Page 37 of Ravage
I take a deep breath, and the smell of autumn, of crisp leaves and a cool, clear night fills my nose. My hair is gently pushed behind my ear, and I shiver at the contact.
“Come on. Let’s get you back to your apartment,” Jackson murmurs in my ear, tickling the hair there until I’m weak in the knees. He lifts me in his arms.
I want to argue with him, but the second I open my eyes to do so, the room shifts, and nope. No. I still need a minute.
The movement up the stairs forces me to focus on small breaths to control my nausea until I’m set down on my feet again. I’m at least leaning against something so I don’t immediately topple to the floor. Joy.
Something cold presses against the back of my neck, and I sigh with relief at the coolness. It takes another minute until I’m ready and then I open my eyes.
We’re standing in my apartment. I’m calm for about a second until I realize what that means. I groan and push slowly off of him. The cold item on the back of my neck disappears, but his other hand remains on my back while I wobble into balancing on my own.
Not only did he know how to get to these apartments, but he knew which one was mine and the code to get in.
“Stalker…” I grumble under my breath.
He doesn’t deny it. I should be freaked out. Concerned, at the very least. I wait for those feelings to come, but they don’t. I just feel…warm.
Must be the alcohol.
I glance up, and oh, look. He used his knife to cool me down. I mean, I guess that’s something he always has handy on him, and it is cooler than my overheating body, but no…Stop it. Stop rationalizing what anyone else would see as crazy. “Most people use a wet washcloth,” I mutter while looking at the knife.
He looks at it, then shrugs and puts it away. “This was on me. I wasn’t leaving you.”
Now that my equilibrium is somewhat returned, I’m able to focus more on the situation. He’s stalking me. After he witnessed me murder someone a few hours ago. “Why are you following me? Are you reporting back to Aiden now?”
“No. Why were you at the nightclub tonight? You should be taking it easy.”
I squint my eyes up at him. Out of confusion and because there are two of him, and I’m trying to get them to merge into one. “Why do you care? What does any of this matter to you?” I step away from him, and his eyes dart down to my dress. “I just messed up your job and killed someone. Are you here for revenge?”
Jackson touches my side, and I flinch at the sharp sting it causes. He holds his fingers up to show me the blood on them. “You didn’t even notice you started bleeding while you were dancing, did you?”
I touch my side to see that, yup, I’m bleeding. But my dress is black, so unless you’re looking closely, it’d be hard to tell. How did he—?
“I’ll help you re-bandage it.” He reaches for me again, but this time, I’m ready and slap his hand away.
“Don’t. Just…don’t.” If he touches me, I don’t know what I’ll do. Hurt him? Hug him? Kiss him? Honestly, any of those options is a possibility, and none of the fallouts will be good when I’m sober. He shouldn’t be here anyway. Not here to help me. He should be angry with me. Trying to get back at me somehow. That’s the only thing that makes sense.
I take another step back from him. And another. “Why are you really here? You just watched me murder someone tonight. And now I’m out dancing. Because that was nothing.” Lie, but he doesn’t need to know that. Not when I apparently need to give him another reason to stay away from me.
“You’ve seen proof now that I’m a killer. So, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to kill me before I kill anyone else? Because you should, you know.” I don’t even know the words falling from my lips, but angry tears spill from my eyes as I try to make him leave.
He stalks toward me, and I don’t know if it’s the predatory look in his eyes or because I’m scared of what might happen if we get close enough to touch, but I move backward until I hit the wall. I fumble over all my hiding places to check for a weapon, and my breath stalls when I come back empty. Did he remove them at some point?
Jackson slams his hand into the wall over my head, his body crowding over me until it feels like he’s sucked the oxygen out of the room. He’s staring at me like I’m the only person in the universe. The only thing that matters.
“You can say or do whatever you like, little one. It’s not going to change anything for me. I know who you are.” Jackson’s voice is low, but it’s calm and confident like always. No ounce of doubt in what he’s saying. Just simple facts.
There’s no way I can look away from his eyes when he watches me like this. Like I’m someone precious. It cuts me to be so close to something I know I’ll never have. I don’t deserve love after all I’ve done. And no one would love me if they knew.
I push against his chest to give myself space, but he doesn’t budge. Even knowing my gift, that I could kill him with a thought now that I’m touching him, he doesn’t so much as flinch. His body returns the same pressure back against my hands, so there’s absolutely no space between us there.
I tear my eyes away from his with effort and gaze at his lips instead. I’m not sure it’s much better, but I’m able to speak again. “I’m a monster. The villain they wanted me to be,” I whisper.
He lifts my chin, but I refuse to be caught in his intense stare again and close my eyes instead. Jackson’s thumb strokes my cheek while keeping hold of my face. “No. But even if that’s what you believe, then I’ll be your demon. You won’t scare me away. I’ve done things that nightmares are made of. You want to burn the world down? I’ll give you the match to do it. And I’ll kill anyone that gets in your way.”
My heart stutters, and I open my eyes at his declaration. It’s a lie. A trick. If he felt that way, then why did he leave me on the island? Why would he feel that way after what I’d done? I fist his hoodie, then take a shaky breath to get ahold of myself.
I twist my lips into a smirk and give a breathy laugh. “You expect me to believe that? You left me on the island. I killed—” I press my lips together before I can say it aloud. We both know I’m talking about Vera. “Just because I popped back into your lives doesn’t mean you get to mess with me. If this is your version of revenge, then it’s a pathetic attempt.”
