Ding!
Unknown:I’m coming for you tonight. Midnight. You’ll be naked and kneeling at the window for me.
Did he want me to respond? I still hadn’t responded to his other texts. Would he be mad if I ignored him? What would I even say to him?
My fingers moved across the keyboard with their own thoughts.
Me:Yes, sir.
I threw my phone on the bed and stood, trying to catch my breath. What had started as an anonymous night was quickly becoming much more, and I wasn’t sure which of us was more obsessed with the other.
Midnight couldn’t come fast enough.
After a while, the doorbell rang, and my stomach immediately growled.
While I didn’t want to see Rowen’s face, I needed food, especially if I was going to be overexerting myself tonight.
I grabbed a thin robe from my closet and walked into the hall, already smelling the pizza.
“Pizza’s…” Rowen stood at the end of the hall, eyes on me, his pizza slice up and nearly to his mouth, dangling as he stared at me. “Here.”
“Get a fucking plate,” I retorted, watching grease drip off his piece onto the floor. “Men are disgusting.”
He snorted. “You really know how to make guests feel welcome.”
“You’re not a guest. You’re a mangy stray they keep taking in for some reason.” I squeezed past him and slipped into the kitchen, finding the pizza box on the island with packets of parmesan cheese next to it.
“At least I’m housebroken,” he replied before biting into his pizza.
“But you take up space and leave an overwhelming stench of disappointment. Not exactly the ideal pet.”
“Cute,” he snorted. He stepped toward me, setting his food down on the counter.
“Back up,” I said, my voice shaking. “We don’t have to interact at all while they’re gone. Leave me alone, and I’ll return the favor.”
He seemed to think that over for a moment. “Is that what you want?”
Confusion pinched my brows, his response carrying a bit of disappointment. Like the feelings I carried for Rowen weren’t what he carried for me, and for a moment, I thought maybe I’d taken things too far.
Then, I noticed the empty peanut butter cup wrappers on the counter—which Iknewwere from my stash of snacks—and decided I was petty enough to continue our war.
“It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
I didn’t wait for him to say anything back. I walked around the opposite side of the island and beelined for my bedroom to eat my dinner in peace.
Why did she have to be such a fucking brat?
I needed her to know who I was—whoMichaelwas—but when she acted like she couldn’t even stand being in the same room as me…
I’d just take out my frustration on her tonight and make her pay for putting me through hell.
Like making me walk in on her about to finger herself after I’d sent those texts. It wasn’t like I could enjoy the view or join the fun and get my hands on her, in her. Instead, I had to be shocked, pretend as though her body wasn’t something I’d already marked and claimed, even memorized.
Fuck.
My cock strained in my pants, and I had to grip the edge of the counter to stop myself from storming into her bedroom, stripping her of the walls of resentment she’d built to keep me out and giving her something to actually hate me for.
But I had time—four days. Four days to unmake her, to peel back her layers until she was totally exposed, raw, and broken. She’d be mine to rebuild, and by the time I was done with her, she’d crave the hands of the man who’d ruined her.
