“Elodie, this wasn’t part of the deal.”
“Fuck your deal!”
“Really?” I say, flattening my body on top of hers, not being able to resist the need to feel her on me, her hammering heart beating through to my chest, the heat of her skin seeping through mine. “So, tell me, if you had won this bet, you wouldn’t have expected me to hold up my end of it?”
She stills. “I would have made you. A deal’s a deal.”
“Exactly, so you’re just being a hypocrite. I won; deal’s a deal.” My cock’s as hard as a steel rod pressing into her stomach. I could officially come now, my hunt is over. I could do itright now.
“Please, Caden,” she whispers, her chest dipping in a sob, “please let me go.”
The request sends an irritated flame through my veins. “Why do you want to leave, Elodie? Why can you not see you could have a good life here?”
She scoffs, a patronising sound that adds fuel to the fire in the pit of my stomach. “Because of everything you’ve already done to me! You’ve hurt me, abused and assaulted me! You and yourfucking friend. How can I get over that? How can I ever trust you?!” She struggles beneath me, desperate to get away from me.
“This could be a clean slate for us, Elodie. Whatever choice you make now will determine our future together, which is inevitable. What’s malleable is how you accept it. What path you set us on. It’s all in your hands now.”
My nose brushes the tip of hers, making me realise just how close I am to her, our hot breaths now colliding. I’m completely flat on her, my body pressing hers into the dirt. It’s frighteningly intimate, testing my self-control every second. If I didn’t despise her so much, I would have already rammed my cock inside her.
“I will never bow to you, Caden Blackwood,” she sneers my name with such poison it’s like she’s cursing herself just for saying it.
I don’t get a chance to reply as her forehead connects to my nose with such force that all my thoughts are obliterated and replaced with an explosion of pain and deafening ringing in my ears.
She takes the opportunity to shove me off her, and I roll onto my back, consumed by the pain in the middle of my face. But as soon as I hear her footsteps, I’m back on my feet.
“You fucking brat!” I’m chasing after her, white-hot rage boiling over.
I’ve given her every opportunity to feel safe with me, to see how I can be. Now time’s up. Patience is gone. Mr Nice Guy’s fucking dead.
I catch up to her after a few feet, wrap an arm around her waist and haul her off her feet. She’s lighter than the weights I lift in the gym, but my stomach absolutely howls in agony at the strain.
She screams, kicks her legs wildly, hammers her fists onto my forearm, but the anger’s so powerful now the assault becomes a distant sensation in the back of my mind.
“You’re a disrespectful little brat, Elodie, you really are. You’ve fucked this all up. Just remember this whenever you think I’m being such a mean little boy to you. Remember I gave you so many chances.”
“Get the fuck off me!” She fights back with all her might. Her head flings back a few times and almost catches me, but my senses are back now, my instincts are in place. She’s not catching me off guard again.
We’re so deep into the forest that my grip starts to slip from all the writhing and thrashing before I even see a clearing. She feels the gap in my hold on her and abuses it, cranking up the effort to get free of me.
It works and I drop her, but I’m on top of her in the mud in a blink. We become a bundle of limbs, claws coming out and scratching at my naked skin. From the frenzy and lack of visibility, I struggle to find and grab hold of her hands. Her grunts and growls of effort and disdain reverberate through me.
I’ve taken kicks to my legs, ribs and shoulder. Punches and scratches to my face, neck, and chest before I can get a hold of her. In all honesty, it’s turning me the fuck on, but the frustration is still overpowering it.
“I’m so sick of your fucking behaviour, Elodie, I swear to God I’m trying so hard not to fucking kill you and be done with it.”
This makes her fall still. Her outstretched arms drop to her sides. “Then do it.”
Everything goes silent. Nothing but our heavy breaths fill the air. She said it with such defeat it slices clean through my cloud of anger. Is that what she wants? Is it really that bad for her? She’s just giving up?
I haul her back onto her feet and hoist her over my shoulder. Seems she’s expended all her strength as she flops over my shoulder with no resistance.
“That’d be a mercy to you, Elodie. You don’t get off that easy.”
I hear a couple of sniffles. “Then I’ll do it myself.”
I sigh. “You can’t. Not until you give me a baby, anyway. Remember, my darling fiancé, we get to become parents together. Won’t that just be a wonderful thing? A little Blackwood-Valor running around. Maybe your own child will teach you some manners and respect.”
“I’m never having your baby, Caden. I’d rather rot in these woods.”
