But I should’ve known better.
There’s no humanity in a monster.
His steel gaze darts my way, and I cease to breathe.
They say the eyes are the window to the soul, but for Aiden, there’s… nothing.
It’s empty in there.
A dark, bottomless hole.
“What are you willing to do to have me stop?” His voice is calm. Too calm. It’s terrifying.
“Let’s take the phone, King.” Xander’s voice holds an uncertainty that matches my jumbled insides. Even though his grip remains steel-like.
“No.” Aiden doesn’t break eye contact. He’s like a dog with a bone. There’s no stopping him until he gets what he wants.
“Frozen here will give me what I want so I’ll let her go, right?”
I shake my head once, holding onto the last thread of dignity I have left.
Xander presses on my wrists harder as if communicating something. What, I don’t know.
The sadistic spark from earlier returns as Aiden watches me intently. “What do you say, Frozen?”
He reaches for the lace of my bra, his fingers tracing along the lace. My back stiffens, and I shrink into Xander as if he’s my defence against his friend.
In all honesty, he may be the only defence I have.
Aiden gets bolder, hooking his finger against the cloth. His skin brushes along the valley of my breasts, leaving a trail of something so foreign, it’s horrifying.
He’s not even reaching for the phone. No. He watches me with that poker face the more his fingers lazily trace along the curve of my breasts, stopping at my scar.
His endgame seems to be making me uncomfortable in my own skin.
It’s working.
It’s freaking working, damn it.
Xander tugs on my wrist again as if pushing me to end this.
“Fine!” I seethe. “What the hell do you want?”
Aiden steps back but doesn’t break eye contact. I don’t want to back off first, but staring into those hollow eyes is exhausting.
It’s like being trapped in a void and screaming, but the only sound you’re able to hear is the echo.
“Everyone calls me King.”
“And?” I ask, not knowing what he’s getting at.
“You don’t.”
“That’s because you have a first name, why the hell would I call you by your last?”
“Who gave you the right to call me by my first name?”
“Huh?”