Harder than before. Angry almost.
Who is it?
“Who is it?” I call out, my voice echoing, warbling, sounding so fucking weird in my own ears.
My heart is pounding, and my skin thrums along with each heartbeat.
The knocking stops.
I stand on tiptoes and peer through the peephole as every hair on my body feels like it’s vibrating. The only thing out there are a few tastefully lit plants on the edges of the porch, and a whole lot of darkness.
Am I hallucinating?
I grasp the knob, hesitate, and then turn it to make sure it’s locked.
But then I have this sinking feeling that I missed something, so I put my palms on the door and push up onto my toes to look through the peephole again.
Right into Kai’s blood-smeared face.
Chapter 5
Bastian
I turn off the faucet, but I stand with my head bowed for a moment before dragging my hand through my hair. I saw Haven’s epiphany as it hit her. The flash of panic on her face said it all.
She’d made a mistake.
MDMA does that to you. That bullshit drug scrounges up the tiniest morsel of emotion you have and inflates it like a fucking balloon animal. That’s why I only ever took it once.
She’d never have walked in here if she was sober.
God, how I wish that wasn’t the case, but seeing her want me, even artificially, feels better than any high I’ve ever chased.
I should have left the country club instead of heading to the party. I’d have come home, sat by the fire, and?—
Read my mother’s book?
Fucking pussy.
Haven wants me, like I want her. I’ve seen my need reflected in her eyes countless times. And what’s holding us back? Some archaic rule forbidding relationships with unbalanced power dynamics. It’s taboo. Bordering on criminal.
…we’re all adults here…
And I could pretend that I give a fuck about how this would affect her schooling.
But I don’t.
I became a teacher to have access to young minds I could shape, break, remake in my image. Haven is one of the most fascinating projects I’ve encountered.
I snort, pushing away from the shower wall so I can grab a towel and dry off.
Fuck society.
It’s the reason I’m in this shithole of a town, stuck in a dead end teaching job that’ll probably see me swallowing a bullet in another ten, twenty years just to end the unfunny joke my life has become.
I hear a strange noise coming from the living area, and quickly step into my sweatpants, grabbing my shirt so I can pull it over my head as I walk.
But I never get the chance, because when I turn the corner and see Haven with her back pressed to the front door, hands flat on the wood, her eyes squeezed closed like she’s holding back The Thing, my heart fucking flat lines.
