Trace’s guttural, thunderous, thigh clenching voice.
“Run.”
I don’t even risk the wait. I just run.
I take off through the trees, my feet pounding through small puddles, not knowing where I’m going as raindrops swipe at me like little tiny razor blades. I know I got turned around so hopefully I’m not running back into a crowd of people. But after a few minutes—looking behind me every few feet to see that no one is chasing me—I realize I’m close to my cabin now. I can see it beyond the trees. But before I can eat up the distance, something catches me.
Trace.
His hand yanks me back as he grips me by the front of my throat, causing me to choke on air. He pulls me into his chest, a familiar position like the one from the shower.
I look out at the cabin, wondering if Alli made it back yet or not. I don’t see the lights on, then again it’s still fairly bright out. If I scream, will anyone hear me? Is anyone near?
Then again, do I even care? Because part of me knows I am exactly where I want to be.
“Thinking of leaving so soon, Olivia? The fun is just about to begin.” Trace’s words come down on me like a fucking avalanche. Rupturing my reserve and severing my control. My heart races. My body folds. I even let a little moan slip as I try to breathe through his grip.
“Fuck, baby. Do I really do all that to you?” He’s not wearing his mask, which makes me even more eager to face him, but I don’t fight his hold on me. I tried that before and I nearly lost that battle.
“Wh- what do you want, Trace?” I stammer. Gasping as I speak. “Why are you here?”
Trace lets me go, releasing my throat and I suck in a cold breath of air. I can turn to look at him now, but I’m nervous. I hate feeling like I can’t face him. It’s too fucking hard still. But I need answers. I need to understand what is going on.
I turn slowly, hearing branches crunch under my feet and when I’m fully turned around, I feel flooded with so many mixed emotions as I look into Trace’s eyes.
The cold air leaves his parted lips as he stares at me. It feels forbidden to be this close to someone who has been missing for so long. Even though we’ve had a few run-ins since his unsuspected return; this time feels different. Maybe because Iwantto be this close to him. Maybe because I finally have him alone and my hope for answers is now in reach.
Earlier, when I confronted him, all I could feel was anger. Now, I feel that and so much more. It’s everythingall at once.
Trace reaches out, his fingers brushing my temple as he swipes some of my hair out of my face but I swing my hand up and wrap my fingers around his wrist.
“Don’t fucking touch me. You don’t get to fucking touch me,” I spit, looking him dead in his eyes. A devilish smirk crawls across his face but he doesn’t move as I hold his hand between us.
We stare at each other for a few seconds before he finally lets out a wicked chuckle.
“God, you make me fucking hard; running after you like. You like being chased through the woods, don’t you, Olivia? You love it when I snatch you up by that sweet little throat of yours and squeeze until you’re too dizzy to see straight, don't you? It makes you wet, my little fearslut. It’s written all over your fucking face.”
I crumble at his admission. I feel my body betraying me once more. Heat swarming my core, butterflies attacking the ventricles of my heart, palpitations consuming me. My eyes flutter closed as I drop his hand. But then I remember why I was running in the first place and anger pummels me once more. Anger, and jealousy, and lust, and humiliation, and need. Everything feels too big for me to understand and I need to gain some control back, remembering that I can’t let him fucking take it from me again. He’s already done that four years ago and he won’t get away with it so easily.
I take a step back, opening my eyes and aiming my heated glare at him.
“I don’t particularly enjoy your sick, twisted games. What the hell was all that for?” I ask, trying myabsolute best to remain calm and sound like I am in control because in my head, I am reeling.
“That was not for you or me,” he starts. “That was for everyone else. I needed a distraction.” I’m shocked to hear him speak to me directly, somewhat answering the question I asked him in something other than cryptic words and angry sarcasm
“Have you fucking lost your mind?” I cross my arms at my chest. “A distraction? For what?”
“You’re worrying about the wrong things, Olivia,” Trace starts as I look up at him, his eyes burning into mine with fevered aggression.
He takes a step forward, closing the gap of whatever space we have left between us. “What you need to be concerning yourself with the fact that you are fuckingmineand there’s nothing you can do to escape it.”
I hate that he’s right. I know I’ve never been anything but his. Even when all I wanted to do was erase him from my memory, to forget about him in any capacity. But no matter how fucking hard I tried, traces of him remained stitched into my heart and my head. But how can I still feel like I belong to someone who clearly left me behind? How can that still be the case if all he wants is to tear me down with the brutality of his fury, dead set on driving me to insanity, or so it seems.
“I’ve come back for you, Olivia. And I’m not leaving until I’ve disenthralled your mind of doubt. Till you’re liberated and yet, so inevitably branded by me.” He continues his gesture of caressing my temple, moving his finger down my cheek as he avows to me in athroaty timbre.
It’s the first time he’s really spoken to me in a calmness that doesn’t sound like he’s intending to hurt me, but I still hate that I’m not understanding what he’s trying to say.
This is pointless. I know he’ll never tell me what I want to know and I realize that wasting my time trying to figure him out is only going to make it worse for me in the end. My focus is on the wrong thing right now, just like he said. He’s distracting me. But really, would I have even come if I knew there wasn’t a chance I’d see him? I want to find closure for the deaths of my brother and my best friend, sure. And I realize that I might not get what I came here for. Instead, I could leave with a few more memories than I came with and it still might not be enough. But now I can sense that Trace might know something more than he’s letting on and it does intrigue me, but I’m starting to understand that maybe the hole in my heart, the void I crave to fill most, is because of him.
