Page 15 of Delirium
“I never meant to do that,” he answered dejectedly. “I never meant for things to turn out this way. I wanted to hurt you. I wanted you to feel the same pain I felt when I found you in that place with Kieran and Cillian—”
“Well, congratulations, darling.” I laughed joylessly. “You’ve succeeded. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” I stepped away from him, “I need to get going.”
I stepped around him and started walking to the other side of the room. He grabbed me from behind, pulling my back to his front, holding me with the strength of a man who didn’t know when to let go.
“You’re not leaving me,” he growled into my ear, biting down on my shoulder with a punishing force. “You already have my heart.”
“I don’t want it anymore!” I blasted, needing to get out of here. “I don’t want anything from you, Storm.”
My strength was nothing compared to his. With my arms trapped beneath his, I couldn’t move, couldn’t really do anything to get out of his grip.
“No,” he whispered, pressing his nose to my hair. “Please don’t say that. Please—”
“You only give me pain, Storm,” I bit back. “You only take and take and take, lying and cheating, trying to sell me to the highest bidder. Love isn’t supposed to feel like this!”
“This is exactly what it’s supposed to feel like between the two of us!” he bellowed. “Because we’re not like other people. We weren’t made for soft things, for the kind of love they make movies about. We were made for destruction, Ophelia. And God, if I need to destroy myself and everything around me to have you, I will. I will burn down the world for you.”
“No, you won’t!” I thrashed in his hold. “You already showed what you will and what you won’t do.”
“Sunshine—”
“Don’t fucking call me that!”
“I thought you of all people would understand.”
“No, Storm. Communication is the key, and you never told me anything. You’re still treating me like the enemy. Then you have the audacity to come back here and tell me how I have your whole heart. Actions, Storm, not words. I need actions.”
“Actions, huh?” he asked, his tongue dragging down my neck. “If you wanted me to fuck you, darling, you should have just asked.”
“Why? Is Nova not satisfying your dick these days? Why would I ever want to touch you, huh? Why would I ever want you anywhere near me, Storm? It is so obvious that there’s something going on between the two of you.”
“There’s nothing going on between us,” he said earnestly, awakening the hope inside of me. “At least not anymore.”
And it crashed.
I stopped trying to get away from him. I stopped fighting him, my body going lax. Those four words echoed inside my mind, repeating over and over again…
At least not anymore.
At least not anymore.
At least not anymore.
“When?” was all I managed to utter, needing to know. “When did you sleep with her?”
“Ophelia—”
“When?” I roared. I was met by complete silence.
He buried his head in my neck, his arms getting tighter and tighter around me, as if he could hold me here after that bomb.
“In June,” he said under his breath. “While you were gone.”
I was on the run, hiding, trying to fix things, thinking about that last time I saw him. Worrying over the way we left things, hoping that one day we would find our way to each other. There were countless sleepless nights because I worried about him and this Club, seeking a better way to fix this mess I’d created.
And he… He fucked her while I cried myself to sleep, missing his touch, his words, the mischief in his eyes.
“So, now we’re even,” I whispered, realization hitting me in the center of my chest. “I slept with Kieran and Cillian because I thought you were using me all that time, because you failed to tell me the truth,” I murmured, feeling him stiffen behind me. “And you slept with her because I ran away, trying to fix things.”
