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“What are you doing here?” He snapped, folding his arms over his chest, his large body filling up the gap in the door.
He glowered at me and I recoiled at his harsh tone. “I-”
“You need to leave me alone, Cait. This is getting embarrassing now.” His eyes flickered down the hall as if he was waiting for someone to overhear. As if he was trying to embarrass me.
What the fuck?
“What’s wrong with you?” I hissed, pushing at his chest. He didn’t move. He was rock solid, glaring down at me with disdain.
Who the hell was this?
This was the Aidan from before… before we’d…
“What is wrong with you? You’re basically a stalker at this point,” he sneered.
My lungs burned.
What had changed?
“You-” I broke off, tears filling my eyes as his rejection stabbed me in the gut and ripped apart my insides. Only a few hours ago he’d been holding me… now…
My heart flung itself helplessly at my ribcage, desperately searching for a way out so it could run and hide from this pain.
He leaned over me, his size and strength intimidating me for the first time instead of comforting me. His cruelty was shocking.
Had this all just been part of his plan? I’d suspected he was going to try and make me fall for him before my parents had died to embarrass me… it seemed I’d been right. It was a fucking low blow, and I didn’t think I would ever recover.
He’d officially won the war.
“If you’re just going to stand their blubbering, go back to your room. And. Leave. Me. Alone.” He pushed his finger into my shoulder with every punctuated word, knocking me back from the door.
I wasn’t a violent person, but I reared forward and slapped him. The sound bounced off the walls, and it stung my palm, but it didn’t move him an inch.
He smirked, then he turned his back on me and slammed the door behind him.
My knees turned to jelly and I thought I might die right there and then.
The thread that had been holding me together snapped under all the pressure, and I imploded.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Cait
Somehow, I made it back to my room and curled up under the duvet, sobbing until there was nothing left.
I didn’t think I’d ever felt pain quite this intense. When my parents had died it had been a short sharp pain that had become easier to handle every day… this was the opposite. It was a bone deep, take your breath away kind of pain. It didn’t ebb and flow, it roared at you over and over, blaring like a siren. It was the kind of pain that made you want to curl up into a ball and scream until you ran out of air.
I tossed and turned for hours, eventually falling asleep in the big bed, surrounded by nothing but my own tear-soaked pillows. It was the first time I’d slept alone since the day he’d come for me at my parents’ house and my god did I feel the aching emptiness of it.
How could someone be that cruel? That calculated and evil? My parents had died and he’d realized I was vulnerable. He’d known he could finally destroy me. He’d seen his shot and he’d taken it.
It was my own fault for letting my guard down around him.
He’d completely fooled me.
Somehow, I managed to get out of bed the next morning and dressed for the funeral, but it was only the desire to put this chapter to rest that powered me through it. I couldn’t believe how different this morning was from the day before.
He’d been holding me and I’d been so blissfully happy. Now I was alone, I felt numb, and my ears were buzzing like something had exploded.
