I lean in and gently graze her lips with my own. I know the risk I’m taking kissing her, but I don’t care.
I don’t care what anyone has to say. She lets out a low whimper from deep in her throat, and the sound goes straight to my cock.
Her sweet taste, mixed with the copper tang of her blood, touches my lips, and I’m like a shark who just had a taste of prey. I kiss her a little deeper, wanting more, needing more. Before I get the chance, she pulls away, her eyes big, her lip bruised, and a hint of sadness in her eyes.
“We shouldn’t,” she whispers. All I can do is watch her as she retreats, wishing I could tell her how much I care.
How I’d love to break that little bitch’s hands for daring to lay them on someone so obviously above her. I want to punish Anja as much as I want to punish anyone and everyone who’s ever made Delilah feel less than. Worthless, useless, alone.
The thing is, I don’t know if it’s all a matter of protecting her or saving her misery for myself. So I can savor it, knowing I’m the only one with that sort of power over her.
And I think I’m ever going to make a decent father? Who am I trying to kid? There’s nothing for me to do but retreat to my apartment. My day is fucked, my already sparse concentration destroyed by the call from Charlotte and the unplanned contact with the girl I’ve avoided all week. At least now I’ve seen her with my own two eyes, so there’s no question of whether or not she’s in one piece—but it also means knowing firsthand what she’s going through. She can’t walk down the hall without being hit.
At least she gave some of it back. Anja was bleeding, too.
“There you are.”
Son of a bitch. Is the entire world conspiring against me today? I reach the floor where the apartments sit. I’m halfway down the hall before I notice Lauren waiting for me, leaning against my door like she has all the time in the world and nowhere else to be. It’s too late to avoid her now. Besides, it would look like I was running away. I might do just that, but I don’t want it to look that way.
“Don’t you have something better to do?” I grumble.
“Presently? No. I have been waiting for you to come in for a session, which you know very well since you’ve been avoiding my phone calls like they’re the plague.”
“If I were avoiding you, that would imply this is important enough for me to avoid. Really, I don’t have the time or the inclination.”
Her head bobs up and down slowly. “Sure. Tell me another good one.”
She won’t move away from the door, and the fury blazing within me leaves me wanting to warn her.
“Lauren. This isn’t the time. For your own sake, get out of the way.”
“Are you going to come in for a session?”
When all I do is growl, she steps aside. “You can’t avoid yourself forever, you know.”
“Who said I was avoiding myself?” I ask as I unlock the door. “It’s just that I’ve figured out what you haven’t.”
“And what is that?”
I barely spare her a glance over my shoulder. “I’m past saving, so please stop wasting your time and mine.”
With that, I slam the door, ending the conversation.