hit a switch and shed a light on Aiden’s demons.
I brought them out from the shadows. They stare at me with deranged anger and possessive obsessiveness.
And I know. I just know that I need to run.
Call it intuition or self-perseverance, but I feel it in my bones.
I need to escape him.
Whatever he has to tell me can wait until he’s no longer surrounded by a murderous gloom.
I whirl around and run, my breath catching in my throat.
I don’t make it three steps before an arm yanks me back. I cry out as I fall on the sofa head first. A suffocating weight slams on my back, covering me completely from behind.
Tremors jolt in my veins and my face nearly explodes from the heat.
“A-Aiden… w-what are you doing?”
He removes a stray strand of hair from my cheek with a gentleness that frightens me. “Do you remember what I said when you asked me what would I do if you cheat?”
I suck in shaky breaths. It’s like I’m asphyxiating.
He bites the shell of my ear, “Answer me.”
“That you won’t leave me.” My lips tremble.
“I changed my mind.”
“Y-you changed your mind? You’ll leave me?”
Why the hell is my heart shrinking into itself at the thought?
“I’ll never leave you, sweetheart.”
“But…” I breathe in the leather scent of the sofa. “You said you changed your mind.”
“I won’t leave you, but I’ll make you pay for every time I stopped myself from ripping his heart out.”
“Aiden…”
“Did you mistake my silence for approval?” he whispers in hot words. “Did you think you could provoke me and just walk away?”
My breathing deepens with each of his words.
I’m so fucked.
“I gave you a chance to be smart and get back in the game. I gave you the chance to make the right move, but you don’t want that, sweetheart, do you? You want me to make the move for you.”
“I wasn’t cheating. It’s not cheating if we were over.”
“Wrong answer. I guess we have to do it my way.” He yanks my skirt up.
“I didn’t cheat!” I cry out. “I never let him touch me.”
“But you did.” He licks the shell of my ear before he bites down.
“Get off me,” I shriek.
“Be smart, Elsa. If you pay like a good girl, you get what you want.”
I remain motionless for a while. I didn’t do anything wrong to pay, but if I say that, if I provoke him right now, then I have no idea what his demons will do.
Fine. If he wants sex then I’ll consider it a charity.
Or at least that’s what I tell myself as I nod.
He gets off me and cold air causes goosebumps to rise on my naked thighs.
I swallow, fingers clenching on the sofa as I wait for the inevitable.
Five seconds pass.
Ten.
Twenty.
I glance behind me through my tangled blonde strands.
Aiden sits on the chair, leaning on his elbow and watching me intently.
I stumble to a sitting position, smoothing my skirt down. “Now what?”
“Now.” He tilts his head. “I’ll fuck that mouth, sweetheart.”
16
Elsa
I’ll fuck that mouth, sweetheart.
My lips part in stupefaction as Aiden stands up. He rolls the cuffs of his shirt to his elbows, revealing a hint of his arrow tattoos. They ripple with the strong veins of his forearms.
He motions in front of him. “Kneel.”
No way in hell.
“Do you want me to make you?” He raises an eyebrow. “Is that it?”
One second passes.
Two.
Three.
“Last chance, sweetheart.”
If I bow to his command, he’ll have me at his mercy all over again. He’ll step on me just like before.
I promised myself that I’ll no longer take what he offers while I’m lying on the ground.
I’ll give back what he takes.
“Tell me something about you,” I blurt.
“Something about me,” he repeats still wearing that poker face.
“If you want to fuck my mouth, then you’ll tell me something no one else knows. I want the real Aiden, not the one hiding behind a facade.”
“You seem under the misconception that this is a negotiation.” He approaches me. “I don’t remember giving you a choice.”
It takes everything in me not to scramble back on the sofa and hide. That’s equal to admitting defeat before even starting. If I want to be equal to Aiden, then I need to have his level of confidence.
Or as close to that as possible.
I lift my chin. “I’m the one giving you a choice, Aiden. Either tell me or force me and fuck the mouth of a shell.”
His left eye twitches.
Aiden doesn’t like to be threatened, but it’s the only way I can think of