And worse?
I want her even more for it.
I lean back in the chair, spine curving like a slow descent into madness, and whisper to no one, “You don’t get to die, little star. Not until I say you can fade.”
Then I smile.
And wait.
Because the longer she thinks I’m not coming…
The sweeter it’ll be when I do.
The screen flickers, but my focus never wavers.
Not when she paces.
Not when she crumbles.
Not even when she starts to put on a show that should bring me to my knees.
I don’t blink. I don’t move. I just watch.
She’s performing for the cameras now—her rebellion in ribbons, her shame weaponised. And it works. God, it works too well. She doesn’t know what she does to me, how deep she claws beneath my skin, how feral the ache becomes when she writhes not for me, but because of me.
Her mouth opens in a gasp I can’t hear, and I swear I feel it in my fucking spine.
My knuckles whiten against the edge of the monitor desk, the cool wood digging into my skin. I could go to her. I could break the door down and bury myself in the chaos she made.
But I don’t.
Because this—watching her break herself down, just to spite me—feeds something darker than hunger. It’s not just arousal anymore. It’s ownership. It’s obsession. It’s the slow, delicious knowledge that she’s not just in my house. She’s in my world now, and that world rewrites the rules.
She’s taunting me, sure. But there’s something else beneath her defiance—something fragile. Her mask slips when she thinks I’m not watching. That little lip tremble. The twitch of herfingers as she pauses, like she almost forgets what she’s doing. The way her eyes search the room for a shadow that isn’t mine.
She’s unravelling.
And I am thriving on every thread she pulls loose.
My mouth curves into a grin that holds no warmth. Just teeth.
She wants my attention?
She’s got it.
But she doesn’t get my touch.
Not yet.
Let her squirm. Let her wonder. Let her tear herself apart trying to figure out what I’ll do next.
I want her to ache with the not-knowing.
I want her to beg, not for pleasure?—
But for clarity.
And when I do go to her?
