Page 106 of Through the Flames
“What exactly gave you the impression I wouldn’t care about any of this?” I snapped, every muscle in my body clenched tight.
She blinked, then squared her shoulders. “Maybe … maybe I wanted to see if you actually cared.”
“Wanted to see if I cared?” I echoed, my voice low and sharp. “Ella, I’ve been following you everywhere. Fucking watching you, and not for shits and giggles. I’ve seen who touches you, who talks to you, who evenlooksat you. Every. Single. Time.”
Her eyes flickered. A smirk tugged at the corner of her lips, like she’d been waiting for this confession. “I believe there’s a word for this. Stalking.”
I stepped closer, my hands bracketing her waist. “Call it what you fucking want. I call itpaying attention. Protecting. Making sure nobody dares to breathe the wrong way around you. And if they did…” My voice dropped to a growl. “I made sure they never dared to come close to you again.”
Her breath hitched, and her cheeks flushed. “You’re insane.”
“No,” I said, my voice rough. “I’m obsessed with you. Don’t pretend like you hate it.”
I leaned closer, letting my lips brush the shell of her ear. “I notice everything. Like the way your nipples try to poke holes through your shirt, or how you’re so needily clenching your thighs. Every little reaction.”
Her smirk faltered for a moment before she laughed breathlessly and teasingly. “Who says I’m only pretending?”
A low, dark chuckle rumbled through my chest. “Wanna know a secret, baby? Wanna know how fucked up Ireallyam?”
Ella’s eyes widened, pupils so blown there was barely any green visible. A door clanged shut somewhere with a loud crash, but she never looked away.
Finally, she gave me a mute nod.
“I fucking marked myself for you.”
Her brows shot up. “Marked yourself?”
I leaned in and dragged my thumb along her jaw. “The tattoos, the piercing … I got them for you.” My voice a husky rasp, a feral smirk tugging at my lips.
She froze, eyes wide. “Wait,what?!”
“I got them for you,” I said, pressing closer so she could feel the heat of my chest. “So every time you look at me, you’d know exactly how much of me is yours. Not figuratively. Literally. My obsession with you is etched all over my body.”
Her hand flew to her mouth. “You … you got a dick piercing forme?”
My lips curled into a wicked smirk. “When I was alone, when I was bored, when I couldn’t sleep, it was always you haunting my thoughts. So I made it permanent. A piece of me that’s yours, whether you want it or not. Every time you see it, you’ll know it belongs to you.”
She pressed closer, her eyes sparkling beneath the dim light, and I relished in her seeking me out. “God, Hunter.”
“Yeah,” I rasped, my forehead resting against hers. “You get it now? You live under my fucking skin.”
Her lips parted, but before she could speak, the image of her at the bar — laughing, letting some other asshole stand too close — detonated behind my eyes. The burn, which had simmered down, flared up again and turned into a wildfire.
My hands tightened on her hips. My voice broke, raw and jagged. “And you thought I wouldn’t care? After all this?”
Her eyes widened, and she swallowed hard.
“You have any idea what it’s like,” I snarled, “standing in there, watching you with other guys? Over and over? Carrying you on my fucking body while they get to make you smile?”
Her soft gasp ripped through me, tore me open.
“Not tonight,” I ground out, dragging her closer until her chest crushed against mine. The burn inside me twisted into something darker, something addictive. “Never again.”
Then I kissed her. Hard. Punishing. Every cell in my body should’ve been on fire from the contact, from the heat and sweat and closeness.
But it was her. It wasElla, and I couldn’t get enough.
I clutched her hair like a lifeline, anchoring myself while I sank deeper into the hell I craved.
