careful, waiting for what I have to say but I’ve got nothing. I can feel his hot breath on my face. It should distress me, but it doesn’t. My heart calms down some as we stand there, but everything else is hyperaware of him. I can’t help it.
There’s so much I want to say right now. So much I’m feeling, and I know he’s feeling it too, so I look up into his eyes.
“Listen, I—,” I look around, now on the brink of bursting out in tears, but it would give him so much satisfaction if I cry. “I’m…”
“Finish what you wanted to say about my brother,” he growls, cutting me off, now angrier than he was before.
His grip tightening around my neck. Not enough to leave a bruise, but enough to remind me that my life is literally in his hands.
I remain mute, fear radiating all over my body in waves that he doesn’t care for.
This is the reunion that I was scared of. I avoided all of the games with St. Jude, because I was a coward, hiding from him and his brother. I ran away a few minutes after getting to a party because I would’ve seen him across the room. I escaped every space and every corner that I knew he might be at, like he was made up of gluten.
“Let go of me,” I whimper now.
I’m scared but I won’t beg him. I’m not a punk.
He smells so clean, like an ocean breeze and something uniquely him, a scent that has only matured and aged with time, but I got a hint of it the day he kissed me. And now, he smells like my undoing, and I’m not so sure I’m comfortable with that.
“Let go of me,” I repeat, watching him cautiously. “Or I’ll scream for everyone to hear. Imagine what they’ll think you’re doing to me.”
“Go ahead,” he challenges.
“I will…” I frown at him.
“That should’ve been your first move when I grabbed you, Little Minx.”
I almost melt the moment he says those words. I heard that pet peeve only once in my life, but I got so attached to it, I can’t breathe now that I’m hearing it again.
Little Minx.
My heart stops, every inch of me freezes and for a moment, I’m suspended in time by those two words.
Little Minx.
He remembers. He never forgot.
Then he snaps me out of my reverie.
“Why didn’t you scream the first time?”
I don’t know what to say. Why didn’t I scream when he grabbed my throat?
“I—” I start but he cuts me off.
“You knew it was me,” he growls, leaning into my ear, his lips almost skimming the shell of my ear. “You wanted my attention tonight, didn’t you?”
I freeze.
Who the fuck does this guy think I am? An easy hit for him?
“Get your filthy hands off of me!” I grit out. “I’m not your whore, and I sure as hell don’t want or need attention from your stupid brother or you for that matter.”
In one move, he pulls my body from the tree then bangs it with light pressure back, making me wince, but it’s surprisingly there’s no pain.
“So, this is who you are now?” I croak the words out, breathing hard as adrenaline spikes in me. “You assault women?”
“Don’t assess me like you know me,” he counters. “You’re not a woman. You’re a whiny little snitch-puppet.”
Three years ago, I opened my mouth…
We stare at each other for a long minute. There’s a darkness in his eyes that steals my breath away.
For that moment, I forget myself, forget where I am or who’s watching. All I want to do is reach up and touch him. Soothe his pain…because he’s in so much pain, I feel it in my bones.
He growls low in his chest, snapping me out of my trance.
He might be in pain, but that’s not my problem. But then, I can’t help but think… is his pain because of me?
“Do you have something to say?” he rumbles, looking pissed off and slightly confused. I frown, watching him. His eyes are so captivating, but then I get what he means. I scoff.
“I’m not apologizing for minding my own damn business.” I don’t know what he sees in my eyes but it’s obvious this brute is one of those assholes who don’t like it when someone stands up for themselves, let alone deny him anything. “And I don’t give a damn about bullies.”
“Bullies like yourself?” he counters, watching me. He doesn’t smile or smirk like his brother.