Kingston opens the door so roughly it smashes against the wall, knocking off the pictures hanging there. The frames hit the floor, smashing into pieces.
I’m instantly on alert, up from the table and keeping my body firmly planted on the other side so it stays between us. His face is full of rage, but it’s a cold kind of anger, like his face shows no sign of the emotion but his eyes, oh his eyes are burning hotter than the sun as he glares at me.
“What did you do!?”
“Excuse me?”
“Did you tell Tobias about me?”
“What’s there to tell, I don’t fucking know anything!”
“Did you tell him who I really am?”
My head snaps back, “why would I do that?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” he casually walks towards me, “your idea of revenge for what I’ve done.”
“So, you admit what you’re doing with me is wrong?” That was the wrong thing to say.
His mouth twists up into a cruel smile, his eyes dancing down my body, “Wrong?” He asks, “so you’re telling me the way you screamed for me was wrong? How I made you come so fucking hard you saw stars? You’re saying what your body craves is wrong?”
I grit my teeth.
He rounds the table and I move with him, further away.
“Have you not learned your lesson by now?” He mocks, “I’ll chase you, Eleanor and when I catch you, I’ll fuck you so fucking hard the only thing you’ll remember is my name as you scream it over, and over again.”
“You won’t ever touch me again,” I wish that were true.
He tuts as if scolding a child, “Aren’t you just a little liar.”
“Fuck you, Kingston! Get out of my house!”
“Did you tell them!?” He growls.
He keeps stalking forward and I keep edging back, eyes never leaving his. “No.”
“Well, you’ve just proved you’re a liar so why should I believe you?”
“I didn’t fucking tell Tobias anything,” I scream at him. I’ll just leave, get out and let him do whatever the fuck he wants to my apartment, he wants to believe something that isn’t true then fine, but I won’t stand around and let him accuse me of shit that I haven’t done.
I could tell Tobias, I could tell Garrett, let them deal with him but the thought cuts off just as quickly as it comes. I didn’t want them to know who he was, I didn’t want to purposely hurt Kingston even though I had every right to.
Kingston lurches forward and I back up too quickly, straight onto the pile of glass. Pain lances through my foot, hot blood instantly gushing from my heel, and I cry out, stumbling to the side. A huge shard of glass has embedded into my foot, the clear shard stained red and dripping blood.
Kingston forgotten, I drop to the floor, cradling my foot, fingers gently pinching the glass. The pain intensifies and I let go, falling back against the wall.
“Eleanor,” Kingston is suddenly in front of me, crouching. “Shit.”
“Don’t fucking touch me!” Tears prick my eyes and then spill over, running down my cheeks.
I snatch my foot away when he tries to grab it, and the pain makes me scream.
“Stay fucking still, Eleanor!”
He grabs my foot, holding it firmly but not roughly as he dips his head to inspect where the glass has stabbed me.
“Just take it out!”
“It’s not just this piece,” he murmurs, “But it’s not too deep, you won’t need stitches.”
“Kingston, just take it out, it hurts.”
His eyes flash up to mine and then he tracks the tears down my face and his jaw goes tight, “Come on,” he lays my foot down and comes towards me, “Let’s get you over to the table and I’ll get it out.”
I let him help me up and guide me to the table, his warm body pressed to my side, arm wrapped around me. I slump into a chair and lean back, letting him grab towels and hot water, “Do you have a first aid kit?”
“Bathroom,” I tell him.
He disappears for a minute and comes back holding the green box.
We don’t speak while he lays the supplies on the table and then gently lifts my foot, placing it up on the top, the towel underneath.
“There’s about six or seven shards in your foot as well as this big piece, I’ll take out that one first and then the little bits, okay?” His voice is gentle, so much more gentle than I’ve ever heard him speak before. Almost normal.
I watch his tattooed hands work, his long fingers picking out tools and wipes from the kit as well as bandages.
I watch him as he examines the area, trying to figure out the best way to remove it, but that’s lost on me as I take in his face. All the harsh lines, the rough edges, the mess of dark hair on top of his head, concealing the tattoo down the side of his skull. The nose ring in his nostril glints in the light and the piercing just reminds me it’s not the only thing that he has done. His tongue, holy shit his tongue and that cock piercing, now that was something else.
I didn’t get to look properly at all the tattoos that paint his body like a canvas though now I’d like to. I’d like to explore each one, inspect the details, trace the outlines. The thoughts are banished from my head the moment he yanks the piece of glass from my foot. Hot blood runs rivers down the sole of my foot, dripping onto the towel.
I hiss through my teeth, throwing my head back as the pain makes more tears run from my eyes. “Fuck!”
His deep chuckle shouldn’t be a balm. It should not!
“That was the hard part,” he says soothingly.
“It’s all hard!” I snap back.
His eyes flash up to mine, and he quirks a brow.
“Oh, shut up.” I hiccup, crossing my arms.
I wince and flinch as he gets the tweezers out and begins to pull the smaller shards of glass from the sole of my foot. He drops them onto the cloth he has aside with the larger piece, and they ting against it as he drops them.
“That’s the glass done,” he murmurs, picking up an alcohol wipe to clean me up, and then he wraps my foot in a bandage and straightens. We stare at each other for a long moment, the air around us crackling with tension.
“Did you tell Tobias about me?” He asks with a sigh.
“No, Kingston, I didn’t.”
He narrows his eyes and then stands abruptly, going over to the sink to wash his hands. He faces me afterwards, “I had bugs planted in the office, they were linked to the security feed which gave me access to all cameras, including any hidden ones in that building. Tobias found them and disabled them.”
My mouth forms an O, “We had IT in today, they were scanning the walls and floors, I didn’t think anything of it.”
Kingston nods, “Regardless of how, I no longer have access to that building from the outside until I get those bugs back up and running, you’ll be on your own for a while.”
“I don’t even know what I’m looking for Kingston,” I sigh, “I don’t think I can help.”
“You can, and you will,” He steps forward and plants his hands on the table, leaning towards me. His face hovers in front of mine, so close we share breath, “There’s no getting rid of me Eleanor, find that information, we find Tate and maybe after this is done, I’ll consider letting you live your life.”
“And if I can’t?”
“Then I guess Tate will stay missing and girls will continue to suffer.”
“That’s not fair,” I snap, “I never asked to be a part of this.”
“Well now you are, and while we’re at it, I want you in training, you need to learn to defend yourself better.”
“So, you’re in control of me now!?”
“Get some rest, Eleanor.”
He doesn’t give me a chance to respond as he stalks towards the door. Right before he closes it, he looks over his shoulder, eyeing me where I stay seated at the table, “Oh and Eleanor, if you betray me, it won’t just be Tate’s life you have to worry about but your own too.” He slams the door on his way out.
Fear has my heart pumping, but I scowl in his direction as if I can see him behind the closed door, but after a few minutes I realize he isn’t coming back, and I have a mess to clean up.
I wince when I put my injured foot down and limp to grab my dustpan and brush. I doubt I’ll sleep much tonight, just like every other night since Tate went missing.
I didn’t know how my life became so confusing and busy, and I didn’t know when it was going to end but the more time I spend with Kingston, the higher the chance of being broken by the end of it.