Instead I sit here in a room full of people completely alone. I can hear cackles from the Elite table. And it makes me want to smack each one of them in the face until there’s nothing left to laugh about.
That’s it. I have reached my breaking point. Finally, I’m so desperate for human contact that I decide to do something drastic. Something that can’t be ignored.
I scan across the room, inevitably landing my sights on the Elites’ lunch table. I hate how happy and arrogant they look. They don’t deserve to be so carefree with the misery they inflict on other people’s lives, and I’ve finally had enough.
I can feel my muscles quake as I stand from my seat and charge straight for them. My nostrils flare as sweat beads across my skin. My shoulders bump against people as I go, which they still do their best to ignore, and I don’t stop until I’m at the edge of their table.
They keep looking everywhere but at me, but I see their eyes give the faintest glint in my direction. Everything closes in around Vivian in pure tunnel vision. She is the only thing I can see now.
I bare my teeth and with one sweeping, swift motion, I slap Vivian right across the face. A violent clap echoes through the silent lunchroom as my flat and stiffened palm strikes her cheek.
Vivian looks up to me with a vicious growl, her hand still pressed against her red cheekbone in shock. Her eyes bulge out of her head so far, I think they might burst.
Before I can think or do anything else, she is pummeling toward me. My body slams to the ground beneath her attack, her hands pinning my arms down long enough for her to break free and go for a punch.
I am too high on jealousy and anger. My adrenaline is pumping, giving me what feels like special powers. I am alert and sharp enough to catch her blow midair with my hand gripped around her wrist. I roll over, reversing our positions so that she is now the one pinned below me.
I go into a flurry of punches. One right after the other. Anywhere I can manage. Her face, her ear, her side. She knees me a few good times, but other than that is completely helpless beneath my rage. I can’t even feel the scratches she manages to get in across my hands and arms in defense.
I stare ahead blankly, cold and hard as jeers and taunts swell up around us. Finally, I think. At least they’re acknowledging that they can see me. I don’t even care that they are cheering for Vivian, encouraging her to get the upper hand again.
I’m surprised that no one jumps in to stop me, but I imagine I look like an absolute mad woman running on nothing but pure anger. They’re afraid of me. I also like to think everyone secretly wants to see Vivian get the shit beat out of her.
Finally, an arm across my chest snaps me from my red blur of fury, but barely. I feel a man’s firm chest push to my back as I’m raised into the air, my arms still flailing viciously. Just before I’m hauled through the swinging cafeteria doors, I see Vivian glaring as she’s left to pick herself up off the floor.
I don’t know who is carting me off until he’s pushing me up against the wall of an empty classroom. Emmett.
His hand grips around my neck, his own neck muscles bulging and his breath heavy through his nose. I don’t recoil as I normally would. I’m so desperate for his eyes to be burning into mine. His hands across my skin, even if they are holding on too tight. Instead I melt into him, drawing my chin up to meet his gaze.
The desperation in my eyes softens his touch, drawing the curve of his finger across my jaw.
“What the hell were you thinking?” he hisses, his skin roiling with desire. I can feel it coursing through his fingertips, and I know how it is burning into him because I feel it too.
“You can’t do this to me,” I respond breathlessly, his fingers clutching harder into my neck as I speak. “You can’t just pretend I don’t exist.”
“You did this to yourself,” he groans, his head swaying with the rhythm of my squirms. “If you had just been a good little pet and done what you were told…”
“Enough of that shit!” I try my best to shout, but it cracks into a whisper. “I’m no one’s pet. Not even yours. All I’ve done is defend myself.”
“Oh no?” he grins devilishly. His hand drops below my neck, forcefully pressing down every inch of my chest before resting across my abs. “You’re not my pet?” His eyes move hungrily over me from top to bottom, taking in every inch of me.
I want to scream no, but I can’t say anything. I’m too high on the ecstasy of human contact.
“I like you like this,” he croons softly, leaning closer to my ear. The soft graze of his lips sets my skin on fire. “Broken down…desperate. I bet I could do anything I wanted to you right now, couldn’t I?”
“Key word being want,” I shoot back in a moan. “You do want me. You have wanted me this whole time.”
I don’t even care anymore how sick and twisted this whole thing is. His desire is all I care about right now. I need the validation. I need to know I am real after this week of feeling non-existent. And I know that’s what he gets out of all of this. I don’t know if his motivation for makin
g my life a living hell is the same as Vivian’s or any of the other Elites, but I know the benefit is that it leaves me like this…putty in his hands.
When he doesn’t answer, I push forward to run away, but his palm quickly juts across my chest and slams me back again. His breath quickens even more, and I can see him trying to resist as his finger trails across my face.
All at once we both surrender, our lips colliding and opening wide as our tongues crash across each other in firm waves. I can’t help but whimper into his mouth, sparking an earnest groan from his in return.
“When I saw you storm up to our table, I was hoping we would end up like this,” he mumbles into my lips, barely breaking us apart to speak. “I was expecting you to put up more of a fight. We really did get to you this time, huh?”
I almost think I can sense a tinge of pity in his voice. Not the degrading kind, but a sincere sympathy for what they have put me through. It makes me lose myself in him even more, my hands sliding across his back, up his neck and clenching into his hair. His hips push against mine, keeping me pinned firmly to the wall, and I can feel his hardness straining against his paints.