Page 105 of You Were Always Mine
My chest caves. I try to bite it back, the truth clawing up my throat.
“I told you, there’s nothing to tell.”
Kai laughs — quiet, sharp, like it costs him.
“Baby, you’re cracking.”
The word baby burns. I slam the glass down too hard, water sloshing over my fingers. I want to scream, to tell him everything, but the moment I do, he’ll tear the world apart. He’ll tear Tyler apart. And maybe… maybe that’s why I keep holding on to the lie. Once it’s spoken, there’s no way back.
So I turned to him, shoving all my shame into venom.
“You don’t own the truth,” I snap. “You don’t get to decide what I say.”
His jaw ticks, his hand gripping the counter beside me so hard I hear wood creak.
“No,” he says softly. “but I’ll decide what happens when the truth comes out.”
The walls seem to close in before his body even touches mine. He takes one step, then another, and suddenly his shadow swallows me whole as my back presses against the cold plaster.
“Kai—” My voice cracks. It’s supposed to come out steady, defiant, but it sounds like begging.
His palm slaps flat against the wall beside my head, and the heat of him cages me in. His breath drags against my cheek, heavy, uneven, almost like he’s holding himself together by a thread.
“You think you can keep lying to me?” His voice is low, dangerous — a hiss that slithers under my skin. “Think I don’t already know? Every word you’ve chokedout, Scar, every fucking tear—” His other hand fists in the front of my shirt, jerking me closer until I can feel the thrum of his heart against my chest. “—all of it tastes like a lie.”
“I told you?—”
“Don’t.” The word is sharp enough to cut. His thumb drags under my chin, forcing my face up, forcing me to look at him. His eyes are fever-bright, bloodshot, like they’ll never let me go.
My throat burns as I spit the words: “So what? If you already know, then why are you cornering me? Why are you?—”
“Because I want to hear you break.” His mouth hovers over mine, not touching, tormenting. His voice turns almost tender, but that’s what makes it lethal. “Because once you shatter, Scar, there’s no putting you back together without me.”
His arm slams across the wall by my head, the muscles tight as iron, his body leaning closer until there’s nowhere left for me to go. The wall bites into my spine, but it’s nothing compared to the way his presence pins me flat.
“Kai—” I try again, but my voice is nothing more than a tremor.
His hand leaves my shirt only to catch my throat, not choking, just holding, just reminding me who has the power to cut off my next breath. His thumb presses into the soft hollow there, feeling the frantic pulse of my heart hammering.
“Every time you lie to me,” he murmurs, his mouth dragging along my jaw like he’s branding me with heat, “it beats faster. You think I can’t hear it? Think I can’t feel how your body betrays you?”
Shame and panic churn inside me, but the worst part isthe shiver that runs straight down my spine. He feels it. Of course, he feels it.
“Let me go.” It’s a whisper, pathetic, but it spills out anyway.
He tilts his head, eyes narrowing, pressing closer until his chest crushes mine against the wall, his breath scalding against my lips. “You don’t want me to.”
“Kai—”
“Say it,” he growls, his hand squeezing just enough to make me gasp. “Say the truth or I’ll drag it out of you inch by inch, Scar. I’ll corner you in every room, every shadow, every breath you take until you can’t remember how to lie anymore.”
My hands shove at his chest, but he doesn’t budge. He’s immovable, relentless, every inch of him caging me in until my own resistance feels small and useless. My voice cracks against his palm.
“I can’t?—”
“Yes, you can.” His forehead presses hard against mine, almost desperate, his thumb stroking my throat in cruel contrast to his grip. “And when you do… when you finally break… you’ll never be free of me.”
His hand doesn’t move from my shirt, knuckles pressing into my sternum like he wants to drive the truth straight out of me. His other palm cages the wall beside my head, close enough that every exhale from him scorches my cheek.
