His broad shoulders eat up the horizon, filling my vision with the dazzling strength of his presence.
The black T-shirt tightens around his biceps, and the tattoos ripple with each flex of his muscles. As if, like him, they’re on the edge.
My gaze flicks to where he’s touching me. My elbow.
That’s what he always grabs when he wants to put distance between us, when he treats me like nothing more than the object of his dirty fucks.
In fact, he’s only held my hand about twice.
The place where his flesh meets mine burns, flares, and gains a life of its own. And that has less to do with how his fingers dig into my skin and more to do with the fact that he’s touching me.
Those ash, cold-blooded eyes that should be mass-produced as weapons are concentrated on Mia’s signing. Not once has he looked at me or acknowledged me, but the weight of their attention can be felt through the absence of it.
Mia has finished signing and is now waiting for Jeremy’s reply with a hand on her hip.
“He’s all yours,” he tells her, obviously having understood her.
“Oh?” Landon jumps up to a standing position and straps his mask around his neck, appearing as cool as ever, short of the bruising and blood. “I’m going have to decline whatever deal you two have.”
He grabs my other hand. “Cecy and I have a date.”
No, we don’t.
But before I can say that, merciless fingers dig further into the flesh surrounding my elbow and I wince.
“The only date you’ll have is for a funeral.” Jeremy tugs hard, wrenching me from Landon, or more like, my childhood friend lets go at the last second.
“Necrophilia. Yum.” He grins with a suggestive lick of his lips. Mia lifts her leg to kick his crotch again, but he blocks her with a hand on her head, effectively immobilizing her in place. “Jesus fucking Christ, calm down, and stop acting like a rabid dog.”
That only makes her want to grab at him more as she struggles, punches, and kicks—mostly the air.
Lan effortlessly escapes her attempts at violence and stares at Jeremy with his provocative smile. “Let go of Cecily.”
“No.”
I pull my elbow free. “You have no right to touch me.”
He finally slides his gaze to me in the form of a glare. I glare right back.
Why does he get to act this way when he’s the one who ended us?
“What she said.” Lan tsks and shakes his head while Mia continues to struggle and exert herself for nothing. “How does it feel to be the second choice to me? In fact, you wouldn't have even been on her list if you hadn't stalked her.”
Jeremy strides over to him, but I jump between them. I know precisely what Landon is doing by making him jealous. He wants Jeremy to be with me again, but I won’t stand by and watch him claim ownership he doesn’t have.
I stare at Jeremy, even as my heart beats in my throat. “Stop it.”
“Step away.”
“I said, stop it.”
“And I said to step the fuck away.”
My whole body shivers at the lash of his words. I haven’t heard the gruff timbre of his voice for so long, and now that I do, it’s fills me with a myriad of chaotic colors and twisted emotions.
“We’re out of here.” Lan is dragging a struggling and obviously angry Mia out of the storeroom. “Remember, Ces. You loved me first.”
I can sense the destructive energy in Jeremy before he acts on it. If he’s stroking his fingers, that stops. And he usually stops breathing for one fraction of a second before he chooses violence.
Despite being scared shitless of this part of him, I don’t think about it as I block his path again.
Jeremy slams into me, my head bumps into his chest, and he steps on my foot, but he swiftly pulls back and actually stops.
That destructive energy that I’m sure is always thirsty for blood slowly lulls, tucking itself beneath the surface of his apparent calm.
He flexes his palm and remains still, probably realizing that Landon is already out of reach.
When he speaks, his voice shimmers with thick tension and unveiled anger. “Are you hurt?”
I touch my forehead as if that will somehow camouflage the trembling in my chin. Why does he have to ask that when he was the one who ripped my heart open.
“No thanks to you.”
His hand reaches for me, and I go still for a second, waiting, imagining the impact of his flesh on mine.
He drops it back down as another presence appears at the doorway. Zayn. My colleague who’s also been volunteering at the shelter.
“I heard a commotion. Is everything okay?” he asks in a careful tone.
Jeremy’s savage attention slides to him and I can see that unbounded violent energy rearing its head. If I don’t defuse this situation, he’ll probably use poor Zayn as a punching bag and brutalize him. After all, he’s still on a high from the whole Landon encounter.
“It’s all good, Zayn,” I say calmly.
His gaze flits between me and Jeremy, a frown etched between his brows. “Are you sure—”
“Fuck off.” Jeremy’s lethal tone booms around us.
Zayn straightens and I nod with an awkward smile in a desperate attempt to defuse the situation.
“Let me know if you need anything,” my colleague says, then swiftly disappears out of sight.
I don’t blame him. No one wants to be in Jeremy’s orbit, especially when he’s enraged.
His harsh eyes fall back on me. “And who the fuck was that?”
“None of your business.”
“Cecily…don’t piss me off any further.”
“That statement should be directed at you! Why are you bothering me?”
“Why the fuck are you always in my way?”
“Why are you?”
“You’re fucking infuriating.”
“And you’re like a wild animal.”
“You didn’t seem to mind when I fucked you like an animal. In fact, you screamed and begged to be taken like my filthy little whore. But now that my mark has vanished from your flesh, you think you can let another man touch you?”
My starved body heats, but I force myself to remain calm. “Whether I let another man touch me, fuck me, take me like a filthy whore, or dirty me all up is none of your damn business. In fact, I might be tempted to take Lan up on his offer of taking me on a tour through the sex club.”
I won’t, and I really don’t know what’s come over me to speak like that, but I want revenge.
I want to hurt him for all the time he’s left me hanging.
He made me addicted to him and then forced me into the worst withdrawal.
And the best way to piss off a possessive man like Jeremy? Bring up other men. Especially Landon. He clearly has a beef with him.
“What did you just say?” he asks slowly, menacingly, and with enough tension to crumble a mountain.
“I said I’ll go to the club with Lan. Experiment a little and see what other men feel like. I’m sure they don’t all come with so much drama.”
One moment I’m standing there, and the next, he’s slamming me against the nearest wall with a tight grip on my neck.
The breath is knocked from my lungs for an entirely different reason.
I’m in a position where I’m overwhelmed by Jeremy’s power until it’s the only thing I inhale.