When darkness fell, I kept my eyes on the moon. She stayed with me, racing beside the car, not leaving my side as the final blow to my heart was nearing—or so I told myself.
We came around a bend in the road and I recognised the twinkling lights of my hometown in the distance, beneath us. I sat up straighter. I was almost home. With each turn of the wheels, the lights grew bigger and closer. The air changed too—thicker as we neared the ocean. It became harder to breathe it in. It seemed that my lungs had forgotten the salty air. I wiped sweat from my brow, caused by the shift in humidity. I swallowed uncomfortably. Was it always this much hotter in Bentley Cove? It was getting really hard to breathe. I clutched at my chest, as if I could inspect why my lungs were heaving for air. Something was wrong. The air was suffocating me. I had to get out.
“Grayson, stop. Stop the car!” I gasped. The panic in my voice had him slamming on the brakes.
“What’s wrong?” he demanded, worried.
I didn’t answer. I had no air to do so. I couldn’t breathe. I had to get out.
The car finally came to a stop, and I jumped out. I stumbled a few feet to the edge of a cliff, overlooking my town. My home.
I was wrong about Grayson. He wouldn’t be a mere ghost, haunting me. No, he would be a demon. Fresh out of hell. Terrorising and torturing me. Making me question every choice and every ounce of my sanity. I would be terrified of ever being left alone. Terrified of the dark and the quiet.That’s when he would come for me. Seducing me. Maiming me. Ruining me. Over and over. Impossible to get rid of. Could I live like that? Could I really survive that? To have the shadow of him overcasting every aspect of my life? Because nothing and no one could stand against him and win. No one would ever compare to my devil and the sweet, gaping hell he would leave behind.
“Ava.” Grayson was a few feet behind me.
I spun to him. “I can’t go back.” Gods, what was I saying? I inhaled deeply a few times, to steady myself. To steady my mind as I silently screamed up at the heavens. At the gods for letting this happen to me. For making me choose between the impossible. Between my life, my family, my home. And a fucking fantasy. One I never admitted to anyone. A life of freedom I had thought was impossible. And a man whose being sang to my very soul.
Grayson was staring at me, his face unreadable.
I walked to him. “Don’t make me go back, Grayson.” My voice was ragged.
Grayson shook his head as I said it, taking a few steps back to keep the distance between us. “Don’t do this, Ava,” he warned. His expression was hard, but his eyes were wild with emotions. “Get in the car.”
“No.”
He took a step towards me, anger searing beneath the surface. “Don’t you do this to me, Ava. Now get in the fucking car!” he bellowed loudly, making me jump.
“You’re not listening!” I screamed back at him. “I don’t want to go back. I want you!”
He pressed his palms over his eyes, as if he could block me out. The cool, calm and collected façade of Grayson gone. “You don’t mean that.” He was trying to compose himself, but his hands were shaking.
I didn’t know how I could get it through his thick skull. “You said that you don’t want to stain me, but you already did, Grayson. I can’t go back to that.” I swept my hand over the lights beneath us. “I want more. I want you.”
“No. You shouldn’t. I’m no good for you. You should forget about me. Fuck, Ava! We’ve been through this!” He turned his back on me. He gripped the top of the car with both his hands, his head hanging low.
A thought crossed my mind, stealing my breath and my soul away. “You don’t want me.” My voice trembled.
He turned to me slowly, his eyes boring into mine. “Don’t youeverthink that. I would burn the fucking world to have you, Princess.”
I closed the last few steps between us. This time he didn’t retreat. I traced the shape of his face, tears flowing freely. Grayson stood rigid, grinding his teeth at my touch, refusing to let me in. But I would never be able to let go of him. “Then keep me. Make me yours.”
He let loose a ragged breath, his shoulders caving in and his eyes falling shut. He placed his hand over mine and leaned his cheek into my palm. “You will regret this.”
I felt the truth of his words ring in my gut.
“You should run while you still can.”
I pressed myself against him, and his arm wound around my waist, pulling me tighter. He was telling me to run, but I could feel it in his touch—he had no intention of letting me go anymore. His hand snaked into my hair, and he gripped it tightly, painfully, angling my face so he could stare down into my soul. I shivered in delight.
“There will be no turning back, Ava. Once you’re mine, you canneverescape me. I will hunt you to the ends of this earth, I swear to all your fucking gods. Are you sure you want that kind of fucked-up life? Could you handle the psychotic obsession I have with you? I want to fucking brand you, Princess. I want to leave my teeth marks on every inch of your skin, so everyone would know you’remine. I will fucking cut out anyone’s eyes who dares to look at you too long without my consent.Mine!” he growled as his hand tightened painfully, possessively in my hair. He shut his eyes again, trying to reign himself in. His body was vibrating beneath my fingers. “You will be mine, Ava. Do you grasp the gravity of that?”
“Yes,” I answered breathlessly, as fear and excitement gripped me. “I want you, Grayson. I want to be yours.”
His mouth crushed down onto mine.
I could think and feel nothing beyond him. I moaned against his lips as his hands tightened their grip on me. I parted my lips, wanting more. He wasted no time answering my wordless prayer. His tongue slid against mine, the sensation of it rippling through me, awakening every nerve ending in my body. I fisted my hand in his hair, pulling him deeper into the kiss. The taste of him, hit harder than any drug ever produced. I would never get enough of him. One little taste had me hooked.
Grayson’s hands gripped my backside, lifting me off the ground. I wrapped my legs around his torso and held on to him, like my life depended on it. He was all I wanted, all I needed. My back connected hard with the car, making me whimper into his mouth. He leaned with his weight against me, crushing our bodies together even harder. But it still wasn’t enough. The more he touched me, kissed me, the more I wanted. Grayson seemed to feel the same way.
