I shook my head. “We’ve been over this. I’m not coming back.”
“I made some decisions, and I don’t care anymore.”
“About what? You don’t care about what?” Impatience laced every word.
“What my family thinks. I don’t care that they think you aren’t worthy of the Powell name or that you don’t fit in with our friends, and you make us look like we have no class. I don’t care about any of that. And I am going to stand up to my parents for you. I will make them see that I want to be happy, and you are what makes me happy. I need you, Cadence.”
“Wow, “I deadpanned. “What a confession. I’m speechless at the heart and thought you put behind that.”
Elijah walked toward me once again. I stepped away, trying to keep space between us, but whenever I moved, he moved too. “Come on, Cadence. Let’s go back home. We can go back to how it used to be.”
“That’s the thing, Elijah. I don’t want it to go back to how it used to be. I was miserable.” My back hit the wall. I was trapped.
Elijah’s face twisted into a sneer. “You’d rather be with that other guy then?”
“Other guy? What other guy?”
“The only other one you’ve been with since me.”
Words stuck in my throat like I’d accidentally swallowed a hard candy. I was confused and thrown off guard. “How do you know that? Have you been spying on me?”
“That’s not important. What’s important right now is you and me getting back together. I’ve been waiting months for this.”
“No. Wait. You need to tell me.”
Elijah sighed, aggravated. “I can still see your location from your phone. I saw you left North Carolina and went to Cali. I had you followed there, and wasn’t I surprised when my surveillance sent me pictures of you kissing another man.”
I balked. “You… You… Invaded my privacy. That’s so fucked up. How could you do that?” I felt dirty knowing he had been following my every move since I left.
Elijah chuckled. “Honestly, I thought it would be Liam. Especially when you went to California. You two were all buddy buddy at that charity fashion show he put on that you ‘just had to go to.’ Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be the singer in that band Jade loves so much. I guess I have her to thank for all this.”
“You had me followed at the fashion show, too?”
And yet, I wasn’t surprised by that. The whole night I’d feltthat tingling sensation of being watched. Deep in my gut, I knew.
“I had to know what you were doing. I needed to know.”
“What I do is my business. Not yours.”
“Well, when you are being a slut and giving it up to random guys, I need to know.”
My pulse raced and my cheeks heated. “That’s it. You crossed a line. Get out.”
But instead of walking away, Elijah forced himself against me, rubbing his erection into my stomach. “If you won’t give it up to me willingly, Cadence, I’ll just take it since you give it out so freely to others. It’s not like I haven’t had you before.”
I shoved against his shoulders with all the strength I possessed, trying to push him away. His eyes dilated, glinting dangerously. He was angry, and I was afraid of what he would do.
Elijah had never been one to make empty threats.
I twisted, hoping to kick him in the balls or shins, but he shoved his legs between mine, pinning me against the wall with his body. He grabbed my wrists and threw them above my head.
I looked at him as tears welled in my eyes. “Don’t do this, Elijah. Let me go.”
“You belong to me, Cadence. I’m waiting for you to understand that.”
He pressed his lips to mine as the first tear fell. Moving both my wrists into one of his hands, he used the other to slide down my body and played with the hem of my black tee. His fingers brushed against the skin of my stomach, and I wanted to throw up.
How could he think I liked this? That I wanted him to treat me this way?
