“Didn’t I? Haven’t you been listening to anything I’ve been saying? I’ve been a f**king prisoner since I was six years old. You’re the only person I’ve been close to in my entire life. Is it so wrong of me to ask for more? To request that you stay with me and give meaning to my f**king sorry excuse for a life?”
I shoved her away. My heart bolted around my chest, and I needed a fight. I needed to throw my fist into something flesh and bone and let out all this rage.
Fuck!
Zel stood glaring, panting hard. Her eyes flew up the corridor where Clara had disappeared. I didn’t worry she wasn’t visible. There was nothing but statues to entertain and no way out unless she came back this way.
“You’re impossible,” she muttered.
“No. You’re impossible. Shit, I’ll give you the remaining one hundred thousand now if it’ll help sway you. Hell, I’ll triple it if you stay. I’ll give you anything you want—just agree to stay for a few days at least.”
Zel shifted, eyes darting around the space, searching for answers. “A few days?”
I wanted to sigh in relief. I’d won. This match.
“That’s all I’m asking.” It wasn’t, but she didn’t need to know that.
Zel slumped, all the fight fizzled from her limbs. “What are you trying to do, Fox?”
I ignored the soft defeat in her voice and murmured, “I’m not trying to do anything. I just want the opportunity to share your daughter—if only for a brief while.”
A crush of vulnerability filled me, and I dropped my head. I was tired. So tired. “Please…I need her in my life. I need you.” Swallowing hard, I captured her hand and relaxed a little when the conditioning stayed blessedly absent. “Please, Hazel. I’ll give you anything you want. I’ll pay you any sum you desire. Just stay. Give me another chance.”
Her eyes bloomed with fresh anger. “You think I’m that shallow? That you can throw money at me and allow you to buy me and Clara?” She snorted. “We don’t come with a f**king price tag, you idiot. You could offer me a million, and I wouldn’t stay if I thought you’d hurt her.”
“I swear on my life I will not raise a finger to hurt her. You have my absolute word.”
She shook her head. “It’s not good enough. You can’t promise that.” Her eyes met mine, and I wanted to dig out my heart and slap it into her hands. Then she’d know how much I needed her and Clara and the tantalising hope she offered.
She ran hands through her long hair, her perfect br**sts rising and falling with rage. “What you did to me, Fox…that…that’s not natural. You shouldn’t have such strong triggers that make you a danger to anyone who comes into contact with you. What if you lash out again? What if I’m not around to stop you from strangling her or tearing her into chunks? You don’t trust yourself. I don’t trust you, and I sure as hell don’t trust you around the reason for my very existence. Plus we have a life, appointments to go to, school to attend. It’s not a simple matter of saying stay for a few days.”
Her anger fed mine, and I welcomed the warmth. I growled, “It’s obvious you don’t trust me in the slightest. You hid her from me. You’ve kept every part of your life a secret from me.” My temper helped soothe my raging need for pain just a little. “You know a lot more about me than I do about you. Everything about you is a mystery, and it f**king hurts to think I don’t deserve to hear a little about your past or who you truly are.”
Looking to where Clara had run to, I lowered my voice and took a step closer to Zel. “You said you signed the contract because you wanted me. Because you felt what I did—that you were drawn to me. And yet, I’ve embraced that bond and relished in finally deserving your attention, but no matter what I do, you look at me as if I’m a pet project. You exploded my mind by sucking my cock. You pushed me until I lost control. And then you condemn me when I don’t respond to your crazy form of therapy.
“I need time. I know I need help, but you don’t care about me…not the way I care about you.” I snapped my lips together, hating my slip—I’d shown my weakness.
Her mouth fell open. “You think I don’t care about you?” Her eyes flashed with emerald fire; pressing closer, she drove me backward. “You’re stupid as well as screwed up. Answer me this. Why the hell do I keep coming back? Why the hell can’t I hate you for hurting me, not once, not twice, but three times? Why can’t I just walk away and throw your damn money in your face?”
Her eyes glittered with pent-up tears. “I’ll tell you why, you moron. It’s because whatever you feel, I feel. It’s there—pulling us together. You make my heart race every time you look so broken. You make me feel stronger and deeper than I’ve ever felt for anyone. So don’t tell me I don’t care!”
Dashing hair out of her eyes, she snarled, “Whatever exists between us is determined to destroy me. How am I expected to ignore something so strong and undeniable? It drives me f**king insane, just like you and your issues drive me insane. All I wanted was a way to save—”
She cut herself off before whisper-yelling, “I want you so damn much my skin screams for your touch and my fingers ache to reciprocate, but I want to know you. I push you to break you, hoping you’ll find a way back to normality. But it doesn’t work, and you end up hurting me. After everything I’ve done, you have the nerve to tell me I don’t care about you?”
She panted hard, cheeks flushed with colour.
I’d never been so alive. So f**king turned on. Her passion, her confession squeezed my heart until I couldn’t stay still.
Every angry word stroked my cock, making me harder than I’d ever been in my life. My entire body screamed for hers. I needed to claim her. Mark her. Solidify whatever existed between us.
I didn’t care that Clara was down the hall absorbed in my bronze creations. I didn’t care that the stress of the day had stolen the edges of my vision or that my body felt like an overstretched rubber band.
I didn’t f**king care.
“I can’t do this anymore.” I launched myself at her, shoving her against the opposite wall. My heart exploded as my mouth crashed hard on hers.
It wasn’t sweet. It wasn’t planned. It was angry and violent, and everything that I needed.