Page 39 of Pushed Through The Dark
"Yeah," I said with a smile.
She looked at me from the corner of her eyes and arched a brow. "Gee sounds familiar."
"Well, you won't give me your name, so I had to give you one of my own." Shrugging my shoulder, I took a sip of the alcohol. "You could just give me yours, I'd prefer to call you by your real name."
"I'm sure you would." She twisted the glass in her hand, spinning it around and around. "But, you haven't earned it yet."
"Fine." Taking a step in, I pinched her chin between my fingers. Lifting her face high, I smiled. "Minx it is then."
Her eyes flashed, pupils growing wide as she ran her tongue across her bottom lip. Her skin was soft as velvet as I stroked the curve of her jaw.
Parting her lips, she exhaled a slow breath. Her chest snapped out, and she swallowed hard at the same time. Tilting her head, she looked up at me under hooded lids. Blinking slowly, her lashes fanned her lids like small wings. The sun hit her face perfectly right then, causing her eyes to sparkle like sea glass.
Fuck, I want to kiss her.
I leaned in, slowly lowering my face to hers, ready to feel her lips on mine. We were so close, her lips were right there, and I thought for a brief moment that I was going to get what I craved.
Spinning away quickly, she took a long step back. "So. . ." she paused, running her hand through her hair nervously. "This garden is amazing."
She's not ready, but she will be.
Smirking, I twisted away from her as I said, "The key to beautiful flowers is pruning. You need to cut off the dead leaves and branches, giving them room to breathe." Looking back at her, I plucked a Begonia free. "You know, you're a lot like these flowers."
"How's that?" she asked.
Spinning the stem of the flower between my fingers, I dipped my head and stared down at her. "I cut the dead off of you, now you can grow."
She goes quiet, tapping her finger against the glass as it hovered near her lips. Fuck, I just wanted to kiss those lips so badly. I could take her so easily, she'd never be able to fight me off. I could do it. I could end the need I felt inside.
No, I'm not a thief.
I won't steal from her, she had to give it to me willingly. That was the only way this would work. No force. No demands. She had to want it too.
"What do you want from me?" she asked, looking into the drink before taking a long sip. "You must want something. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that men like you always have an ulterior motive."
"You know exactly what I want. I want your name."
"Why? It doesn't matter what my name is, does it? I'm going to have to be whoever you want me to be, right? Isn't that how this works?"
Tilting my head, my lips folded down. "Haven't you learned yet that I'm not like those other men? I'm different, not all of us are the same."
"You're not different, no matter how much you try to convince yourself you are. You still bought me, you dragged me here, you killed that guy. You did that, just you." She jabbed a finger in my direction and took a small step in. "So, please, tell me what makes you different."
Grinding my teeth, I tried to keep myself calm. I hated being compared to the scumbags she was thinking of. I wasn't them. I'd never been them. We were very different people.
"I'm nothing like them." My voice hinges on the last word, and my hand clenched tightly around the glass. "Never," I growled, closing the distance between us, and looming over her. "Never compare me to those pieces of shit again. Understand?"
"Yeah, I understand. You can't handle the truth, can you? Is that why you don't have any mirrors in your home? Because you can't stand to look at yourself?"
The glass shattered in my palm as I squeezed, exploding into a million pieces. Something warm started to trickle down between my knuckles, and drip off my fingertips.
Her eyes were huge as saucers, and I hated myself instantly. I had just given her another reason to hate me all over again.
She dropped her glass to the ground, and took a few quick steps back, reaching behind herself as if she might find something there to save her.
This girl wasn't letting herself see the truth. She refused to see what I had to offer her.
True Freedom.
