would never be enough. My hands flexed by my sides. Wanting so badly to grab her. Wanting so badly to crush her to my chest and beg her, once and for all, to never let me go.
Instead, I grinned smugly and chucked her under the chin. “Don’t you know?” My voice was strained. “Initiation Night is my favourite holiday of the year.”
“Liar,” she fumed, her elbow creating a divot in my skin. “Answer me. What. Are. You. Doing. Here?”
I decided to go with the truth, lest risk suffering asphyxiation. Although dying by the hands of the love of my life may not be the worst way to go. “I wanted to see you, Ellie.”
You’d think the nickname drove into her like a stake with the way she dropped her arm and staggered back in shock.
Ella composed herself within seconds. “Well, you wasted a trip,” she sneered. “I don’t want to see your face ever again. I thought I made myself abundantly clear the first time.”
The searing insult burned, no less hurtful than all the jabs she’d hurled my way in the span of three months. But I expected it. Accepted it. I would take this version of her over the insouciant one any day.
“Tough shit. You’ll be seeing my face a lot for the next three hours, so better get used to it.”
She barked a humourless chuckle and retreated another two steps. “Yeah, that’s not happening. I’d rather stab myself in the eye with a pencil than be in your presence.”
“You always wished we’d get paired for Initiation Night.” I smirked despite the ache spreading through me like poison. I couldn’t stand the look of revulsion on her face as she glared at me. “Now’s our chance, Ella.”
“That was before I found out you had a community dick, you piece of shit.”
My nostrils flared and my smirk fell, her words lashing my insides like a whip.
Ella thought I cheated on her during Josh’s nineteenth birthday party this summer.
I never fucking did.
I’d sooner drive my erection through a meat grinder than ever betray her.
When I tried to explain to Ella what happened, she didn’t listen to me. In lieu, she barred the gates of her heart, banished me to the purgatory, and doled out her retributions via cruel insults.
For something that was completely out of my control months ago.
“Still obsessed with my dick, I see,” I mocked. “Let me guess, you want another ride, sweetheart?”
“I wouldn’t fuck you if you were the last guy on earth.”
If given the opportunity, my ex-girlfriend would probably gouge my balls with her witchy claws and feed them to Francisco Cordova’s guard dogs.
Since it was her broken heart speaking, I let her statement slide. “Keep telling yourself that, Ella.”
“God, you’re so arrogant. I really fucking hate you.”
That one hurt the most.
No matter how much pain she inflicted upon me, I didn’t hate her.
Even now, with all the bad blood between us, I loved this girl more than my own life.
Our love had been like a two-sided coin. Dark and thorned. Beautiful and transcending. We’d been young, all-consumed, and everything to one another. There were no secrets, no judgements, no qualms in our bond. Without a shadow’s doubt, in my next life, I would find her until our destinies intertwined once again.
She was mine for all lifetimes to come and I was irrevocably hers.
We were fated.
Though there were times where I cursed the day I laid eyes on her. By falling in love with Ella, I unknowingly gave her power over my being.
In front of the world, I was indestructible. But in her palms, I was malleable—she could mold me, break me, mend me all in one stroke.
I was clay and she was the creator with the ability to breathe life into me.
The first two weeks after our breakup, I felt like a shell of a man. I could barely eat, sleep, or function. My body was in a state of utter numbness. As though I’d physically lost a part of me and was just learning how to cope without it. Nothing compared to the torment of heartbreak.
It took me a very long time to put my pieces back in a semblance of my once whole.
I was bruised but patched up and ready for another chance to explain my truth…If she would let me.
“Who’s the liar now, Ella?” I threw back, wanting her to fucking eat her words.
She may not admit it now, but our feelings ran deep. Ella, regardless of her spiteful words, still felt something for me. Even if it throbbed faintly in her heart.
It was still there.
In the way she watched me, with a mixture of forlorn and determined wrath, whenever we chanced upon each other. In the way her pulse sped up whenever I was near. In the way her eyes drew to my mouth, helplessly, like a moth to a flame.
On the outside, she could pretend to hate me.
But on the inside, I knew some part of her still wanted me.
Ella marched over to the closed library doors. “I can’t do this with you right now.” She held her flashlight with her left hand, while her right hand struggled with the olden handles. “ Joder mi vida. C’mon, c’mon. Open up!”
Sick perversion rolled through me at the thought of us being stuck together. I had an inkling that the library doors were locked, unless we found the key to get us out. This was all part of the game.
“It’s no use,” I said, crossing over to her.
Ella started pounding her fists against the doors, hoping someone would hear the commotion. “Goddammit, this can’t be happening right now!”
“You’re trapped with me, Ella.” I closed the distance between us until my front and her back were a hairsbreadth away. Bringing my mouth to her ear, I whispered darkly, “Looks like it’s just you and I in this hellhole, sweetheart.”