Which also means he’s not good, and I should listen to that truth in my veins.
“Might I make a suggestion,Cattivella?” he says, his voice like velvet twisted with an edge of insanity. “That you run. It might be the only way I can teach you that I will always chase after you. But every time you run, there will be consequences.”
My blood runs cold, and for the first time, I see the predator within the man—finally turned on me.
Without a second thought, instinct carries me, and I run, the echoing of his countdown from sixty seconds calling out after me.
Oh my fucking God, he’s actually going to hunt me down.
25
DANTE
Sixty seconds is a long time.
It gives me time to admire my littlecattivella, who has the good sense to flee the bar out the back door. My favorite part of this game is thinking about all the different ways I can impale this Drew asshole, who thought he’d have any chance of touching my woman.
“Look, man, I don’t want any trouble. She agreed to come with us and—” I spear the other half of the broken pool cue into his throat, unable to listen to his nonsense for another second. Turns out, I was taking this a lot more personally than I first realized. I watch him as he gurgles and tries to grab for the cue stick protruding from his neck as if it might stop the bleeding.
I loom over him as he slowly crumples to the floor, enjoying every second that ticks by.
“It’s not your fault,” I let him know. “I warned her not to involve others. You’re just a casualty of her poor choices.” Unfortunately, my woman mistook my mercy for the last man as kindness, and that is not who I am.
Especially considering I hunted down and killed the last guy as well.
I turn my back on him and message Izak.
Me: Ctrl Alt Delete.
Izak replies immediately,but I don’t read the text as I count down the last few seconds I told her she’d have, my heart racing.
All is fair in love and war. At least that’s what a book I once read said. I never understood what that meant until I found myself obsessed with a certain little rabbit, running away from me, inflaming my most primitive instincts to chase.
She thinks I’m simply infatuated, but it goes beyond that. She’s mine, until the very end. Whether she’ll willingly come or not.
I begin to whistle, as I always do when I’m about to antagonize a person to the point of explosion.
But Romi is different. I want her to hate me so much that I’m on her mind all the fucking time. I want to drive her mad enough that she knows she can’t escape me.
When I step out of the bar, the scent of rain in the air and the dark clouds obscuring the sky definitely allude to a coming storm. When I look over at my motorcycle, I smirk with the knowledge that she left it in favor of literally running.With a loaded gun, no less. I think my woman doesn’t even realize the way she’s built for me.
I crouch low to the ground, using the little illumination from the cloud-covered moon and the flashlight on my phone to see in which direction her footprints will lead me. My heart begins pounding from the exhilaration of the chase. Of what I will do to her when I pin her down and force her into submission. Of the way she’ll fight me, clawing her way to take control, and savaging me instead.
I’ve never felt the heavy beat of the chase like this before. I’ve always enjoyed hunting down my prey, and this is undoubtedly a side I’ve refrained from showing Romi up until now because I wanted to impress her. I wanted to weave into her world so I could use her to extend into my brother's.
But I’m done with that. I want her for myself. I want her to see who I really am. No more pretense or being on my best behavior. This is the man I truly am.
I start walking in the direction she went, my cock twitching with excitement. I’ve denied myself any pleasure from the moment she kicked me out. But it would appear we have to work a little on her faithfulness.
The more she runs, the more I’m willing to chase her, and it fuels me as I pick up my pace to a slow jog. The desperate excitement to find her nips at my heels. I want to prolong my own urgency so I can enjoy it; however, I’ve waited long enough. I’ve given it my everything to appease this little dance she’s led me in.
Rain starts to fall in a steady sheet, and I welcome its cold slap as I note the dips and marks of her shoes on the wet ground. I notice the way branches have been recently snapped, and give in to my primitive urges, my lust ramping up at the thought of forcing her into the mud and fucking her until she admits she’s mine.
The torrential rain comes next, and my heart pounds. I’m smirking as I walk into the obvious trap. She’s removed her jacket and thrown it over a log. I know it’s a ruse before I even step toward it, but I’d happily fall into every trap she lays out for me because, unless she’s genuinely ready to put a bullet in my head, I’ll only continue coming for her.
I step toward the fallen log, as if inspecting the jacket, and that’s when I hear the click of the gun, and I slowly turn to face her.
Her black hair is matted to her face, her breathing harsh, but her focus and hands are steady.
