Page 83 of Misted

“Hiding?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. Your fury, your anger, and your damn existence have always been mine. Do you think I don’t know you’ve been hiding something?” He stops when the water grazes my chin.

I helplessly try to climb up his body, but he pins both my hips down under the water.

“I’m not hiding anything.”

How stupid was I to think he wouldn’t notice? He’s as perceptive about me as I am about him. We’re two facets of the same coin.

“Do you like having me as your enemy, is that it?”

I thin my lips in a stony line. Having him as an enemy is a nightmare but it’s no worse than the alternative.

“Unless you tell me…” He trails off in a low growl. “I’ll continue hating you, torturing you, and making both our lives fucking hell.”

Tears rim my eyelids no matter how much I try to blink them away. I’m in the middle of a deserted beach hugging the one person that ever mattered to me, but I can’t tell him anything. Do I have to watch him hate me until the end of my days?

No. If Ink comes out, it won’t be long before I confess everything.

“Why do I have to talk while you remain silent?” I shoot back. “Why don’t you tell me why you killed Poison’s disciple and made an enemy out of him? Why don’t you tell me why you broke Croft’s arm and fought Shadow right after? Why?”

I know why. From what Molly mentioned, it was all for me. But that’s not what I want to know. I’m itching to hear him say he did it because he still cared, not because he’s territorial and wants to be the only one who hurts me.

If he tells me that, if he just says the words, I might break and spill everything.

“I’m asking for the last time.” His cold tone feels like ice on my shrivelling heart. “What are you hiding?”

“Nothing.”

“Wrong answer.” He places a hand on my chest and pushes me away. I fall back with a shriek. Water slaps my back before I’m drowning into a dark abyss. I try to move my hands and legs, but it turns into fumbling with no avail.

My lungs suffocate and I swallow salty, thick water with each gulp. Just when I think I’m going to die, a strong hand grips my arm and pulls me to the surface.

I gasp on air as my hair covers my face. My hands flounder about until I find Hawk’s arm and hold on to it with all my might. He’s my doom and my saviour all in one consuming package.

“What. Are. You. Hiding?” He spits every word.

When I shake my head, he starts to remove my hand. I jump his neck in a hug so tight, I feel his pulse against my fingers.

“Don’t.” My voice chokes with a sob. “Not now, please. I beg you.”

“Why?” He hits the water with a fist. “Tell me fucking why?”

Usually, no one can see Hawk’s temper flaring, but I used to sense it through the tiny clench in his jaw or his abnormally rigid posture.

Now, I feel it pouring out of his skin like hot, burning acid. It makes me hate myself more than I already do.

He punches the water over and over again. A smarter person would’ve removed herself from his immediate vicinity. I don’t.

I cling to him and whisper in a broken voice. “Hug?”

“Fuck!” He storms out to the shore with me wrapped all around him. Once I can stand on my feet, he removes me from around his neck and stalks to the shore.

I abandon my pride and my stupid little plans and run after him, thanking the waves for pushing me.

Once he’s within reach, I wrap my arms around his waist and bury my face in his strong, yet rigid back.

I repeat in a more broken tone. “Hug?”