Page 10 of Point Proven
“H-How… Did you?—”
“Didn’t I make it clear all those years ago? What’smineI’ll find. But tell me, has any other mansatisfiedthat darkness within you like I have?”
This wasn’t happening.
Thiscouldn’tbe happening.
Not now.Not again.
A shuddered whimper escaped, and I shook my head, every memory ofhimlighting an unbearable fire in my veins. “It’s been over a decade… Leave… Leave me the fuck alone.”
“What’s wrong?” Concern laced Simon’s tone, but it did nothing to penetrate the anguishhe’dleft behind.
“Leave what I’m owed alone?”
“I don’t owe you shit, Stefan!” Tears burned the corners of my eyes, the build-up of a panic attack threatening to rob me of my sanity.
A loud crack sounded, and I flinched. I knew it was his fury unfolding, but it still prompted an instinctive reaction, those tainted hands ramming into whatever surface or person was closest. “You don’toweme? After you escaped? After you ruined yourself with another cock?” His harrowing laughter cut through, a sound that still plagued my nightmares. “Funny. If I remember correctly, Iboughtyou, so you’ll return home willingly or by force.”
I swallowed, weight settling in the center of my chest. “I won’t… I won’t.”
“Whatis going on?” Simon reached to grab the phone, but I pulled away, his fingers missing by an inch.
“You won’t? Not even for thatfucked-upman you injured?” Another chuckle. “If I were to collect you, you thinkhecould save you? An injured ex-soldier? With one kick I could topple him to the fucking ground.”
Heknew.How… How did heknow?
My breathing pattern intensified as I pushed myself off the bed. Walking toward the floor-to-ceiling windows at the back of our bedroom, I ran my fingers through my hair. My entire body was shaking, and I couldn’t get it to stop. I just wanted it tostop.
“Y-You don’t know anything.” I tried to level my timbre, but I knew Stefan would be able to tell I was failing. “You don’t know shit abouthim,and you will leave him the fuck alone or so fucking help me, Stefan.”
“Oh?” he crooned. “You’re lying, because you sound exactly how you used to right before you came.Helpless.”
I could feel his touch, his breath on my skin. It was as if he was standing beside me, trailing his fingers along my flesh as ifI’d permitted him to do so, as if he didn’t have to tie me down to partake in acts I tried to forget.
My knees crashed into the ground, a gasp of breath fleeing between my parted lips. “I saidhim.You don’t know shit about… about him. So leave him out of this.”
“Liam!”
Simon.
“Oh, but I know everything about you and your newfound company. I know you ate at a diner two days ago, and I sure asfuckknow Simon Alexander O’Neill had his hands all over my. fucking. property.”
Lifting my hand, I shook my head at Simon, attempting to get him to back away as I kept talking. “I am not your fucking property, Stefan. You lost your hold on me.Youroversight led to my escape. So gofuckyourself.”
“Have I, when you can’t even look at yourself in the mirror without imagining my hands all over you? Tell me, do you still like it rough?—”
“Shut the fuck up!”The scream tore itself from my throat as I flattened my palm against the cold tile. “Shut the fuck up. Shut the fuck up. Shut the fuckup!”
“Mmm, and this is why you’re my favorite. Spiteful and full of useless wrath. Just wait until you’re beneath me once more. I’ll teach youeverythingyou’ve forgotten.”
A gag racked my frame, tears rolling down my cheeks. “J-Just… leave… leave me alone.”
“You know you don’t want that. I bet you’re hard at the sound of my voice, and that somewhere, deep down, you want this.”
My sway between fear and wrath continued, the latter gaining the upper hand for my next utterance. “I want you to staythe fuck away from me. We both know you run your mouth more than you take action, so fuck off and lose my fucking number, you limp dick asshole.”
“Liam, what the fuck?—”
