His harsh words, the way he gritted at me, should have sent me back to reality. But I liked his blunt desire. The way he wanted me was written all over him, and he did nothing to conceal it.
“I want you,” I repeated.
Amir’s phone chimed. With a sigh, he swiped it from my nightstand and held it above his head to read the text. I was angled so I could see the screen too.
Reno:On my way to pick up the money myself. Bitch gonna learn her lesson tonight.
Above it, maybe an hour ago, Amir had texted his brother Helen’s location. Bile rose in my throat. Worry gnawed at me from every angle. Here was my crash to reality, and it was as painful as my bones cracking on the pavement.
With a long sigh, Amir switched off his phone and tossed it back on the nightstand. “I need to head out soon.” Then he got on his knees and ran his hands down my sides, giving me a look of longing so intense, it took my breath away. “I could fuck you fast. Make it good for you and fucking great for me, because anything with this body would be great for me, but when I’m inside you, I want to take my time with you, and tonight isn’t going to be that night.”
I scooted back until I hit my headboard, pulling a pillow in front of me so I wasn’t so exposed. “It’s not?”
He shook his head, and with his eyes on mine, he adjusted his erection in his pants. “No, little mama. Not tonight. I’m gonna take your number with me, and we’re gonna meet up when we both have the time to fuck until we get our fill. That’s gonna be soon. You with me?”
I shook my head hard. “No. No, I’m sorry. I lost my mind for a while.”
He jerked like he’d been hit. “You...lost your mind?”
“Yes. I lost my mind.” What was going to happen to Helen? What kind of monster had he led to her? “I would never...not with you.”
Even though he made me feel safe and forget every bad thing that had ever happened to me. Even though my body fit in his arms like I was made to be there. Even though I let him get closer to me than I had ever let any other man. Even though my heart would crack just a little bit more when he walked away.
Amir ran his hand over his mouth, his gaze drifting around my room until it came back to me, hard and unyielding. There was something else there too, but he shuttered it as quickly as it had appeared.
“Guess we both lost our minds.” His eyes swept over me, and something like disgust curdled in his beautiful, dark features. “Can’t stand girls like you. Can’t fucking stand them.”
Then he was off the bed, snagging his shirt and phone, and I was doing everything in my power to hold back my tears. I’d come so close to letting him be my first, and in many ways, hehadbeen my first. What had I been thinking?
Amir wasn’t some misunderstood rebel. He wasn’t a softhearted criminal. He wasn’t the white knight who’d swoop in and save the day. That wasn’t the story I’d stepped into.
Amir was a villain, and I was the idiot girl who’d fallen for him so quickly, I had to stop myself from asking him to come back even as he walked away with my heart squashed under his boot.
He did turn back, but when he opened his mouth, I wished he hadn’t. “You see me out, Zadie, around campus or otherwise, turn the other way. What happened here tonight was an exception. You come near me, I won’t be nice.”
I nodded. “I understand.”
After a long look, my captor was gone, and I knew I’d never be the same.
I’d fallen for a villain, after all.