For as clever and resourceful as my rabbit is, she’s not a competent enough fighter to ward me off or stand a chance if I give even half an effort.
As her head thrusts back to collide with mine, I swerve in the nick of time, proving she can’t reach me without dislocating her own neck.
She’s still twisting and turning in my arms as I drag her with me. I take us down the narrow entryway of the alleybetween the bar and another old and forgotten commerce building.
Her teeth sink into the skin of my palm, and I grunt at how fucking hard she bites down. But I still don’t let go, dragging her further down the dark and dingy alleyway as she goes wild with panic.
She doesn’t know who has hold of her—from her view it could be anyone accosting her on the street.
It could be someone dragging her into an alley to mug her or do far worse.
Yet a cruel part of me revels in her panic. In the fact she’s so desperate to set herself free after she was so fucking foolish to come to Jangnim-dong in the first place. She should know better than to wander into a neighborhood like this—than to stick her nose where it doesn’t belong.
We stagger past a rusted dumpster and more piles of trash and discarded waste as I make a spur of the moment decision. I wrench her with me into the old, unused building, figuring it’s optimum for privacy.
We’re half cloaked by shadows as we cross over the threshold, and Monroe manages to slip one of her arms free. My rabbit raises hell as soon as she does, throwing her fist back blindly in hopes she’ll hit some part of me.
It almost makes me produce a dark laugh as I restrain her, easily overpowering her, holding her body against mine and bringing my lips next to her ear.
“Stop fighting,” I growl. “You struggle, you make it worse.”
“You asshole!” she screams hysterically against my palm. She jerks and twists some more. “HELP ME!”
I nip at her ear, tightening my grip and flexing my strength.
Showing her how easily I can crush her if I really wantedto.
“I said stop fucking fighting! Unless you want to suffer for it,” I rumble, my temper flaring up.
She chokes on the gasp she releases as she recognizes my voice. She pushes away from me as I finally let go, almost stumbling in her haste to put distance between us.
“You!” she screams incredulously. “What the hell is wrong with you?!”
Her chest is heaving, and her eyes are wild and dark. Her lips are fuller than usual, deliciously parted and forming an O as she stares at me as if I’m her nightmare come to life.
“Me?” I hiss, taking a step toward her. “What’s wrong with me? What the fuck is wrong with you? Wandering the streets of Jangnim-dong alone in the evening, walking into bars where the worst criminals in Busan?—”
“Don’t you dare turn this around on me!” she screams. “We’re broken up, Jin. Broken. Up. That means you don’t get to follow me through the streets like some kind of psycho stalker?—”
“I get to do whatever is necessary to make sure you don’t get yourself into trouble you can’t get out of!”
“And who determines that? You?! HA!” She barks out a harsh, exaggerated laugh, so angry her nostrils are flaring. “That’s bullshit, and you know it, Jin! I knew you had Sang-cheol tailing me—which was bad enough—but now you’re doing it yourself? How long have you been following me? How long have you been standing in the dark watching me like some obsessed, broken?—”
“If not for me, what the fuck do you think would happen to you?” I growl in interruption. Frustration boils over, and I snatch her by the wrist, wrenching her back toward me. “Do you think you can’t possibly be in danger because we’re broken up? Are you that naïve?”
“It doesn’t matter either way! This is a violation,” she snaps, tugging to free her wrist despite how mylong fingers remain clenched shut around it. “I asked you to stay away. I gave back the ring. I told you I couldn’t do this anymore, and you said you understood?—”
“I lied,” I snarl back. “So long as you keep putting yourself in stupid situations, I will be there to make sure it doesn’t backfire in your face.”
“Who asked you to? That’s what you don’t seem to understand!”
“No one needed to! Don’t you get it? Don’t you know that it’s still my responsibility? I’ve tried—I fucking tried—but I couldn’t do it. I had to make sure.”
“Jin, let go of my wrist!” she says impatiently as she tugs her arm back. “I don’t even get what you’re talking about!”
I only step closer, invading her space, clenching her wrist tighter as I glare into her eyes. “You, Tokki-ya! You are what I’m talking about—I tried to keep my distance. I tried to stay away. Yet I wound up following you. I turned up outside your building and watched your window for hours. Standing in the dark until the light in your window went out and I knew you were safe.
“Do you think I’ve wanted to obsess the way I have? For me to spiral when it’s never been in my nature before?” I rant frantically. “It’s nothing I ever anticipated—you invading my black heart and making me feel things I never should’ve! It is your fault you have me like this—that I’m unable to resist you, even now!”
