Elijah holds his hand up and points to Blaze, who’s struggling in my grip. “I’m just saying she obviously wants nothing to do with you, dude.”
I tighten my grip around her. She isn’t going anywhere. “I’ve always wanted to see what a real human heart feels like in my hands. Keep talking, and I’ll get to find out.”
“Stop being such a psychopath,” Blaze growls.
I’m so amped up I don’t so much as grunt when she elbows me in the ribs with every ounce of energy she has. Without waiting for Elijah’s response, I drag her down the corridor, scaling the courtyard, barely aware of how she’s kicking and screaming for me to release her.
I throw her into the first open, empty classroom, slamming the door behind me. I feel like I’m burning alive, and it’s all her fault. Only she can set me off like this.
“Stop,” I roar when she launches for me.
She doesn’t.
Of course, she doesn’t.
When the fuck has she ever listened to me?
I tell her not to cross the road because there’s a car speeding our way, and she’ll cross it. I ask her to sit still so the teacher doesn’t rip into her again and run to Whitlock Sr. about her behavior, and she does the exact opposite. Nothing I’ve ever done is enough for her, buteveryoneelse is as long as they give her a temporary escape fromthis shithole.
“You’re the one who’s manhandling me, you Denisovan!”
I hate what she does to me. I despise how fucking simple it is for her. It’s a pathetic insult. Yet, here I am, grinning like I’ve just inhaled nitrous oxide because she paid attention in biology class.
My grin twists into a scowl, my hand finds her neck, and my thumb searches for her pulse. Her blown-out pupils meet mine as I back her against the wall.
“How much did you fucking take, Blaze?” My voice is lethally calm. The way her lips part tells me she knows I’m seconds away from losing it. Still, she bares her teeth at me.
If Blaze could kill me with a single look, I’d be dead a thousand times over from the daggers she’s shooting my way.
“What I do is none of your business.”
She’s wrong. And it makes me fucking wild.
She thrashes under me. It’s not remotely hard to control her whole body with one hand to her throat. I put my hand on her arm just to feel her skin against mine. Even when her eyes are harsh, her skin is always so soft. I can’t help but appreciate that her bones aren’t digging into me the same way they used to. Back then, she was skin and bone and had lifeless, fiery eyes.
Now, she’s using nowhere near as much as she used to, eating at least three meals a day, and putting on muscle. Her eyes are also sharper, and her skin has color. She’s even lost the bags underneath her eyes. Christ, if I don’t appreciate what this place has done to her.
“What’s your end goal, huh? Are you planning on using so much you blow your lights out? Do you want to end up like yourmother?”
She jolts forward but winds herself against my hand instead. Her back crashes against the wall, eyes watching me with the hatred I’mso used to. “What’s yours, Kohen? Where are you going once you get out of here? Back underneath your brother’s shadow? Playing bitch for the rest of your family?”
Wrong again. I have a plan, and the only part my family will play is to release the trust fund that’s waiting for me when I graduate. After that, Osman is just a name.
I add more pressure on my thumb, feeling her pulse fluttering against my numb flesh. I can’t feel hot or cold, smooth or coarse, butthatI can feel. “All you do is talk about things you don’t understand.”
Her face twists with challenge. “Making my life your business won’t change your own.”
“Using won’t change yours.”
“If I wanted to stop, I would.” Blaze raises her chin, exposing more of her slender throat. “Besides, none of this has anything to do with you.”
“Then prove it,” I say. “Stop.”
“I don’t need to proveshitto you.”
“I know one thing you want more than powder to snort.”
“You think you know me so well, don’t you?” She sneers. “You think you have me all figured out because you’ve been looking down at me from your gilded tower, throwing dirt my way just because you have the money to do it.”
