"Is it?" I moved closer, sat on the edge of the bed. "Is it really better than letting me help you?"
She looked at me then, really looked at me. Her pupils were blown wide, more black than brown, and her chest was heaving with each breath.
"If you help me," she said slowly, "I'll never forgive myself."
"Why?"
"Because I'll want more. And more will destroy everything I've worked for." She rolled away from me. "Please, Knox. Just go. Lock your door and let me handle this."
I stood, every instinct screaming at me to stay, to help, to claim. But she was right.The two of us fucking could destroy everything. We could burn everything down around us.
"There's water in the mini fridge," I offered. "And if it gets too bad…"
"It won't."
"Harper," I whispered her name one more time.
"Go, Knox. Please."
I went. Closed her door, then mine. Sat on my bed with my head in my hands, trying not to listen to the sounds of her suffering just one thin wall away.
This was going to be the longest night of my life.
And we were only just beginning.
Chapter 7
Harper
The pain came in waves, each one worse than the last. I'd been through heats before, suppressed, manageable, clinical things that I could handle with pills and a day in bed. This was different. Suddenly, I was drowning in a fire of my own making while every nerve ending screamed for something just out of reach.
For someone just out of reach.
Knox.
“Fuck,” I gritted my teeth together, swallowing in a huge huff of air.
I pressed my face into the pillow, trying to muffle the sounds I couldn't control. Whimpers, gasps, occasionally a sob when the cramps got too bad. The t-shirt on my body clung to me feeling damp and suffocating. I wanted to claw at my skin, to release myself from this torment.
The digital clock read 2:47 AM. I'd been fighting this for six hours.
Water.
I needed water.
Standing was a mistake. The moment I got vertical, the room spun violently. My legs, already shaking, gave out completely. Isaw the floor rushing up to meet me, knew it was going to hurt, couldn't do anything to stop it…
Strong arms caught me before I hit.
"Fuck, Harper!" Knox's voice was rough with exhaustion and something else. "You're burning up."
Knox scooped me up like I was some child’s rag doll, and all I could do was let him. For a second I tried to tell him put me down, my lips forming to make the words but nothing came out. Instinctively, my body arched against his bare chest, my skin turning to gooseflesh.
Pine and smoke filled the inside of my nostrils as I inhaled him. His scent was combining with chemicals and making me want to ride his dick into oblivion.
Oh God,I thought as I sucked in a raged breath.
"Please," I gasped, not sure what I was begging for. "It hurts. Knox, it hurts so bad."
