Page 10 of Yours to Keep
Not fast. Not harsh. Just enough to silence me.
The gesture was small, but it carried weight, the kind that settled into my bones and made my breath catch. His calm was the worst part. It always was.
Anger you can prepare for.
Calm you can’t predict.
“Elijah,” he said softly. “You know I worry when you don’t call.”
My pulse kicked hard. I nodded. “I’m sorry. I should have…”
Another small gesture. Another quiet command. My mouth slams shut. He reaches out, fingers brushing my jaw, tracing the line of my cheek with a touch that should have been gentle.
It wasn’t. Not really. It was too controlled. Too intentional. Too aware of what it meant to me.
His thumb paused at my scar. The same place he’d touched the night we met. But now, it is the same place he always touches when he wants me quiet.
“You’re important to me,” he murmured. “You know that, don’t you?”
I swallowed. “Yes.”
“And I expect you to follow the rules we agreed on.”
My chest tightened. “I know. I just…”
His fingers tightened again, guiding my face up toward his. Not overly painful. Just firm.
“Sweetheart,” he said, voice low, “I don’t like repeating myself.”
The room felt smaller. The air felt thinner. My thoughts scattered like startled birds.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I didn’t mean to…”
He exhaled slowly, the sound almost disappointed.
“That’s the problem, Elijah. You never mean to.”
The words landed harder than any physical blow. They are sharp and precise, and they are designed to sink deep. My throat tightened, and my eyes burned with tears. I blink fast, trying tokeep the tears from spilling. Adrian hates tears. I learnt quickly that crying makes everything worse. Crying meant I wasn’t in control. Crying meant he’d won.
My fault.
The thought instinctively arrives cleanly.
My fault.
Because the silence I left between us felt like a bruise; if I called, if I had texted, if I had been better, if I had been enough.
My fault.
The chant keeps running through my head when his hand tightens around my throat.
“This is all your fault, Elijah,” his voice is steady now. Controlled. Almost calm again. “You make me do this. You make me feel like this.”
His breath touches my skin, warm, light. Terrifyingly close.
“If you only behaved… if you did what you were told, I wouldn’t have to correct you.”
Correct.
