“Who the fuck do you think you are,” Markev snarls, “talking to my woman?”
The room falls dead silent. Even the scratch of pencils stops, though everyone keeps their eyes glued to their work, no one daring to look up, not foolish to draw the attention of this psycho’s wrath.
The lecturer stares pointedly at his desk, earbuds in, pretending not to see a thing.
Ricardo shakes his head frantically. “I… I’m sorry—”
“Do you have a death wish?” The psycho mutters.
Ricardo’s eyes are wild as he shakes his head again.
“Then why,” Markev says, tightening his grip, “did you think you could talk to her?”
“Fuck, I’m sorry,” Ricardo says.
Markev shoves him back hard, and he hits the floor.
He straightens and lets his eyes scan the room.
“Next time,” he says coldly, “anyone who dares speak to my girl dies.”
His attention drops back to Ricardo.
He adds, “There will be consequences, regardless of the fact that I’m letting you walk away.”
Ricardo scrambles to his feet, looking as though he might be sick.
“Run,” Markev says, a cruel smile forming.
Ricardo doesn’t hesitate.
When the psycho sits back down beside me, as the room remains frozen.
I grip my pencil until my fingers ache.
And somehow, against my will, every nerve in my body still burns where he touched me.
“That was quite the performance,” I say lightly.
I don’t look at him at first. I keep sketching, pretending my pulse isn’t going off the rails.
“Necessary,” he replies. “Absolutely necessary.”
I finally turn, lifting one brow. “Did you really need to mark your territory?”
His mouth twitches.
“I need people to understand you’re mine.” He considers it briefly. “I suppose I could always tattoo my name on you.”
I recoil slightly. “Never.”
He leans in anyway, crowding my space. His tongue brushes my cheek. My skin breaks out in goosebumps, and self-loathing follows close behind.
“You are mine, gorgeous,” he murmurs. “Whether you like it or not.”
I laugh, but it’s dismissive. “Delusional. One kiss doesn’t mean anything. It was a lapse in judgement. It won’t happen again.”
“It meant everything,” he says, a crazed look on his face.
