Kaden #2
Something dark curls around me as my face sets. “Only if I can drag you to hell with me.”
Her hand falls to her side as she stares at me with disappointment piercing her. “I’m done with this. I’m happily engaged to a man who chooses me, and a life not defined by what you put me through. I let you go a long time ago. I think it’s time you did the same.”
That darkness claws through me as I close in on her. There’s not a moment for her to process as my hand wraps around her throat, squeezing. “You’re not done with me. Not until we fucking die, Melody, and even then, I’ll find you in every god damned lifetime. Over and over again, pretty girl.”
Her eyes flutter, lips parting as she sucks in raggedly.
I lean so close that her scent, honey and vanilla, nearly makes my eyes roll in bliss. I can feel her pulse pounding beneath my fingers, her perfect little heart falling in sync with mine. “I fucked up. Is that what you want to hear, baby?”
“Don’t call me that,” she whispers brokenly.
My other hand brushes her golden hair behind her ear, the softness of her strands embedding into my fibers like a warm memory. Her breath stutters under my grip, and that’s when I realize I’m not doing this to hurt her.
I’m doing this because it’s the closest she’ll allow me to get without fighting me.
I release her, slowly, my palm opening until she gulps in air and stumbles back.
She presses a hand to her throat, eyes staring wildly at the floor before rage overtakes her and her cold gaze snaps to mine.
“You don’t get to make the decisions here.
” She says, her voice raw. “You don’t get to chain me to you just because you’re afraid of losing me. ”
Afraid.
The word digs deep, gouging into my subconscious like a knife. I step closer again, but this time, it’s pure gravity tugging me towards her—that invisible connection we’ve always shared is no longer frayed and ripped.
“You think this is fear?” My voice drops into a gravelly rumble. “This is obsession, Melody. It’s knowing that no matter how far you run, you’re still carved into my fucking skin. I see you when I close my eyes. I hear you in utter silence. I breathe, and I can still taste you on my tongue.”
Her chest rises and falls quickly, but she doesn’t move. “That’s not love.”
My thumb brushes over her pulse, a gentle touch that doesn’t reflect the raging inside of my mind. “No, little sister,” I murmur. “It’s something far worse.”
The air between us thickens how it used to, electrifying with the connection we’ve always shared.
It hums through our veins, making us weak for each other.
I lean in until our foreheads nearly touch, and her breath fans my lips.
“You want me to say that I fucked up?” I whisper.
“Fine. I did. I broke your trust, and I broke you.”
Her lips quiver as a single tear slides down her cheek.
I cup her face, holding her like the precious thing she is. “And I would do anything to undo it,” I finish. “Except pretend I don’t still want you.”
Her hand curls around my wrist, and her warmth spreads through me, feeling as if I’ve finally been touched by Elysian. “Wanting isn’t enough, Kaden.” She whispers.
“No,” I agree. “It isn’t.”
She closes her eyes, her lashes dotted with glistening wetness. “You don’t get to do this to me…”
“Too late,” I whisper.
My lips crash over hers, consuming and hard. I close my eyes, allowing myself to finally have this moment—the very thing I’ve dreamed of for six years. She tastes the same as she always has, like coming home.
She gasps, drawing back before a stinging slap is delivered across my cheek. I bear it, not opening my eyes as I work the pain through my jaw.
Her hits have gotten better.
“I can’t believe you just did that!” She rages, balling up her fists as she turns away from me.
My eyes flutter open as my tongue darts along my bottom lip to collect the memory. She’s shaking, her back turned to me as her shoulders remain rigid and her fists clench at her sides.
“I can’t believe you just did that!” She spits again, her voice cracking.
“You said that already.”
She whirls on me, her eyes glassy, furious, and wounded. God, she’s always been devastating when angry. All heat and bite.
She lifts her finger to my chest, slowly advancing on me. “You don’t get to disappear for six years and act as if nothing changed between us!”
My gaze drops the moment she touches me. It’s small, but it feels branding. “I don’t think nothing changed.” I mutter. “I think everything changed.”
Her laugh is sharp and bitter. “You don’t know the first thing about what I went through.”
“No,” I admit quietly. “I don’t, but I know what I did. I left you alone with the fallout. I know I chose my own pride and urges over you. I know I tried to convince myself that burning it all to the ground would have been better for both of us.”
Her expression droops downward, her lips wobbling.
“I don’t deserve the way you used to look at me,” I say. “I know that.”
“Then why are you here, Kaden?”
Because I never stopped loving you.
Because six years couldn’t dull the ache of missing you.
Because I couldn’t learn to breathe without you near.
I meet her eyes, conviction and truth in my sight. “Because I tried living without you and I felt like I was fucking dying, Sunny.”
Her gasp is light, barely audible, as it hangs between us. There’s so much tension crackling like a live wire that it clouds my vision. My only clear image is of the woman I’ve loved since I first met her.
“Is everything okay?” Dylan’s voice shatters our moment, and I close my eyes, resting my head back against my shoulders.
I’m going to kill him. Slowly and painfully.
Melody wipes her cheeks quickly, plastering on a forced smile as she steps around me. “I’m fine.”
“I finished the food for you,” Dylan says as if he’s proud of himself for the bare fucking minimum.
“Thank you, baby,” Melody says quietly as they walk down the steps.
I’m left alone, my own fucking mistakes biting me in the ass.