The Finished Masterpiece Boxed Set - Pepper Winters Page 0,33

to have him, completely irrational with need.

But then...his phone rang.

The shrill, hated little ring.

Slicing.

Shredding.

Slaying.

As quickly as Gil had attacked me with passion, he dropped me with ice.

Ring.

My feet splatted to the floor as he unlocked his arms.

Ring.

My body wobbled as he stepped away.

Ring.

My heart cried as he yanked the phone from his pocket and looked at the screen.

Instantly, any heat I’d caused in his bloodstream returned to glaciers and avalanches, killing any sign of desire for me with a rush of smoke.

Wiping his mouth, he glanced at me with crazed, glowing eyes. Partly manic but mostly resigned to making yet another mistake.

Ring.

With a deliberate breath, he wrapped himself in a suit made from nasty unkindness. “You were just skin to paint today, Olin. This meant nothing. Just like you meant nothing to me in our youth. Nothing. Do you hear me?” Holding the phone, ready to accept the call, he pointed at the door. “Forget me. Forget this. Get out, and never come back. I mean it.”

Ring.

Slightly tripping in his haste to get away from me, he hissed, “I never want to see you again. Trust me on that.”

Giving me his back, he marched into his office, his only purpose to answer his phone.

Ring.

He didn’t care his jeans and belt were undone.

He didn’t care his mouth still glistened with my kiss.

Ring.

He didn’t care...

About me.

The office door closed, and the ringing stopped.

Chapter Eight

______________________________

Olin

-The Present-

NO WINE.

I have no wine in my stupid apartment.

And I needed wine.

Desperately.

My lips sang from Gil’s the entire Uber ride home. My body ached and my mind—well, my mind was drunk already. Drunk on finally knowing what it felt like to be kissed by Gilbert Clark.

But my heart?

The useless thing was in tinkling pieces.

That damn phone.

Who the hell interrupted us? Why did they have the power to stop something that had felt so unbelievably real?

Throwing myself onto the tatty couch with its threadbare yellow cushions, I closed my eyes.

Stop thinking about it.

It was over.

Gil had kicked me out of his place.

He’d bit me, licked me, devoured me, and ordered me to never go back.

But he’s hurting...

I grabbed a cushion and curled around it.

Don’t, O. Don’t torture yourself—

My mind threw images of Gil in my face. Of the way his anger slipped, revealing bone deep need. Of the way his temper cracked, showing a man gasping for help.

He doesn’t need help.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

That was the problem with me.

I read into things.

Alone and with no one to talk to, my mechanism at coping was to solve other people’s problems. At least my life wasn’t so empty if I focused on them and granted them happiness, even if I couldn’t achieve the same results for myself.

He isn’t like the kids from high-school.

No, he was worse.

A thousand times worse.

Back then, the worst pain a student could carry was caused by a parents’ divorce or the death of a pet. I knew how to help with that. Knew how to be there for them until they were ready to talk and heal.

But Gil...

He harboured something monstrous.

Something that cannibalised him from the inside out. Something so black and vicious, it had twisted him into two versions of himself.

The Gil I knew was generous, protective, and kind.

The Gil I didn’t was violent, distraught, and full of malice.

He needs—

It doesn’t matter what he needs, I’m not allowed to go back.

I screamed into the cushion, pressing my mouth to the yellow fabric and exhaling my fear and frustration. I couldn’t just accept his command to forget about him. I’d never been able to walk away from something so inexplicably broken.

He was Gil! The boy who chose me above anyone.

I couldn’t just—

You don’t have a choice.

Memories of our kiss interrupted my internal argument. He’d kissed me as if he’d been drowning—as if I was untainted air, free from the filth around him. He’d claimed me as if he’d been dreaming of such a thing since he’d walked away from me.

A kiss like that couldn’t be given and then taken away.

A kiss like that demanded further investigation.

You. Are. Not. Allowed. Back. There. Remember?

Scowling, I plotted a way to disobey Gil and tried not to be carried away with daydreams of us.

You truly are a sucker for—

My stomach snarled, reminding me I hadn’t eaten my cucumber sandwiches and adrenaline from kissing Gil had burned through all my reserves.

My plan had been to buy groceries.

And that is what I shall do.

New task. New purpose. No more worrying about Gil. No more torturing myself if I should stay away or