Own me? Oh, hell, no. If this motherfucker thinks he can walk back into my life after ten years and I’m going to just bend over as if nothing has happened, he’s got another think coming.
I pull my shoulders back, looking him straight in the eyes. “You own shit.”
A growl escapes Stone as his powerful legs stride towards me. His eyes gaze directly into mine, unnerving me. I take a step back to put some space between us, but he quickly fills it until my back hits the bar counter. Bottles of liquor shake, and a few fall and break around us.
“Listen good, Butterfly. I’ve owned you since you were sixteen years old. Fuck, maybe even before that. If you think you’re in control, you’re fooling yourself. I’m not a fucked-up eighteen-year-old kid anymore, drowning in my bullshit.”
A shiver runs through me as Stone’s hot breath touches my skin. He pulls back, and his eyes linger on the butterfly pendant on the chain before moving to my lips. “I’m gonna take you home and finally lay claim to what’s mine. We can do this the hard way or the easy way, but I promise you, either way, I’m fuckin’ you tonight.”
Even with all the fucked-up baggage of our past, he still has the same hold on me, but there’s no way I’m letting him back into my life as if nothing happened. “The only way I’m going anywhere with you is kicking and screaming.”
My stomach flips as Stone's lips curve into a devastating smile. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
Stone bends down, throws me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and marches towards the door before turning back to grab the single purple rose.
“Seriously. You’re kidnapping me and you can’t forget the rose?”
“I’m not kidnapping you. You’d have to be a kid for that.” He slaps my ass hard. “And lookin’ at you, Butterfly, you’re all woman.” I kick at his crotch, but he moves before I can make contact. “You sure you want to piss me off, Butterfly, after what you just witnessed? Be careful… Poking the bear is never a good idea.”
“You wouldn’t hurt me.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that. Ten years and the fact that you’ve fucked around on me doesn’t bode too well for you.”
“I didn’t fuck around on you. We weren’t together.”
Stone opens a car door and tosses me inside before he leans over and buckles me in like I’m a child incapable of doing anything for myself.
“You know, I can put on my own seat belt.”
He ignores my statement, closing the door and moving towards the driver’s side.
The car isn’t moving slowly, but it’s not like we’re on the freeway. My brain is in overdrive, trying to think up all plausible scenarios. Do I think Stone would kill me? No. Do I think he’d hurt me? Yes. The guy has never been level-headed. Volatile and quick-tempered are the two adjectives most people would use to describe him. When I was younger, I found his brand of insanity sexy, but now I know it started me on a path of making poor decisions and picking toxic men, all because of my addiction to Stone. I glance at the side mirror, unbuckle my seat belt, open the door, and jump.
Fuck. It hurts. I’m sure I’ve scraped some skin on my arm badly. I don’t stop to think about the pain much, just get up and start running. The streets are quiet at this time of night. Asphalt and sidewalks with the random car. There isn’t anyone out and about at one in the morning. Maybe a drunk here or there, but nobody is around who can help me escape a psychotic murderer.
I hear the engine of a car revving, and Stone, the lunatic, is driving on the wrong side of the road. I run faster, but I’m no match for his car, and a sick part of me is worried that he might crash into another vehicle. The weird part is I’m not concerned about the innocent victim in the other car but about Stone.
Chapter Five
STONE
I’m going to kill her. What the fuck does she think she’s doing? She could get hurt. What if another car drove up as her crazy ass jumped out?
My knuckles turn white from my grip on the steering wheel and my jaw ticks. I grind my teeth so hard that they might as well turn into dust. She is so scared of me that she jumped out of a moving car and put herself in danger. I’m going to spank her ass until it’s crimson, making her so sore that she won’t be able to sit down for a week.
I stick my head out the window. “Get in the fuckin’ car, Em.”
She keeps running, turning her head slightly to look at me and scream a defiant, “No!”