Fear took hold, making it hard to breathe, and it didn’t help that he had been silent the whole time he stood there watching me with an impassive face.
He was such a good actor.
I had myself convinced the soft look he had shot my way was reserved solely for me.
I was fucking wrong.
There was nothing soft about the man, not even an ounce. I knew that now.
He knew I was the witness in that alleyway.
He knew I was the one who had sent him to prison for the last two years. He knew all along.
I didn’t know how he found out, but he knew, and I was scared shitless.
I took in a deep breath, trying to will away the tremble in my bottom lip.
I took a hard swallow, ignoring the huge lump lodged in the middle of my throat.
My eyes stung, and I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.
I was without my voice.
However, I must have made a noise, and that seemed to push him out of his reverie.
He came inside and shut the door behind him, the slam hitting me with its finality.
I didn’t know why, but at that moment, I thought that the slam of the door was what separated me from past Ryleigh to this new strange girl that I wouldn’t recognize for a long while to come.
I blinked, and everything came back into focus.
He walked over to me.
I shook my head.
That didn’t stop him.
“P-Please,” I begged. I didn’t know what it was that I was begging for. For him to let me go, to not touch me… to notruinme?
All of it.
I would have said all of that if only I could find my voice again.
He ignored my plea and bent down, hoisting me up and over his shoulder. I struggled in his hold, but it was of no use. He was just so much stronger than me.
Iknewthat.
His strength had been one of the very first things that attracted me to him, and I hated the way my skin still tingled where he touched me.
Could still feel how he affected me.
I didn’t want to be affected by him.
I didn’t, but I was, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.
He tightened his arms around me and dropped off a bag I had just noticed he was holding in his other hand before making his way back to the bedroom.
My panic was making it hard for me to think, my heart feeling like it was going to claw its way out of my throat the closer we got to the bed.
