Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 123212 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123212 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
As if knowing that I’m coming for him, Colton slips out through the back door and keeps on walking until he steps through to a private room, one that I’ve never been in before, and to be honest, I’m too fucking pissed to even look around to figure out where I am.
Colton closes the door behind me, locking it as I pass. “What the hell was that?” I demand, stepping back into him and slamming my hand against his strong chest as the emotions begin to overwhelm me.
“They’re fucking trash and they were causing a scene. They never should have shown up here and you know that. They don’t belong.”
“Neither do I yet for some fucked up reason that I can’t understand, you’re keeping me around.”
“You’re free to go anytime you want, Jade. I’m not fucking keeping you here.”
“Please,” I scoff. “As if you would have allowed me to walk out that fucking door.”
His jaw clenches and his eyes bore into mine. He doesn’t respond, but he doesn't need to. We both know it's true even though neither of us can fully understand it.
“So that’s how it’s going to be?” I question with tears in my eyes. “You’re going to keep hurting me, pushing me away and hoping that it can make you feel something inside your dead soul?”
His jaw tightens and I step into him, raising my chin as I rest my hand against his chest and feel his racing heart beneath, unsure why after everything he’s put me through, that I'm still here begging for more.
My voice lowers to a whisper as I take him in and realize that he’s a fucking mess. He’s lost and confused and desperately holding on to our fucked up relationship the only way he knows how—by hurting me. “You’re going to break me, Colton,” I say, hating the traitorous tear that rolls down my cheek. “Each time you push me away, it hurts a little more and every time you hurt me, you keep chipping away at the little parts I have left of myself, but I see you. I feel your pain. You’re confused and hurting and you don’t have a fucking clue what you’re doing.”
“Don’t,” he warns, realizing I’m climbing the invisible wall that’s been erected between us.
I shake my head, refusing to be pushed back down. “It’s okay,” I tell him. “Hurt me, Colton. Hurt me as much as you fucking need because in the end, I’m not going anywhere. You can’t push me away. Not anymore. I get it, I’m your outlet now. I’m the only person who can make you feel something. So, it’s okay. When you need to scream, you scream at me. When you hurt, you hurt me. I can take it. Right till the fucking end, right until you finally realize how fucking amazing you are.”
His eyes blaze and within a moment, his lips come crashing down on mine as his hand twines around the back of my neck, holding me to him and refusing to let go.
I cling onto him, melting into his touch and allowing him to take whatever the hell he needs.
His kiss is forceful, needy, and desperate, but so is mine.
His hands slide down my body until they’re curling around my ass. He lifts me and slams me against the closed door, keeping me pinned with his hard body. Everything screams within me, my heart, my brain, my fucking pulse. I need his touch more than I need my next breath.
Colton’s tongue sweeps into my mouth and my body instantly responds. My arms wrap around him, pulling him impossibly closer.
I’m fucking falling and I’m falling hard. I can’t allow it to happen but at the same time, I’ve never wanted anything more.
He pulls back ever so slightly and meets my eyes. The emotions staring back at me are raw and crazed. He’s confused, angry, and has no fucking idea what the hell is going on between us. One minute he wants to hate me, and the next he can’t resist my touch.
“It’s okay,” I murmur again, my voice so low that he may not even be able to hear me.
Colton presses back into me, keeping me pinned against the door and drops his head into the crook of my neck. My arms curl back around him and that’s exactly where we stay, holding each other until he finally pulls away and steadies me on my feet.
Without a word, he reaches around me and opens the door. Colton walks out and just like that, he’s gone, leaving me a mess of emotions, completely dazed and confused.
Chapter 9
I sit at the table within the ballroom, watching the projector screen as it flicks through images of Charles with his family vacationing in the Bahamas, at the Eiffel tower, in Rome, and everywhere this beautiful world has to offer.