My fight with Matthew.
Running away.
Wanting to call Mae.
The blinding pain spreading through my skull.
The sweet scent enveloping all my senses as darkness claimed me.
I told you he wasn’t worth it.
Aiden quirks his brow, the corner of his mouth lifting upward. “Didn’t see it coming, did you?” he asks softly as he steps into the room. “They never do.”
His dark eyes hold me hostage as he comes to a stop beside the bed, his fingers slipping under my jaw. His grip on me is hard as he tilts my chin up. “I tried to warn you, but you never listen. You’re mine, Terry. You can’t run away from me.”
Terry?
“I’ll always find you,” he whispers, an almost gentle note in his voice. It would be sweet if there weren’t something dark shining in his eyes. “You’re mine, do you get that? You can deny it all you want, but you. Are.Mine.”
His grip on me tightens, making my lips part.
My heart races faster, palms turning sweaty as his words register in my mind.
Deny it all you want, but you’re mine.
“It was you.”Holy shit.“You broke into my house.”
Not Damien.
Aiden.
The notes.
The flowers.
This whole time, it was Aiden.
“Because you wouldn’t listen!” he roars.
Sharp pain spreads through my face as my head whips to the side from the impact, making me gasp.
“You never listen, Terry.”
I peek at him through the curtain of my hair, my whole body trembling. “I’m n-not Terry.”
“Don’t start with this again. This is your fault. All of it. If you had just listened to me, none of this would have been necessary.”
I swallow hard, the coppery taste spreading over my tongue.
“But instead, you whored around. First with that idiot Damien and then the cop,” he spits out, his expression turning darker.
“I-it’s not?—”
His fingers sink into my hair, pulling my head back. “Don’t you dare lie to me. I’ve seen you with them. I told you they don’t deserve you. But did you listen? No. So now I guess I’ll have to get that stubbornness out of you in a different way.”
Icy fear spreads through my veins. His grip on me is harsh, and there is no slipping out of it, not by sheer force. Not that I have much strength left, not after he drugged me. And if it’s to be judged by the blaring pain pulsing behind my temples, he possibly even gave me a concussion.
“I’ll listen!” I plead. “Icanlisten.”
