Hunter
I spare the man on the ground one final glance before I turn away, my attention already elsewhere.
On her.
Piper is halfway up the stairs, moving quickly, and too lost in her own thoughts to notice anything around her.
I pick up her book from the ground and follow.
I need answers, but I’m not convinced I’ll get them from her.
But that doesn’t stop me from following her up the stairs.
I followed her to the library and then all the way back here. I kept my distance the entire time, to give her the illusion of freedom, of space.
But the moment I saw Julian...
The moment I saw his hand on her...
Yeah.
Everything went pitch bloody black.
I reached them just in time to hear her tell him he was hurting her, and after that there wasn’t much room for reason.
He’s lucky I didn’t kill him.
I’m not reckless. I’ll leave that particular trait to Milo.
Before I do anything, I need answers. I need to dig deeper and find out exactly what his relationship with Piper is.
I know he’s her father’s right hand man.
What I don’t know is what exactly he wants from her.
Perhaps her father sent him. That would certainly make sense.
But the way he looks at her leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
But once I have more answers...
Well.
He may find that putting his fucking hands on Piper was the worst mistake he ever made.
And especially if I find out he’s the one responsible for those bruises.
She reaches her door, opens it and steps inside.
And just as she moves to close it, I stop it with my hand.
She gasps and turns towards me.
The tension in her shoulders eases slightly when she sees me, but it does nothing to calm the storm inside me.
I push the door open fully and step inside, closing it behind me.
She takes a step back, and I take one forward.
Back.
Forward.
The pattern continues until her back hits the wall, and I catch the small breath that leaves her when she realises there’s nowhere left to retreat.
I toss the book onto her sofa, and her eyes follow it.
My gaze drops to the arm Julian grabbed, and my jaw tightens.
“Are you hurt?”
She looks confused for a moment, then follows my line of sight.
“Ah... no. I’m okay. You should probably leave. I don’t even know why you’re in my room.”
Her eyes dart briefly towards the door behind me.
“He saw you,” she murmurs, more to herself than to me, and I watch the panic creep across her face. “He definitely saw you.”
And that lands fucking badly.
I place my hands on the wall on either side of her, harder than necessary, trapping her between me and the wall.
She flinches.
Something twists in my chest. Guilt, perhaps, or something close to it. Either way, I’m too angry to examine it.
“Who is he to you exactly, besides your father’s employee?” I ask.
She opens her mouth, then closes it again.
“I need to know,” I say. “Who is hurting you?”
“Why?” she whispers, her voice unsteady as tears fill her eyes.
“Because I’ll kill them for it.”
Her expression changes as though I’ve struck her.
“But I’m not yours to protect. Or kill for.”
I lift a hand and brush my thumb along her cheek.
“That,” I say quietly, “is where you’re wrong.”
And then I close the last of the distance between us and take her mouth in a kiss.
The moment our lips meet, the rest of the world falls away. She tastes so damn addictive that it’s dangerous. I’m a man with too many vices, and she’s quickly become the worst of them.
Despite all her attempts to push me away, her arms circle my neck, and one hand curls into my hair at the back of my head.
My hands roam her body, desperate to pull her closer.
The kiss is demanding, intense, and no matter how tightly I hold her, it still doesn’t feel close enough.
I lift her effortlessly, her legs wrap around my waist as I carry her towards the bed without breaking the kiss, without giving her the space to think, to retreat, to build those bloody walls again.
“We can’t keep doing this,” she breathes against my lips.
“You’re still talking,” I mutter, my voice rough as I kiss her again, silencing her once more.
I need her the way a drowning man needs air.
And fuck, I need her to need me just as badly.
What the hell happened to me?
For the longest time, I thought I was immune to this sort of thing.
Now I know better.
Piper bloody Ashthorne happened.