Fuck. FUCK.
I follow and try the handle, but it’s locked. “Daisy, open the door.”
“I don’t like swearing, but fuck you, Korithax!”
I snarl and kick the door open. She screams, backing into the corner.
“GET OUT!” She yells, throwing a bottle at me.
I let it hit me, barely feeling it. “Was that supposed to hurt?”
“No, you idiot. I don’t want to hurt you. I just want you to go away.”
“It’s not about last night.” I snap, stepping closer.
She stares at the floor, hands wringing in front of her.
“Daisy,” I sigh, reaching out and forcing her to look at me. “You were perfect. The way you sounded, the way you felt… gods, I could lose myself in you for eternity.”
Her face turns pink, and despite everything, my cock twitches at the memory of her flushed face as I was buried between her thighs.
“Then why are you being such an ass?”
I steel my voice, pulling away my gaze. “You deserve better.”
“What?”
“I’m not soft. I don’t love. I can’t. I was made to break things. You were made to be worshipped. I don’t worship, I burn things down.”
She snorts. “You don’t get to decide what I want.”
“I’m telling you what’s best for you.”
“You think I want someone gentle, someone safe? Korithax, I stopped being gentle a long time ago. You’re the first person who’s seen the ugly parts of me and didn’t look away.”
“There’s nothing ugly about you,” I respond, a little too quickly.
She chews her bottom lip, and I growl, using my thumb to tug it free from her teeth. “Stop that.”
She looks up and smiles at me, her face entirely too smug. “Why are you smiling at me?”
“Because you’re full of shit,” she says sweetly. “And I see through it. You’re not pushing me away because I’m not enough—you’re pushing me away because you think you’re not enough.”
My jaw clenches at her words. Am I truly that readable?
“I’m honoured to stand by your side, even if it’s just as a business transaction.”
She smiles again—but it doesn’t reach her eyes. She still doesn’t get it. All I hear are my father’s mocking words that nothing I touch survives. Not even my mother.
“Exactly,” I say coldly. “A business transaction. So let’s not confuse it.”
I turn to leave, and she doesn’t stop me. But her quiet voice hits me from behind. “I see what you’re doing, Korithax. But I am still yours.”
Her words gut me.
“Daisy,” I growl, gripping the doorframe until it cracks.
“I’m yours, Kori.”
