Chapter 28 Lexie #2
Cody wipes the blood from his nose and bolts like a bull released from a cage and tries to swing, but Theo’s right hook meets Cody’s jaw.
One hit, two, so lightning fast that I barely register what’s happening.
Theo grips Cody on the collar and slams him into the concrete with a sickening thud.
Theo drops to his knees, his elbows flying up, hitting and punching and raging.
“You motherfucker,” he’s yelling, driving Cody into the pavement.
“How dare you touch her…” Cody’s face is a mess, blood spilling from his nose, his mouth, streaking down his chin.
Oh God. “You don’t get to put your hands on her,” he snarls.
“Ever. If you so much as speak to her again, I will kill you. I will fucking gut you. Do you hear me?”
The words crash over me, loud and vicious.
“She’s mine,” Theo growls. “Mine.”
What the hell is happening? There’s too much noise. Too much blood. My brain can’t keep up with the violence, the shouting, the fact that Theo claimed me as his.
Over and over, Theo lands brutal hits, pure rage driving every blow. The alley fills with the sickening sounds of bones breaking. My stomach churns, bile burning at the back of my throat, yet I still don’t move. I don’t pull Theo off. I don’t scream for help.
I just watch.
I know it’s wrong. And still, a dangerous heat coils low inside me, because he’s doing this for me. Because he didn’t hesitate. Because he was willing to burn everything down to protect me.
It’s toxic. It’s sick.
And it terrifies me how easily that thought takes hold, because the man in front of me doesn’t look like Theo anymore. His eyes are black with fury, his movements wild and relentless.
He looks like he’s going to actually kill Cody.
“Theo! Stop. Please.” When his elbow jerks up, I grab him—both hands locking around his bicep—and wrench him back. Muscle cord hard beneath my grip. Blood slicks his knuckles. Cody’s? His? I don’t know.
Theo staggers away from Cody’s barely conscious and broken body sprawled on the ground. His fists are still clenched, his chest heaving.
Then he looks at me.
His eyes are wild, unfocused—burning with fury—he doesn’t really see me yet.
It takes a few seconds for him to come back to himself.
But as soon as our eyes lock, time stops.
This has to be a dream. A hazed, fevered unreality.
None of this could have just happened. The world around us fades, drowned out by the rush of my breath and the thunder of my heart, and for a terrifying moment, I think I might pass out.
Our gaze breaks as Theo glances down at Cody, then back at me.
Something shifts in his expression, a split-second hesitation, before he turns and storms towards me.
He rakes his bloodied fingers through my hair and crushes his mouth into mine.
Fuck… The shock sends me stumbling back a step before instinct takes over and I capture his mouth.
The kiss is brutal—rushed, possessive, bruising.
His dirty, bloodied hands are everywhere: my jaw, my neck, my ass, leaving streaks of blood in his wake that should make me recoil in fear but only turn me on more.
His mouth is intoxicating—soft and devastating all at once—a promise of pain and longing and ruin.
I’m already lost to it. He owns my mouth, tugs my hair, bites down just hard enough on my lips to make my breath hitch.
My legs tremble. My pulse skids out of control.
I cling to him, pulling him into me, pressing myself closer and closer into his hard body.
“Oh, Lexie,” Theo murmurs, low and wrecked. “You taste so good.”
The words hit me hard. The velvety tone in how he said “Lexie”… Wait. Stop. What am I doing?
I yank my head away and shove him back, scrubbing at my mouth like I can erase the last few seconds. “What are we doing?” I manage, my voice breaking.
Oh God, oh God, oh God. We just kissed. I want to spit him out, cry, and do it again all at once. “Get the hell away from me!”
“Wait, no, listen to me.” He reaches for me with his bloodied hands, but I put up my arms to stop him.
“Don’t say my name. Don’t you dare fucking say my name.
Oh my God, what the hell have I done?” I push at him, once, twice, then over and over as he stands there and takes my blows.
“You’re getting married. Why… why did you just kiss me?
Why did you come here?” My stuttered breath locks inside my trembling body.
I’m flushed with want and regret and adrenaline, sick from what I did, disgusted that I want more.
I finally stop pushing him and step back on my stumbling, shaking feet.
What am I supposed to do now? My body burns. My mouth is raw, scratched from his facial hair. Rage fills me.
He eliminates the distance between us, his gaze boring into mine. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that, but… there’s more going on than what you know.”
“Stop it. Stop talking.” My body is on fire, betraying me in the worst way.
My galloping heart feels like I ran a marathon, and guilt drowns me.
I can’t believe he just did that. I can’t believe I just did that.
I need to leave. I’m outside and there’s still not enough air.
I push Theo away, storm past a groaning Cody to get out of the alley and turn the corner with Theo trailing at my heels.
He grabs my arm and I freeze. “Please listen to me,” he says, soft and calm like a fucking lunatic as blood drips down his hands and into his sleeves. “Just calm down for a second and listen.”
“Calm down? Calm fucking down? I don’t want to hear what you have to say.
This is what you do. This… goddammit.” I hate my aching mouth and simmering body and this craving for him to kiss me again.
I want to punch him and fuck him and hug him all at once and I cannot fucking do this.
“You’re messing with my head! This isn’t me.
I’m not sure what kind of women you’re used to, but this isn’t me. I can’t do this.”
“I know, I know, but I promise you there’s other things happening that I can’t talk about. You just have to trust me—”
“Trust you? Are you kidding me? You’re getting married to the nicest woman in the world, you just kissed me, and you want me to trust you? You are fucking poison.”
His nostrils flare as he pulls in a deep breathe. “I know what this looks like, but just… shit… it’s not what you think.”
It’s not what it looks like? Does he think I’m stupid?
I cross my arms. I’m over this. Him, us.
Feeling this way and knowing I can’t have him.
Drowning in guilt from lusting over an engaged man, while wanting to break down in tears knowing no one else has ever made me feel the way he does.
I glare, trying as hard as I can to stop the trembles in my voice, but it’s useless. “Then tell me. Right now.”
His face drops.
“Tell me why you kissed me like that. Why you make me feel the way I do, and say the things you say, and you rented a fucking studio apartment next to me, when you’re getting married?”
His eyes fly wide open. His mouth drops. But he doesn’t say anything.
“Why, Theo?” I say, now unable to hold back a choked, trembling sob and I hate that he’s seeing me break. “Why did you come here tonight and save me and kiss me like that? Because we’re fucking friends?”
He stays totally silent, unspoken words flashing across his face, but I need him to speak.
“Why?” I say, half demanding, half pleading, all of me sick to my stomach. “Tell me! Why are you doing this to me?”
He grips my shoulders, his jaw flexing and popping, his gaze so intense that my legs shake.
“Because you won’t get out of my fucking head!
” His voice shatters. “I can’t take it… I can’t take it anymore.
You’re everywhere. At night, during the day, in my dreams, my fucking nightmares, you are always fucking there. ”
Everything slows. The traffic. The pedestrians. My heartbeat. The sounds of music trailing from whatever bar where we’re standing mutes. He steps back and wipes his mouth with his sleeve. “I can’t get you out of my head.”
And now, he sounds broken.