Page 16 of Hide From Me

What the hell. I had the element of surprise. She didn’t know I’d been watching her every move for the last few years. Why wouldn’t she be surprised?

“You hung up on me.”

The corner of her lip twitched. Was she laughing at me?

“Please. You deserved it. You drugged me.”

This was bullshit.

“On accident. You needed the fucking sleep, Rylee.”

She ducked and tried to get under my arm. At least I was faster and could win that. I gripped her around the waist and carried her back into the hall. The slamming of the door shook the glass. I pressed her up against the wall and glowered with everything I fucking had.

The second she opened those pink lips, I was a goner. Whatever punishment I wanted to dish out would wait. I slammed my lips against hers and cut off whatever she was about to fucking say. Her smart mouth was going to cost her, but right now? It felt like I’d wanted her since the moment I’d seen her. I’d tried to be the hero, but I wasn’t anyone’s hero.

I was the villain of every story, including hers. She just didn’t know it yet.

Her body was perfect under me, her legs wrapping around my waist even though she had protested moments ago. My fingers dug into her ass as I fought a fine line between possessing her and trying to quench a thirst that I knew could never be sated.

My cock grew harder under my pants, and I ground my hips against her, loving the way she whimpered as I gave her just enough pressure that she knew exactly what she was missing. Memories of last night flashed through my memory, making me even harder. Fuck, if I didn’t stop this now, I was going to do something she’d certainly regret.

I yanked my lips away from hers, even though my body wanted so much more from her. I’d gotten her out of here. She’d had all the chances in the world, and yet here she was, wrapped inside of my world, and she didn’t even fucking know it yet.

“Why are you stopping?” she panted.

Her eyes were glossy with need, and I couldn’t stop the tickle of a smirk on my lips. I’d done that to her, and fuck, it should be wrong. She wasn’t a plaything. She shouldn’t even be here.

“Because if I don’t, then everything I’ve done for you will be for nothing.”

That seemed to wake her from her aroused coma. Her chest still heaved as I kept her pressed against the wall.

“What? What have you done for me? What does that even me?”

I wasn’t surprised her aunt never told her who was paying for her to have a good life. That aunt of hers sure as shit would have tossed her away just like her father, except there were strings attached. Those strings somehow had led my little blossom back here.

“It means nothing. Why did you have to come back here? You could have gone anywhere. You had options.”

I didn’t like the way she studied me. She was seeing far more than was okay. I kept the metaphorical mask up, but I needed the real one. I could only hide from her for so long before she saw the cracks and tears that only she would ever see.

“I came back to see you. I wrote you. Did you know that?”

I still hadn’t backed away, hadn’t bothered putting her down. She couldn’t run from me if I held her here.

“I knew. I wrote you, but you never got the letters.”

She stilled in my arms like she was holding her breath.

“What? Why didn’t I get them?”

I shrugged.

“Because I knew that if I gave you a lifeline, you’d come right back. The gang life isn’t for the weak, blossom. You were never meant for it. Your father was a giant fuckup, and you would have paid the price. You deserved better. It wouldn’t have mattered. The moment you walked into our piece of hell, I knew that I had to save you before they could crush your pretty little petals.”

I hated that I’d never wanted to lie to her. I’d known her for an entire week before I’d killed for her. That had been all it took. And I’d do it all again to save her.

Her phone rang in the bag on the floor near the door.

“It’s probably my job. I need to go, Cas. We can argue about the fact you never sent me the letters. We can talk about how you were the only fucking thing that made me want to keep going after my mom died and how you just pushed me away. All I wanted to do was say thank you.”