“So can you guess why?”
“I hardly think I need to be in this position or have you in my room in the middle of the night to play a fucking guessing game.”
“Careful with those big words, little girl.”
“Get over yourself, Keiran. We’re the same age.”
“That’s where you have it wrong. I’m nothing like you.”
I gritted my teeth to tamp down the onslaught of desire I couldn’t shake but held on to the growing anger. “Say what you came to say and get out.”
“What makes you think what I came to do involve words?”
“Because you seem to have a lot of them.”
His deep chuckle vibrated all the way down my body. “Is that a challenge?”
“It’s whatever you want it to be. I just want you gone.”
His laughter ended, and I knew he was assessing me in the way he always did, gauging my sincerity. I felt my words and their meaning down to my soul, and still, I knew I didn’t mean it. It frustrated me more than the sexual buildup he insisted on creating every time we were near.
I wanted to put him away forever. They wanted to kill him.
I was being pulled in two different directions—the need to hurt him and the need to protect him.
The sweet scent of his breath was intoxicating, and then I felt it—his lips near my ear.
He whispered, “And I just want inside you.”
I felt the rush, the clench, and the goddamn fucking need.
Each encounter, no matter how close he got to me or how far he stayed away, made it harder and harder to keep my promise.
“Your scare tactics are getting old, Keiran. We won’t be in high school forever.” He pressed against me from behind but didn’t make any further movements.
“If you think I’m trying to scare you, then my seduction skills need serious work. Besides, I don’t need fear to control you anymore. My cock is pretty good at making you do what I want.”
“And what will you do when I’m thousands of miles away and no longer vulnerable and available?”
“Who says I’ll let you get that far?”
“And how do you plan to stop me?”
“In whatever way that works.” He flipped me around to face him. I had seen the intent in his eyes before I was falling backward, engulfed in the now stifling heat of my bedsheets.
“Keiran… no.” The knife continued it’s descent of my torso, slicing and ripping away my barriers. He wanted me exposed in every way. He needed me vulnerable. “Don’t do this.”
When he expertly ripped away the remnants of my shirt, ignoring my struggles, I screamed. A sound so unnatural and desperate it actually pierced my gut painfully and shook my body. He jerked upright to stare down at me in stormy surprise, but it was too late. The need for survival had already consumed me. My teeth sunk into the flesh of his right shoulder. I didn’t stop biting. Even when I was assaulted with the metallic taste of his blood, I didn’t stop.
I heard his curse and grunt of pain, but it only spurred me on. He could have easily dislodged me with a quick, merciless flick of his knife. The floodgates opened and released, turning my gaze murky.
Careful hands banded around my upper arms, lifting me away but keeping me close. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he demanded, shaking me.
Was that a serious question? I shoved him away in disgust and if I weren’t feeling so damn crazed, I would have laughed at his look of astonishment. “I won’t let you make me a scared little girl again.”
“Lake? Open the door! I heard you scream—should I call the police?”
Shit. I’d forgotten Aunt Carissa was home.
We watched each other for the longest time, both waiting to see what I would do. I held Keiran’s gaze as I answered. “Uh… yes, I’m fine. I stubbed my toe and thought I broke it.”
“Do you want me to look at it?”