Page 129 of Equilibrium
Her words felt like knife stabs, burning through my skin, making me bleed all over again. I wanted to pull her closer, but I also wanted to push her away. I wanted to do a million things, yet I couldn’t because she had it all wrong. She came to the conclusions without waiting for a proper explanation.
“Is this what you wanted, Storm? For me to fall apart, for me to love you when you couldn’t love me back? Is this amusing you? Am I enough now?”
She loved me? No, no, she couldn’t. Ophelia didn’t know what love was, because if she did, she would’ve never done what she had.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t I?” I looked to the side, unable to take her face in anymore, because every time I did, the smug looking Kieran flashed before my eyes. “Look at me, you fucking bastard!”
“I can’t!” I roared, punching the seat in front of me. “I can’t even look at you, right now.”
“You can’t look at me?” Her question was a mere whisper, laced with pain and sorrow, and it killed me that we did this to us.
“No, because every time I look at you, I see him. I see you in his arms. I see our future and yours is entwined with his.”
“Storm—”
“You fucking tore me apart!” I bellowed as I looked at her. “You tore me apart and I will never forgive you for this. Not ever.”
“No,” she cried. “Don’t say that. Don’t fucking say that!”
I was too far gone in my own misery to let the panic on her face change my mind. I couldn’t allow her to pull me back into her web of lies.
“When we get back to the club, I want you to pick up your shit and get out.” Even if it killed me. “I don’t want to see you, Ophelia. I don’t ever want to see you, again.”
I thought she would fight me on this. I thought she would yell and plead, that she would try to show me how much she loved me, but she didn’t. The corners of her lips pulled into a sad smile before fury blazed in her eyes. She wiped the tears, dropped her legs from the seat to the ground and straightened in her seat. I heard stories about the Ice Queen, about the chilling cold she exuded, but I had never seen it; until now.
She looked straight ahead at Indigo’s seat, shutting down in front of my eyes. This wasn’t what I wanted, dammit. Her head slowly turned toward me, a robotic movement, and she placed her hands on her knees.
“I understand.” She nodded. “But the next time you try to start a relationship with another idiot, try to be a little more upfront about it all. Or did the years with my father fuck you up so much that you don’t even know what a real conversation feels like?” Malice dripped from her every word, and it hit me like a freight train. She knew about it. She knew about Project X. “Oh, don’t be surprised, Stormy.” She chuckled. “Is this the Ophelia you wanted to see? Is this the Ophelia they all talked to you about?”
“Stop it.”
“What’s the matter, baby boy.” She came closer, placing her hand on my cheek. “Afraid of little old me, or everything I know? Did you expect me to beg you to stay with me?” I moved myself away from her, but when my back hit the door, a sinister smile took over her face, coming closer and closer. “You lied to me, Storm. You wanted to use me, and trust me, I could never forgive you for that. I didn’t cheat on you, because that would insinuate that you were more than a fuckboy with whom I was buying my time.” Her tongue darted out, licking my cheek, and she pressed a kiss next to my mouth, igniting the fire inside. “I guess that my father trained you well.”
No, no, fuck no.
I threw her away from me and wrapped a hand around her throat, squeezing until she started coughing from the lack of air.
“Shut up!”
“C-Come on, Stormy,” she wheezed. “Tighter. You can’t kill a person like that.” She wanted me to… She wanted me to kill her?
“Storm!” Indigo yelled from the front seat. “Don’t do it, man, don’t fucking do it. You’re gonna hate yourself for the rest of your life. Get away from her.”
An icy sensation spread over my skin as I realized what I almost did. I almost killed her.
“Oh, God.” I lifted my hands, seeing the red imprint on her pale skin. “Oh, God. Oh, God.” She started coughing, her eyelashes fluttering against her cheek as her whole body shook. “Hey, hey, Sunshine.” I pulled her up and moved the hair from her face. “Breathe, Ophelia. Slowly, that’s right.”
Hey eyes opened, and it was like staring at a void. There was no trace of my Ophelia in them. There was nothing there.
“Is that all you’ve got?” She pressed a hand against her throat and pushed me away with the other one. “No wonder you weren’t man enough to tell me the truth. At least Kieran was able to torture me when he thought I fucked up.”
“That’s enough!” Indigo thundered, but she just tilted her head still looking at me. “You guys can talk about this when we get back to the club.”
“But didn’t you hear, Indigo?” She grinned. “I am leaving. Stormy here doesn’t want me anymore. No, wait.” She looked at him. “You also knew about Logan and my father, didn’t you? Tell me, was it good? Did you guys film me making a fool out of myself, wrapping myself around him, believing that he could be the one?”
“Stop this, Phee,” I begged. “This isn’t you.”
