“I knew it was too good to be true.” I swallowed around the lump in my throat. My voice cracked as I spoke. “I thought me and you were building something serious. Like I had knocked down the walls that had been built around you. That you truly cared about me, but it was all a lie.” I inhaled a deep breath and sniffed back my tears. He didn’t deserve them.
His face slacked and he stood straighter. “That’s not true.” He went to touch my face but again I flinched away from him. His eyes hardened as he snatched me by the chin and made me look at him.
“Just tell me why I’m down here,” I pleaded after a long stare off.
“It’ll all make sense soon.”
“That’s not good enough!” I tried to yank out of his grip. Irritation filled me. My muscles twitched.
“Someone wants to take you from me and I won’t allow it,” he answered vaguely. My brows crinkled.
“Who?”
“That doesn’t matter right now.”
I closed my eyes and exhaled a deep breath. “Kairus, you don’t have to lock me up in fear that I’m going to leave. You know that right? I care about you, a lot. I…” My voice trailed off and I snapped my mouth closed. Right now wasn’t the time for me to open up and reveal my feelings.
His hand moved from my chin and he stepped back.
“Do you even care about me? Were these past couple of weeks all a lie?” I wondered, feeling my heart cracking as I spoke. The thought of the relationship forming between us being a lie made my stomach coil.
I hated that I still craved him, still wanted to be in his presence. I should hate Kairus, but instead I wanted nothing more than to throw myself in his arms and hug him tightly. I wanted him to envelop me in his bulky arms where I knew no harm from others would come to me.
His eyes narrowed. He rushed the bed and gripped the bottom of my face again, this time it made me wince.
“Don’t ever tell me how I feel about you. If I didn’t give a fuck I wouldn’t be doing this.”
I bit down on my back molars. “No! You just want to own me, that’s different than actually caring about me!” My voice grew louder as I pulled away from him.
“You’re not in the space to understand right now. We’ll talk again later.” When he turned to leave, panic shot through me. I quickly sat up.
“Kairus! Wait!” I called out, scrambling off the bed. “Please, please don’t leave me down here. I don’t understand what’s going on, but I promise I won’t leave. Idon’t wantto leave.”
Something shifted on his face. It was easy to see he was battling with himself.
“Soon,” he finally said.
My feet stayed planted where they were. I watched as he lifted his hand and placed it on the scanner. The door unlocked, which snapped me out of my trance. By the time I rushed to it, he was already closing it.
“No! Let me out! Please!” I shouted, pounding the door. Pain shot down my arm but I didn’t care.
I wasn’t sure how long I stood there shouting and pounding on the door. My temples throbbed and my throat grew taut as my voice went hoarse.
I fell to my knees, still hitting the door, but softer now. It was obvious whatever happened before Kairus got home had him shook enough that he felt like he had to lock me up as if I was a runaway bride. What hurt worse was he didn’t have enough faith in me to believe he wouldn’t lose me if he just talked to me.
“Your focus is off,” Nolan observed. Ignoring him, I continued shooting at the target in front of me. “Normally you’re a straight shot, but you look sloppy out there.” My jaw clenched and I aimed the gun, pulling the trigger. This one went into the center.
Three days, it had been three days since Jeremy paid his debt and I locked Azeira back up. Her cries and pleas haunted my dreams, leaving me unable to sleep, especially since I had grown accustomed to her body next to mine. For three days I locked myself in my music room, refusing to be bothered. Even playing my instruments didn’t ease my tension. I attempted to go in my office and go over numbers, math was another entity that usually brought me peace. It didn’t help.
Now I was at Nolan’s house, in his gun range, attempting to release some tension. My muscles flexed as I continued to block Nolan out and pull the trigger. It had been a while since I used the range. When I was younger my dad brought me frequently to make sure my skills stayed sharp. When my chamber was empty I lowered the gun and wiped my brow with the butt of my gun.
“This has to do with Azeira, doesn’t it?” That caught my attention. Narrowing my eyes, I bit down on my back molars and held the gun tighter. Mirth formed on his face. “It does. Trouble in paradise?”
My vision darkened.
“I’m assuming it’s because her dad paid back the debt and she went back home.”
“She’s not going anywhere!” I spat. I was aware I sounded like a spoiled child, but I couldn’t stop the melancholy that pooled through me at the thought of losing her. Fear clawed at me thinking about having to watch her from the shadows again. Agitation pricked my skin at the thought of another experiencing her smile and happiness. When I declared something as my own I didn’t mean it half-heartedly.
