Chapter 5
Rhys
B reaking down her door was the wrong thing to do, but after listening to that poppy music for almost two hours, I was ready to tear my own hair out.
I’d followed behind her from the little mountain pull-off to her house before zipping down the interstate to my house.
There were only ten or so miles between us, so I decided to give her some space for a while.
I was sitting in my office, digging through notes that Lucian retrieved from the FBI server, when I glanced at the monitor showing Hannah’s house.
Instantly, I noticed two of the cameras were blacked out, and just as I was about to call James to find out what was going on, I watched Hannah place a small ladder under one of the cameras and tape something over the lens, causing it to go black.
Shaking my head, I gave her my full attention, and when there was only one camera still showing an image, I saw her step up to it and look directly at me.
Her blue eyes sparkled with defiance as she spoke to me.
“You’ll still be able to hear what’s going on around here, but you don’t get to peek into my life anymore.
Back the fuck off, Rhys. I’m not someone who needs saving. ”
With those words, she covered the last camera, rendering them useless to capture images.
I could still hear her, but that didn’t make my building anger any better.
She was being hot-tempered and not thinking about what problems her bratty attitude could cause.
A minute later, the most annoying sound came through the speakers, and I swear I heard her giggle as the volume increased.
I had an eclectic variety of music I enjoyed, but listening to the queen of pop singing about another ex-boyfriend for over an hour was starting to wear on my last nerve. The sound of her voice came through one of the cameras, and that was the last straw.
Grabbing my keys and cell phone, I stormed out of the house with a confused Regan watching me from her reading nook in the front living room.
I heard her yell something at me, but I was too pissed at Hannah to understand, which was strange for me.
All I could think about at that moment was getting to Hannah’s and stopping her attitude before I blistered her ass.
She didn’t want my help. That was fine, but now, she had to understand there was no barrier between my want of her and my need to protect her.
I would make sure she was safe, and if she didn’t want to comply, then I would have to bend her until she was more amenable.
I believed I understood a little more about Hannah than she thought, and if my hunch was correct, I was going to show her everything her heart desired.
I drove faster to her house than I should have but was still getting passed by jackasses in downtown Atlanta.
All too soon, I was getting off the exit and making the half-dozen turns into her neighborhood.
When I pulled into her driveway, I saw she had covered the outside camera as well, and I instantly saw red.
She was putting herself in danger just to prove she was a big girl.
Well, let’s see how big she really was. I gave her one chance to open the door as I knocked a little harder than necessary.
There wasn’t anything coming through the door except for that irritating music, and when the song changed to something even bubblier, I snapped.
Stepping back, I planted one foot and, with all my force, kicked the other into the door near the lock, where it was weakest.
The door flew open and I stomped inside, waiting for her to show herself. She appeared with a knife as I stood in her living room, clenching and unclenching my hands, trying to suppress my anger.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” she yelled before turning off that damn music.
I didn’t say anything as I watched her like a predator hunting its prey.
When her hand gripped the knife tighter, causing her knuckles to blanch, I took a step closer to her.
When I was just in front of Hannah, I looked down at the knife and back to her, silently demanding she release it from her grip.
The sound of it clanging to the hardwood floor echoed throughout the dining room.
“Why are you here, Rhys?” she asked softly. Her fear was triggering something primal inside me, something I’d never experienced before, and the meeker she became, the harder it was to fight the urge to take her where we stood.
I shook my head, silencing any more questions. “I want you to tell me why you decided to be a brat and basically cut off surveillance,” I demanded, forcing calm into my voice. “And why the hell did you have to play that annoying music so loud?”
“I—”
I held up my hand, stopping her from speaking as I took another step closer to her.
When she stepped back, I tilted my head forward and advanced on her.
If she wanted me to stop, all she had to do was say the word, but from her rapid breathing and dilated pupils, Hannah’s body was surging with adrenaline.
But I didn’t see fear in her eyes—I saw need.
She tried to turn her gaze away from me, but I pressed closer before cupping her cheek and gently guiding her gaze back to mine.
“I’m . . . I’m sorry,” Hannah said softly, and her submissive response to my demeanor had all rational thought fleeing my brain.
Leaning over, I ran my nose up her neck, smelling the faint scent of perfume mixed with something that was distinctively Hannah.
Whispering into her ear, I said, “Don’t apologize for standing your ground, but don’t think I’m going to let this attitude go unnoticed.
Your safety is my number one priority, and your little stunt could’ve backfired. ”
“How?” she inquired in a whispered breath, and I smiled to myself as I answered.
“What if someone besides me decided to get inside? With the cameras covered and the music so loud, I wouldn’t know what happened, who took you, or where to start looking for you. So, please, don’t make me be the bad guy because I’m worried about you.”
She didn’t consider what could have happened. Someone could have broken into the house, or worse, and I wouldn’t have known about it. The thought of someone hurting her again made the animal inside me come alive, thirsting for blood.
I stepped back and looked down at her as her blue eyes tracked up to mine.
Her breathing was accelerated, and suddenly, she grabbed my shirt and pulled us closer together.
My arms went around her back as her hands came around my neck as I pressed her against the wall and kissed the fuck out of her.
She was giving as good as she was getting as tongues swirled and teeth nipped, each of us trying to gain the upper hand.
Hannah would learn that I didn’t take the lower hand when it came to bedroom playtime.
Raising one hand up her back until I felt her hair, I found the nape of her neck and buried my hands deeply into her locks, pulling her head back and forcing a moan from her lips.
With her head tilted, I kissed down her neck, nibbling at the tender skin as she shivered under my touch.
She felt right in my arms, but the more we embraced, the stronger the guilt became.
As suddenly as she started the kiss, I ended it. Releasing her, I stepped back from her and turned away as I ran my hands through my hair. When I turned around, Hannah was still pressed against the wall with her mouth open and her hand covering it.
“Fuck, I . . . I shouldn’t have done that,” I started and saw her delighted eyes fall. “This was a mistake. I’ve got to go, but you need to uncover those cameras. And stop with the music, please. It makes monitoring you harder.”
I went to walk out the busted front door when I heard her say my name. “Rhys?”
Looking over my shoulder, I saw her straighten her spine as she spoke to me. The anger and hurt were clear on her beautiful face, and whatever she was going to say, I deserved it. But she didn’t need me pawing at her or making her do something that would cause her more pain.
Hannah shook her head as she pushed off the wall. “I didn’t realize you were such a pussy. Get out of my house and don’t come back.”
“Hannah, let me explain,” I started to say, but she lifted her middle finger to me before turning and walking into the bedroom.
I sighed deeply and yelled across the room at the closed door for the second time today.
“Safety first, Hannah. I’ll be outside until a repairman can get a new door installed. ”
The door opened quickly, and Hannah stood there with a gun in her hand. She looked at me and lifted the gun to where it was pointed at my knees. “I’ll sit on the front porch and wait for someone to fix the damage you caused, but you need to leave.”
“I’m not . . .” I began, only to see her raise the gun higher, aiming it at waist level. Lifting my hands, I took a step back and said, “I’ll leave.”
Keeping my eyes on her, I stepped through the open doorway, and just as I went to turn away, I saw a single tear fall from her eye.
I felt like a piece of shit, but she seemed more hurt I’d stopped than hurt by the kiss itself.
She was the one who instigated it, but I had to be the one to end it.
She was still healing and didn’t need my perversions screwing with her mind.
Hannah stood in the doorway with her arms crossed and the gun tucked under one arm as I backed out of the driveway and pulled away from her house. The monitor in my car was still on, and as I found a place to park a few blocks from her house, I watched, hoping to see or hear anything.
The soft sounds of her crying filled the SUV, and all I wanted to do was go back and pull her into my arms, telling her I was sorry for hurting her or causing her to remember something painful. It was what I heard next that gave me pause.
Hannah’s voice filtered into the car as she whispered, “I guess I really am beneath him.”
How could she think something like that?
Was it my actions, or was there something else in play that made her think she wasn’t good enough for me?
Whatever it was, I was going to fix it and, hopefully, help her heal, so that someday, she could find someone who was worthy of her.
It just wouldn’t be me, and that pissed me off more than anything.
She’d dominated my mind since the moment I laid eyes on her, and the thought of someone else holding her, touching her, or giving her pleasure was enough to push me closer to madness.
My phone rang, and looking at the screen on the dashboard, I saw it was James. Rolling my eyes, I answered. “What?” I asked gruffly and heard that asshole snicker.
“Let me guess . . . since she’s blacked out the cameras, you got mad and confronted her, her anger pushed you past the breaking point, somehow you got tangled in each other, then your fucking internal dialogue caused you to push her away, almost like you’re saving her.
” He paused before asking, “Am I close?”
“Seriously, how the fuck do you do that?”
“It doesn’t take a genius to know when someone’s fucking up a situation,” James remarked casually.
The darkened cameras began to show their true images on the monitor as, one-by-one, Hannah removed the covering from each. Her posture appeared defeated, and from her closed-off movements, my actions hurt her worse than I thought.
“I shouldn’t have kissed her. She’s still healing from . . . she’s . . .” I had no real reason other than my personal promise to never get involved emotionally or physically.
“She’s a grown woman who would’ve said stop if she wasn’t into it. Why did you stop?”
I exhaled deeply, knowing James was the only person who truly understood my lifelong issues with abandonment.
My mother left me when I was five, James was ripped out of my life when I was twelve, and the only person I trusted not to leave was Regan, and that’s only because she had some of the same issues as me.
“She can do so much better than me. I’m too old, too jaded, and too set in my ways,” I rationalized, and James scoffed through the phone.
“You’re full of shit is what you are.” He paused before adding, “I thought you understood from Lucian that if you chose to pursue Hannah, no one here would have a problem with it.”
“Since when do I need permission from Lucian or anyone else to do anything?” I asked as I turned to check the monitor.
Hannah was sitting on her back porch, typing something into her phone.
“And what century are we in? Because the last time I checked, neither Hannah nor any other woman needed a man’s approval to make decisions in her life. ”
Under my breath, I mumbled, “That’s some Sergey bullshit right there.”
“Listen, dick, he didn’t mean it like that, and you fucking know it. All he was trying to say was he would be proud to have his newfound sister in a relationship with you.” James paused and softened his tone to add, “You’re a good man, Rhys, so why not give yourself the chance at happiness?”
I wanted to tell him that men like me don’t get a chance at happiness, but all that would do was drag this conversation out further.
I’d hurt Hannah, and that’s all I could think about as I watched her shuffle into her bedroom and close the door.
That was the one room where there wasn’t any surveillance, and the longer she stayed hidden behind the door, the more anxious I became.
“Are you listening?” James asked, and his voice drew my attention away from the monitor.
“Not really,” I answered truthfully.
“I said she texted someone named Samuel and asked if he still wanted to grab a drink, then she ordered a ride share. So, I guess it’s time to either go and claim her, removing the bullseye on her back, or you can sit back and watch her with some weak asshole who couldn’t give her what she needed if he had instructions. ”
“I’ve gotta go,” I replied and disconnected the call over the sound of James’s laughter.
There was no way in hell she was meeting anyone for anything. I knew I’d screwed up, but she was playing with fire. I’d be damned if I let some pathetic little man try and move in on Hannah.
She’d been mine since the moment she fell asleep on the plane with her head resting on my shoulder. I’d felt a jolt of electricity when she touched me, and our kiss earlier was the hottest embrace I’d ever had.
There was something magical about Hannah, and if I wanted to make up for my past mistakes, I was going to have to grovel.