isn’t like that.”
His teeth pressed to my cheek. “You used me.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“You don’t fucking want me, just my cock.”
“No!”
“She looked at me like I was a piece of shit, and you didn’t say a fucking word. Not a fucking word. You threw me back onto the street like a used rubber.”
“I wasn’t throwing you out!” I screeched. “I just needed some time.”
“YOU THREW ME OUT! Just like me fucking mam did. Ain’t nobody wants a monster like me, do they? I ain’t worth fucking shit!”
I flinched as he kicked out at the wall, landing his foot right between my legs and only just missing my knee. “I didn’t throw you out, Callum, I swear.”
“Didn’t want me no more, did ya? Not when she was there. Judged me like her, didn’t ya? Ashamed.”
“I’m not ashamed.”
“YOU WERE!” He took my wrists in one hand to hold them high, clamping his fingers tight around my throat. “Don’t follow me,” he growled. “Stay the fuck away.”
I rubbed my neck while he retreated, my hand on Casey’s back until she followed.
I hobbled my way along after him. My progress was slow and awkward, breath loud in my ears as I tried to follow in his footsteps.
A doggy whine alerted me to their location. It rang out just once, from my left, down by the bin storage.
“Callum?” I croaked. “Are you there?”
A security light glowed dull as I stepped into the trash yard. It was a stinky shithole, black bins pilled high along the walls. A couple of wheeled bins had been tipped on their side, spilling recycling waste across the tarmac.
“Callum?”
“You must have a fucking death wish.” The light here suited him, caressed the hard lines of his face.
“I won’t give up,” I said. “I love you too much.”
“Love my fucking cock, you mean.”
“I love more than your cock, Callum.”
He circled me like a lone wolf would hunt deer, eyes heavy and considered. “I’m a savage,” he said. “That’s what you want from me.”
“No.”
“You don’t know where I’ve been, what I’ve seen. Don’t know what I’ve done, Sophie. What I had to do to survive.”
“Stop it,” I snapped. “Please, Callum. Please let’s just go home.” I held out a hand but he didn’t take it.
“You wet for me? I bet you are. You like it fucking dangerous.”
“I like it at home,” I said. “Let’s go.”
“Wanna play hard, is that it?”
“I want to you to come home!”
“Home? Here’s my home, amongst the shit and the piss and the trash. Here’s where I belong, Sophie. Wanna see who I am?”
“I know who you are!” I hissed. “And I know I hurt you, I know that. I didn’t mean to!”
He pulled his hoodie off over his head. His chest was so fucking beautiful in that light. The darkness played with his tattoos, casting orange shadows over the plains of his chest. I sucked in my breath. He was so fucking beautiful. His abs rippled as he moved, the V of his hips trailing away under the low hang of his jeans.
“Run,” he growled.
“No.”
“You’d better.”
“Never.”
“I’ll hurt you. Tear you apart. Take what I want.”
I dropped my bag, shrugged off my jacket to leave me in just a flimsy blouse and a short skirt. “I’m yours.”
“You ain’t mine. Never have been.”
“I’ll prove it,” I rasped. “Do whatever you want, you’ll never get me to leave.”
“That a fucking promise, is it?” he seethed. “Wanna make it up to me now? Too fucking late.”
“Do it, Callum. Make me yours.”
“SHUT UP!” he boomed.
Casey whined again from the shadows and he hissed her to be quiet. My clammy fingers fumbled with the buttons on my blouse, “You want this?”
He stopped pacing for a moment, dark eyes roving my skin. “Don’t.”
I slipped out of the blouse, let it drop to the floor. “What do I have to do, Callum? Tell me?”
“Fuck off,” he said. “For your own good.”
“No.” I stood proud, with my shoulders back and head high. “Show me your worst.”
I backed away as he lunged, but only for a moment. His grip was savage at the nape of my neck, twisting my head and driving me down onto all fours. He dragged me along by my hair as my knees grazed along the floor.
“This is who I am,” he spat. “This is where I come from.”
He pushed my face into the stack of rubbish bins, burying my nose amongst the stink until I retched. Only then did he let go, turning attention to the mounds of trash instead. He tore up the