Page 32 of The Burdens We Share
Ivory,
You can’t hide from me. Not in your home, not in your trailer, not even in a crowded club. Tonight was just a taste of how close I can get to you. You felt that, didn’t you? The fear, the excitement... It’s only going to get more intense.
Dallas can’t protect you forever. He thinks he can keep you safe, but he’s just an obstacle in our way. His presence in your life is temporary. Our connection is permanent.
This isn’t over. Not by a long shot.
Yours, always watching.
I look up after I finish reading and ask, “He’s not gonna stop until he kills me.”
Dallas’ head snaps at me and I’ve never seen him angrier, “Not if I kill him first.”
Chapter 12
Dallas
I couldn’t sleep. Itried, but I was so angry, so worked up that every time I closed my eyes, my mind would take me back to her opening the stall door and launching herself into my chest. The way she looked so broken, so utterly petrified had infuriated me unlike anything before. I want to strangle him with my bare hands for making her cry, for scaring her so badly that she could barely stand on shaking legs.
I want to scare him the way that he’s scared her. I want him to suffer for all that he’s done to her and all that he plans to do to her. And that note he left her today? I’ll be sure to bury him with it along with a bouquet of those stupid pink roses.
I sit on the floor outside of Ivory’s bedroom with my back pressed against her door. She’s sleeping inside, or at least I believe she is. I wouldn’t be surprised if she were up crying or panicking right now. The thought only enrages me further.
She trusts me. That much is clear from the way she threw herself into my arms. Since I first laid eyes on her I wondered what it would feel like to have her in my arms and now that I’ve finally gotten the experience, I can’t say it isn’t one I would like to have again. I want her in my arms, her lips on mine, my tongue inside her mouth all the time. I had to force myself with every shred of strength to let her go because I knew if I didn’t, I would’ve lost control and bent her over the counter. I would’ve taken her from behind and claimed her.
It was almost painful to stop myself, but I knew I had to. She had endured something extremely traumatizing and I’m nogood man, but I’m also no monster. It would’ve been wrong to take her after her emotions were so scattered. When I do take Ivory Aslan, and trust I will be taking her, it’ll be led by mutual lust, not her fear and my self-hatred for leaving her alone to go to that bathroom. No, when I finally claim Ivory Aslan after waiting for so long, it won’t be tainted by him or his presence.
He got too close to her tonight. If I’d been even a second later, he could’ve gotten into that stall. I had a bad feeling the minute she left the VIP section and when two minutes passed, I got up to find her. I knew I’d stand in the damn stall with her if I had to. When I was just down the hall, I heard an ear-piercing scream and I knew it was her. Then I heard her scream my name and I sprinted. By the time I made it to the bathroom, he was long gone. He’s fast, the bastard.
I was so enraged when I read that note because, in a way, I blame myself for his sudden hastiness. My presence in her life is rattling him. It’s making him angry which is making him more impulsive which essentially makes him more dangerous. I completely lost it and broke that mirror pretending it was his face, whatever it looks like. He may be frustrated, but so am I. He’s a smart piece of shit. He knows enough about me to know where my areas of expertise lie and he’s used that to his advantage avoiding cameras, wiping footage, being physically fit enough to make such a swift exit. I have to hope that his impulsiveness will lead to his sloppiness because I’m not sure how else I’m going to identify him.
The only thing I know for certain about this whole thing is that I willneverlet Ivory Aslan out of my sight again. Hell, I’d be in that bedroom with her right now watching her sleep if I was even sure she was really sleeping. I’ll just have to settle for sitting outside her door.
I know that nothing else can happen tonight. He made his move and he won’t try to strike again, especially not in herhouse. He knows I’ve upgraded her security system. I know all of this with certainty and yet I still couldn’t close my eyes to sleep because every time I did, I saw her tear-streaked, petrified face.
I sigh as I let my legs fall flat to the floor, my arms crossed across my chest. She kissed me back. I smirk at the thought. My little devil kissed me back and I could tell she wanted more. I know there’s a possibility that she was just caught up in emotion, but the selfish and Ivory Aslan-obsessed part of me will believe otherwise. I guess I’d just have to kiss her again to test the theory that she wanted that kiss just as much as I did.
My cock swells in my sweatpants and I adjust it against the fabric. I get rock solid just thinking about her. Everything about that woman intoxicates me. I grow just as hard as some prepubescent boy around her and it’s been this way since I first laid eyes on her.
About a year ago, I laid eyes on Ivory Aslan for the first time. When I knew I needed Harvey’s help with the company, I made it my business to learn the ins and outs of his life. I found his location, discovered he was working with Brody, and pinpointed every place he was and every place he’d been. That was how I put two and two together that there was something more there than a professional relationship. I knew if I wanted him to come back, I’d have to use Brody to get my way. And so I did. I gave him an offer he couldn’t refuse when I called him that day that he was at the studio with Brody and the girls. I watched the cameras as they interacted, as they worked. I was supposed to be watching strictly to strongarm Harvey, but I found myself watching the small brunette with the bright pink, glittery guitar and pink cowboy boots.
I knew with one look, I was a goner. I’d never seen something quite as perfect as Ivory Aslan and I became completely enamored by her. I wanted to make a move, to introduce myselfsomehow, to place myself in her path, but the timing never worked out. Harvey came back to work with me and things got so chaotic and out of control with the company, that my infatuation was placed on the back burner. I promised myself I’d handle the company first, that I would ensure I had no stress factors in my life when I finally made a move on the little devil.
But then that one fateful night happened. That one night happened and ruined me forever. I knew I would never be the same again. I fell into a spiral, I lost myself, I was consumed by darkness and depression and Harvey was there to help me. So was my brother, but there’s no light at the end of the tunnel when the tunnel is a dead end.
My heart felt like it stopped beating and had turned to stone in my chest. I lost any ability to feel and I became reclusive in my own right. It wasn’t until six months ago, when I saw my little devil on the news that it started to beat again. I lost myself in her. I became completely obsessed, no better than her stalker. I collected every ounce of information I could find on her and learned her story better than she even knows it. I compiled all of my findings into a file and I found that when my life became too much, when the darkness was closing in around me, the only light I could find was her.
Ivory Aslan saved me from myself and she doesn’t even know it. The plan was to place myself in her path from the start and I did that, but this version of myself that she’s getting now isn’t the one I wanted her to have. It will have to do because I have to have her. I have to have her light in my life because I know if I don’t I’ll completely lose the last shred of the man I was six months ago.
And her stalker? He wants to take her from me and I won’t allow it. Ivory Aslan is mine. She belongs to me and I’ll let himthinkhe’ll have her because I know in the end, I’ll kill him before he even gets the chance.
Chapter 13
Dallas
There’s definitely something wrongwith my little devil. She’s acting very strange around me and I’m not sure if it’s because she feels awkward after our kiss, or if there’s something more that I’m not seeing. I know she’s under a lot of stress, who wouldn’t be in her situation? But that wouldn’t be the reason she’s avoiding me. Something else is going on and I want to know what it is.
She barely made eye contact with me all day. Granted, we’re on set and she’s filming a scene with Aria, but still. I know when I’m being avoided, especially byher.I know her too well. Aside from her avoidance of me, I can tell that she’s different. She isn’t smiling the way she always is and it’s making my chest ache. I want to know what’s affecting her this badly. I would go anywhere and do anything to ensure that she smiles again. Hell, if you told me to kill a baby bunny to make her smile again, I would do it without hesitation, though Harvey’s little sister may kill me for doing so. A small price to pay in the grand scheme of things.
