Page 6 of His Daggered Heart

“Alex?” Chills run down my back in this ninety-degree weather. I know who it is, I know that voice. I freeze, not wanting to look at him. “Are you okay, angel? Do you need any help?” My heart drops into my stomach and I feel my heart beating wildly in my chest. “I’m sorry, I saw you over here and didn’t know if I should offer you any help.”

I don’t know what to say. My brain is empty, I have no words. I’m scared to look over at him but like the idiot I am, I do. I look over my shoulder at him and see that his eyes look so sad. Empty. Cora’s words ring in my ears.“He’s devastated,”she said. I don’t understand why he would be. He looks absolutely torn up. His clothes are wrinkled, his hair is long, and his eyes are hollow. The green is so dull, the life that used to reside there is now gone. There is no way our breakup is having this effect on him. There has to be something else. I need to be closer, to feel his energy.

I look away, hoping he didn’t just see me taking inventory. “Sure, thank you,” I finally answer, my voice cracking. Having him this close makes the emptiness in me where he resided ache. An ache I’m able to cover up with a Band-Aid. A Levi-sized Band-Aid. Right now, it feels like I could bleed out. The scars are ripped open that easily. This man I love is broken and I broke him. I caused him to become this empty shell.

“How are you?” I ask as I move over to give him space to work.

“I’ve been good.” Lie. “How have you been? You look good.”

“Thank you,” I say, moving a loose piece of hair behind my ear. “I’ve been working out with a friend of mine.” The lug nut budges and he begins to take it off.

He clears his throat. “Hand me the spare, will you?” I roll it to him from the trunk.

“Thank you for coming up to help me. I’m… I’m sorry if this is awkward.” He puts the spare on and begins to put all the parts of the tire back together, the veins in his arms protruding as he works. I always loved his arms. “Kohen, I’m sorry.”

He stands now, our bodies inches from each other. He smells amazing. His signature scent of leather and strawberry fills my nose. God, I miss him.

“Sorry for what, Alex?” He reaches over and places the same loose strand of hair behind my ear that I did moments ago, his finger grazing my cheek as he pulls away. My eyes flutter closed. “Sorry for what?” he repeats softly, his minty breath kissing my senses.

“Sorry for being so hard to love.” I open my eyes, and I’m met with dark green ones. They are scanning mine, searching for the words behind the ones I’ve muttered.

“You’re sorry for moving on so fast?” My heart skips a beat, confusion filling me, and something else I can’t quite put a finger on. Fear, maybe. I forget for a second that he thinks I’m dating Levi. “Or are you sorry for blocking me at the first sign of something sketchy in this pretty little head of yours?”

I shake my head. Who the fuck does he think he is? Why is he acting like this? “Kohen, I-”

He interrupts me, grabs the back of my neck, and pulls me to him. His lips just barely touch my ear as he whispers with an angry tone, “Or maybe, you’re fucking sorry for waking up a beast I had long laid to rest. I’m not letting you go, Alex Monroe. You belong to me, and tell the little cowboy you’re riding that I’m coming for you, and there’s not a damn thing he can do to stop me.”

He releases me and storms off before I can even say anything. I don’t even know that I could find anything to say. I’m fucking shocked. I don’t know who that was but it wasn’t Kohen. Tears stream down my cheeks as I watch him make his way across the parking lot to a motorcycle. It looks brand new, black on black with metallic red accents in the wheels and logo, FTR. He salutes me before he puts on his helmet and drives away, leaving me behind bleeding out from the scars he just ripped wide open.

Chapter 6

Kohen

Shelooksdifferent,beautifulbut different. She looks happy, as if I never existed, just going on with her life like our love meant nothing. I wonder if he makes her happy. I hope he does. I know I walked away, but I didn’t think she would run into another guy’s arms that fucking quick. I feel my anger boiling under the surface of my skin, aching to free itself and to burn through every layer of protection I’ve built so it can destroy everything in its path. I’ve worked so fucking hard to not become my father, to be the man my mother raised me to be, but it’s getting harder.

I watch her as she grabs the tire iron off the pavement. The sun is out and there isn’t a cloud in the sky, no breeze or wind, and it’s humid. She’s sweaty and I know how much she hates to be hot and sticky. I only came here because I heard the little cowboy she’s running around playing her voice messages in the locker room. He must not know about me because I was sitting right behind him. He’s a transfer and he’s on the gymnastics team. What are the fucking odds? She must have a craving for athletes. She has to know he trains here and is probably throwing it in my face. That’s Alex for you, always a step ahead. It’s kill or be killed with her.

I decided to welcome him to the team. I didn’t give my name but I got his. Levi. I was trying to scope out the situation. I told him the girl in the messages sounded cute and he agreed. Then I asked if he had known her long and he said they had spent every day together until today since training started.

“What’s her name?” I asked and he looked at me suspiciously.

“I call her sweetness,” he responded. I noted his Southern accent. He said his goodbyes and went into training as I heard his phone ping in his locker. My gut told me it was her.

I found her quickly because I still have her location. I know it’s crazy but she and Cora seem to be magnets for danger so I kept it in case she needed me. I just wanted to see where she was while she was messaging him. When I saw she had been in the same parking lot for over thirty minutes, I decided to head over.

So here I am, like a fucking stalker.

She had spent every fucking day with him. That’s what drives me to get off my motorcycle and offer her some help. I need to be near her, even if it’s just for a moment. I walk over quietly and stand behind her for a few seconds. Her sweet scent fills the air around me, suffocating me in the best and worst ways, cracking me open even wider and filling me up. I take a deep breath, centering myself before I speak. I gaze over her curvy body as she climbs up onto the tire iron attached to the lug nut. It must be stuck.

“Alex?”

Chapter 7

Alex

Isitinmycar bawling my eyes out as I wait for Levi. He is going to follow me to his place. I don’t know why he is such a good friend to me. I don’t deserve a damn thing in this world. Kohen tried to prove to me that I was worth his love, or love in general but I’m even more sure now that I’m a piece of shit. I’ve been sitting here blaming him for leaving when I know damn well I pushed. I push like I always fucking do. How can I expect people to stay when I push them to the ends of their sanity to prove they truly love me? It’s crazy. I’m fucking crazy.

Who the fuck was that? That wasn’t my Kohen. His eyes were so empty, all the life I loved drained from them. There was something dark emanating from him. I felt it, the energy from it choking me.