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“Or you can’t stand to see all those people fawning over me?” I hoped. I wanted her to be as jealous and fucked up as I was.
“You really think so much of yourself, don’t you?” She blew out a sharp breath.
“You mean everything doesn’t revolve around me?” I pretended to be shocked, which got me a smile at least, though she still rolled her eyes at me.
She was so seductive. Her energy was tugging at me, calling me, and I was sure I was affecting her too. Heat was building between us. Every word spilling from her lips had me tense and excited. I could stay here all night if it meant I could hear her voice and bask in her loathing.
There was a beat of silence, but I had to ask. “Do you love him?”
She sighed like I was bothering her. “It’s been ten years, Max. Did you really think I wouldn’t fall in love again?”
Out of all the questions I wanted to ask, it was a terrible one to start with. Along with everything else I was trying to process, I didn’t need the thought of her heart belonging to someone else rolling around in my mind.
“Yet you still want to fuck me?”
I loved how quickly she snapped. “Honestly? Is that what you think? Is that why you followed me? You think you can just apologise and I’ll forgive you?”
“What are you talking about?”
My biggest fear was I’d done something to make her vanish. After she left, I would run every conversation I could remember through my head, trying to figure out what had set her off. Apart from her complaining about the way Goss treated her behind my back, there was never anything that jumped out to me.
“You are such a prick. You’re honestly telling me you don’t know?” she snarled again. My body was alive, taut, ready for anything. I waited, confused about what she meant but tense and eager to see what she might unleash on me. “Why the hell are you here? What are you even doing with Bunny? How the fuck did you sneak back into my life when I did everything I could to erase you from it?”
That familiar hollow ache that had inspired so much of my music slashed me open. She wanted me gone that badly?
It hurt that she could make me feel so small, but I wasn’t the only one affected. Even in the shadows, I could see the way she was tensing and relaxing, how she looked like she was ready to attack me, her breaths becoming deeper and slower as her presence expanded and swept over me.
“You used me.” Her voice was like poison running through my veins. “Every day was a lie, wasn’t it? Just biding your time until you got signed. Was it such a chore for you? To pretend you loved me?”
I knew it was sick, but her anger was turning me on. I wanted to see more.
The last few months we were together, I had pulled away from her —not totally, but enough that it could be awkward between us. The four of us leapt as soon as Storm Records offered us the contract, signing it on the spot. It was a shit thing to do, and I felt guilty knowing I would leave her to move to London and start a new life when she helped us get there with her inheritance. She was happy for me to go, especially with her family living in London, but I still felt like I was picking the music over her. I didn’t think it was enough to make her believe I didn’t love her.
“Baby, is that really what you think?” I stepped towards her again, not sure if I wanted to comfort her or see what she would do to me if I got close enough. “Cat…” I reached for her, but she slapped my hand away, panting furiously.
“I can’t stand you. Even looking at you now makes me sick.” She was a vision when she snarled.
I wanted her to rise up and devour me. I didn’t want her to feel this way about anyone else. Her rage and her hate were mine to treasure.
“What do you want, Kitty Cat? Tell me what you need. Tell me why you had to go.”
“Don’t patronise me! Don’t pretend like you give a shit about me.” She raised a fist, ready to hit me.
I refused to flinch. It was my fault she was so angry. Whatever it was, it had her storming and raging at me with her beautiful chaos. If this was what she needed, I’d give it to her.
Her jaw clenched, and whatever had her cheeks flushing was strong enough to make her tremble. Her lips parted, her breathing deep. I could feel her anger radiating off her, and I wanted to soak it up, fill myself with whatever she could give me.
I moved my head, offering her my bare cheek, hoping for a mark or something else I could keep. I heard her dress rustle as she threw her fist.
I expected pain, heat, a shudder through my skull as she hurled her fury at me. Instead, like the whisper of first snow, her hand covered my cheek. She held me, releasing a shaking breath. My eyelids fluttered as I savoured the softness of her palm. I turned my face, rubbing against her, lost in the sensation. Peace settled over me. As long as she was touching me, everything was right in the world.
Her voice steady, eyes blazing, she spoke. “I want to strangle you for what you did to me.”
“Cat, what did I do?”
The seconds stretched as we watched each other. If she was still angry, it meant she still cared. It meant there was still a chance. I wanted to fall into her, give in to the sweetness of temptation. If we could be Cat and Max again, with none of the roles or titles, if she would curl into my arms as I showered her with love, I swore I would never ask for anything else.
“Stop lying.” Her voice cracked, and her fingers bent as she pressed the tips into my skull. “Don’t say you don’t know about my flat, or that video, or all the things you and Goss planned together.” The shadows hid too much of her face. I wanted to see more. Even in my confusion, lust still shot through me at the slight movement of her thumb on my cheek, a stroke of heat arrowing straight to my cock. “You don’t deserve to breathe.”
