Page 17 of Love Me

“That’s none of your concern.” Her cold voice slaps me awake from my mental wanderings.

I wanted her to say she missed me and couldn’t keep living without me.

A few more years until I could escape the Family’s clutches, and I would have gone to her to whatever part of this world and demanded she keep her promise of today, tomorrow, and always.

A pool of saliva spills in my mouth. My eyes follow the arch of her hips, my favorite dip. She’s my personal drug, and, like the addict I am, my need for a dose is higher than my self-preservation. My whole being trembles with withdrawal.

“Leave, Kaden. Now.”

Her glacial look sends shock waves through my system.

She tips her chin up, fury tightening the corners of her mouth. I grip her hands and pin them behind her back. One moment, I’m holding her captive. The next, she spins, freeing herself from my grip and lowering to an almost squat position. Her foot kicks mine, and I am flying on my back before I can even blink.

What the fuck just happened?

She lands on top of me and presses her elbow into my neck, squeezing my vocal cords.

“Stay out of my way. This is your only warning.”

She pushes off me, and my hands shoot to her waist, dragging her back down. Turning us over, I get on top of her.

She thrashes under me, but I’m bigger and stronger. Still, I am on high alert. While everything in her screams of familiarity, she behaves like a different person. I have trouble discerning between the memory of her and the reality of her.

“When and why did you learn that?”

Her eyes tighten into two slits, and she smirks. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Her phone rings, interrupting our moment, and she squirms even harder. I don’t loosen my grip on her, afraid if I do, I’ll lose my sanity as well.

“It must be Hunter.”

I hate how she pronounces his name, ringing with sweetness and love. I think I might die. My heart pounds so loud it may rip my ribcage apart. I wrap my hand around her neck. No, I fucking refuse to believe that there could be someone else for her than me.

She bares her teeth, a manic expression on her face.

Who is this girl? It took everything in me to remain impassive while she told us about her life abroad. I played on my phone to keep my hands occupied, to keep my focus on something other than grabbing her and saying fuck it all. I learned how to survive.

That old hag invited Hunter to the table, most surely planning a new alliance for more power and money.

“Did you fuck him?” If she says yes, I won’t fucking survive it.

She grinds her pussy against my cock. “Like this?”

I thought my heart died in my chest, and I was convinced she could revive it when we got back together, but now, she’s pulverized it.

I push off her before I lose it for good and do something stupid like spank her ass to remind her who she belongs to. Storming away, I hop in my BMW M8 Grand Coupe and speed away back to campus, punching the wheel and cursing.

Leaving the insular community behind, I drive toward the outskirts of Greenville until the steel college gates appear. The security guard greets me, opening them for me. The old and prestigious college building stands on acres of land. A washed-out gray cement building looks impressive, almost like a castle. Another thing the Family built and subsequently owns.

I park in front of the upscale college house and step outside, walking toward the entrance door. We live on campus so everyone can see we’re the heirs, and that we’re in control of everything.

I shut the door behind me, sinking back against it. Blake rounds the corner, nursing a glass of whiskey and carrying the bottle. He has built such a tolerance he could drink an entire shelf and still be coherent.

I relive the unease, the train wreck these last hours turned out to be.

In a flurry of movement, I snatch the bottle and throw it at the wall. The glass shatters, like my insides.

“I was drinking that.”

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