His jaw tics as he watches me. “I left for you.”
My body turns to stone. It makes no sense, because when he left, hekilledme.
“What?” I cry out, so many more questions than answers rolling through my mind.
His face slowly turns red, until we’re standing face to face, both of our eyes wide, our chests heaving.
“Because if I fucking stayed, you would’ve died,” he growls.
My hands go to my hair, and I pull at the messy strands. Shock and confusion whip me around like a hurricane. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
He leans down close, his voice a whisper in the silent air. “You think your dad is dangerous? My dad is ten times as worse. The shit he got mixed up in was spiraling out of control, and if I stayed, you would’ve gotten mixed up in it.”
“How? What were you involved in?” I breathe.
His hand goes up, and he brushes his thumb across my lower lip, swiping at the plumpness. “So much, Lakyn. Everything you should stay away from.”
I let out a shaky breath, staring into his dark eyes, wondering if the same man hides behind them, or if he’s a complete stranger. He looks the same, he feels the same, he even sounds the same, but he’s so much different, as if he’s been through so much more than I could ever imagine.
His face hardens, as if he’s shutting down our conversation. “This isn’t why I fucking called you here, Lakyn.” Reaching out, he grabs onto my arm, the one that was injured. He yanks the sleeve up, revealing the healing cut along my skin. “Someone’s after you, Lakyn. Do you think this is about the kid from last year, Zane? The one you fucked?” He snaps his last words out with a ferociousness that turns my blood to ice.
I rip my arm from his grip. “I don’t know, Reign.”
He narrows his eyes, his fingers going out, gripping my chin. He pulls me close. “Did you kill him, Lakyn?”
I grab his wrist, squeezing it tight, my nails digging into him. “You won’t tell me what happened with you, yet you think I’m going to just open up and tell you everything about what’s happened to me? You’re out of your fucking mind.” I bark out a laugh. Stepping away from him, I shake my head. “I’m going. This was a waste of my time.”
Turning around, I give him my back, letting out a sigh of disappointment as I walk away. Suddenly, my skin pops with goosebumps as I hear a growl, and then his heat is there, his chest brushing against my back as his hands lock on my waist. “You think you can hide, baby Lake, but your eyes hold many secrets, and I can see every one of them.”
I close my eyes, not wanting to show him my secrets. Not wanting him to know how dark I became a year ago. I don’t think it would scare him away, not even close. But I don’t necessarily want to go around telling people I murdered someone.
His hand slowly snakes around me, until his palm flattens against my lower belly. He squeezes lightly, his hand lowering, inch by inch, until he’s at the waistband of my jeans. “You can’t hide from me, Lakyn. You’ve never been able to. Don’t think you can escape me now.”
I spin in his arms, shooting him a glare. “I’m not the same person I used to be. I’m not weak, and I’ll never put myself back in the position for you to break me again.”
A slight smirk lifts at his lips, and my heart thumps against my rib cage. “You’ll always be my baby Lake. And I’ll always find you. You can pretend to move on, but I can hear your heart beating beneath your sweatshirt, just as wild as you are. As you’ve always been when it comes to me.”
I swallow down my nerves. He’s telling the truth, though I’d never admit it. “I want to leave,” I whisper, wanting everything but.
He shakes his head slowly at me. “No, you don’t. You don’t want to leave me, Lakyn. You never wanted me to leave.”
“I’m not the same,” I croak.
“No, baby, you’re exactly the same.” He says the words before his head lowers, his lips securing against mine. I breathe him in, weak for him, completely a victim to his lips. They’re firm, punishing. I open my mouth on a groan, and he uses the advantage to dip his tongue between my lips, gliding against mine.
I whimper, my hand going up, my fingers curling into his hair. His hat falls off his head, and I listen as it knocks to the ground. Firm hands grip my waist, holding me tight, dragging up my spine, until his fingers wrap around the back of my neck. His other hand slides over my ass, slipping to the back of my thigh. As if we’ve always been one, my legs wrap around his waist at the same moment he lifts me into his arms. He holds me tightly as he spins around, pinning me against the light pole, only the yellow, dim light illuminating us against the dark fishing yard.
He secures me with his hips, and I let out a whimper, my head knocking against the post. I look up at the starry sky, feeling the hardness between his legs. He grinds against me expertly, as if he still knows exactly how to move with me, exactly which buttons to push and how to turn me on.
“You can pretend you’d be happy with anyone else, but you know it’s always been me. It’ll only ever be me, Lakyn.”
My eyes fall closed, and I shake my head back and forth, wishing the words weren’t true, and petrified that they are.
Every person has always been compared to Reign. He’s always been the one my mind wanders to.
“You’ll always be mine, Lakyn. Even when you weren’t, my name was etched into your soul. Quit hiding from the truth.”
I lean forward, shutting him up with my lips. My teeth sink down, and I break the skin, tasting the sweet blood as it falls onto my tongue. He growls, slamming me harder against the pole, dropping his lips to my collarbone, scraping his sharp canines along my skin. I let out a squeal as he leaves a mark, biting at me roughly before he pulls away.