Just as the zipper clicks shut, the bedroom doors burst open.
Graham has arrived. And he is livid.
He charges across the room like a feral animal, pinning me flat on my back against the sheets. He crawls directly over my body, burying me beneath his weight until it’s hard to breathe.
“Don’t you ever run from me again,” he hisses directly into my face.
I need to be strong. I need to be brave.
“I want a break, Graham.”
“A what?” he roars.
I gulp.“A break. It’s when two people take some time apart to—”
His teeth clamp onto the side of my neck.
“You ain’t getting breaks from me, sweetheart,” he rasps.“This ain’t a TV show. You don’t get to pause me.”
I push against his shoulders, desperately trying to stand my ground even though I can already feel myself drowning in him. My body is already betraying me, my panties growing wet.
“Tell me who spoke to you at that fucking party,” he commands.“Tell me which one of those fuckers poisoned your mind against me.”
“Turned me against you?” I echo.“Graham… look at us. I shouldn’t even be by your side in the first place.”
He slams his palms into the mattress on either side of my head, the impact shaking the entire bed, before crashing his mouth down to bite my bottom lip. Hard.
You were always meant to be by my side,” he growls.“Mine. My woman. There is no other version of reality where you don’t belong to me.”
“And what?” I sob, tears falling down my face.“I’m just supposed to live the rest of my life as the bitch who stole her sister’s husband? Let the whole world whisper about whether I was opening my legs for you while she was still living in this house? While your ring was still on her fucking finger? Or did I just wait until she got sick enough for you to dump her in an asylum?!”
Never in a million years would I have thought that this would be my reality.
“I can’t do it, Graham. I can’t live like that.”
He buries his face into my chest, his nose dragging against the cotton of my hoodie as he inhales me.
“Then you put all the blame on me, little flower,” he murmurs.“You heap every single sin onto my shoulders,because that is the fucking truth. I am the monster. I am not giving you a choice to leave, Maya. If they ask you, you tell them the truth. You tell them I married her just to trap you. You tell them I cut your wings so you couldn’t fly away from me.”
My fingers unconsciously tangle into his rumpled hair, pulling him closer even as I try to push him away.
“I can’t tell them that,” I whisper into the quiet room.
“Why?”
“Because… because it might have started out that way,” I confess.“But I fell for you, Graham. I love you. And they’ll judge me even more for loving the devil.”
He lifts his head, his black eyes wide as he begins to cover my face, my eyes, and my lips in kisses.
“My miracle,” he rasps against my mouth.“You are life’s greatest fucking gift to me, Maya. You are the only reason I breathe. You think I’m letting you go after hearing that?”
He pins my wrists above my head, grinding his hips into my core.
“I can’t live without you, little flower. I won’t,” he says.“If I have to cut your wings a million times over to make sure you fall straight into my arms every single time you try to fly, I will do it.”
He kisses me to shut me up. Without breaking the kiss, Graham reaches down and yanks my sweatpants past my knees. He sinks into me, and I finally feel full after being empty for hours. He makes me feel whole.
But the doubts refuse to dissipate.
