Page 35 of Penny
Emily
"You will be staying at my father's from here on," Connor admitted.
His eyes were cold, and my chest tightened. My battered rib cage was enduring another brutal attack from my hammering heart. Ice washed over my skin, and I was colder than when the icy rain had poured down on me in the city.
"D-did I d-do anything to upset you guys?" I stuttered, wondering how and when all this had gone wrong.
Of course, I had hoped to win them over, but I always knew luck was never on my side. To go to their father’s house didn’t make sense. They were going to be training me. I had time! My thoughts screamed for me to get on my knees and beg, but my limbs were frozen into place.
“Yeah, you are our property and need to remember that,” he muttered.
His words stung like needles jammed into my skin, but his eyes were soft, almost remorseful. Something was wrong, and I needed to ask him.
"Pack some of the clothes Liam got you. I don't know if you'll need them, but I'll give you that," he continued.
Each word was a stabbing knife to my gut. His eyebrows raised as if he were waiting for me to say something. Why couldn't I say anything?
My feet dragged across the floor as I forced myself away from him, going to the closet to pack what I thought I would want. His rich scent overwhelmed my senses, and my chest shook with a single sob.
No, I would not cry. I couldn't do that to myself. I'd already lost everything I ever cared for when Connor had thrown away my backpack, and this would just be another thing to get over. My legs shook to remind me that I had nothing left to give. My gas tank was empty, and the fumes I had been running on were gone.
"Emily, can you just fucking say something?" Connor snarled from the closet's doorway.
I looked over my shoulder at him, trying to muster the energy. His chest was rising and falling faster and faster, and his pupils were constricting. His anger was trying to force its way out, and I just wanted to kneel at the feet of my snarling wolf.
"Pick up a penny. Heads, I'll have bad luck. Tails, I'll have your bad luck," I whispered, looking deep into his widening gaze. His head shook, and his fists clenched and unclenched.
"You don't understand what bad is yet, Mo Cuishle," he muttered, stepping closer to me.
Take a single coin and drop it into the lake. You cause a small ripple. Take a boulder and throw it in. You create a larger one. I didn’t know if it was a boulder or coin that had fallen into my murky depths, but the waves he caused propelled me toward him. My fists lashed against his chest as I unleashed the pain flowing from me. My rib cage yearned for a moment of relief as the shards of my heart cut into it. Bloody emotions were weighing me down, and his heat intertwining with mine wasn't helping.
"Why can't you feel this?" I screamed, needing for him to feel the razors that were slicing through me. Could my predator not feel pain?
"I can," he roared, grabbing my thrashing wrists to hold them steady. "I can feel you hitting me, but it doesn't hold a candle to the agonizing torment I feel right here," he whispered, holding my fists against his rapidly beating heart.
"Then why not tell your dad no?" I pleaded, wishing I could change his mind. I had to change his mind.
"I can't." His face fell, and the emotion twinkling in his eyes began to dim. My hopes depleted alongside him, making my wrists pressed against his chest fall.
"If being with me meant anything at all, can you at least tell me how I get out of your father’s house without losing myself completely?” I implored.
“You don’t,” he responded, looking away from me like he couldn’t stand the sight of me.
I believed him, and with his admission, I turned around and started packing again.
He didn't leave the doorway, and his eyes stared through me like there was nothing left behind them. I slowly folded each article of clothing, trying to strike a match inside me to set a fire. An ember would be enough to keep begging him to not give me up.
"You should have enough," he announced, unmoving.
"Connor." I turned around to face him, repeatedly swiping an imaginative match to engulf myself with a will to fight. "Before I go, I want you to know that I care about you, and I'm sorry about everything you have gone through. I know from experience we don't get to choose the card that is dealt to us, and if we meet again, I hope you can remind me of who I was when we would lie on the couch or bed together. Please don't let me give up. I've fought too long to throw it away now," I admitted. My stomach twisted, and my hands trembled.
Before turning around, he wrapped his hand around my neck and slammed me against the wall. My breath caught in my throat, and my lips parted as his crashed against mine. His mouth consumed me, and his heat radiated against my chilled skin, wrapping me in a false protection that I desperately wanted. His tongue explored my mouth, something that he had never done before, and his groans for more made electricity shoot through me.
He had taken everything from me, and my heart yearned for the only possession I had ever held dear, but at this moment, all I wanted was him and Liam. His tattooed hand shifted away from my throat to lift me up to straddle his waist. The bulge in his pants ground against me, and he moaned for more.
As quickly as the kiss started, it ended, and I gasped for his soft lips and controlling tongue to return. His brown eyes locked with mine, and his thick brows pulled together. His calloused fingers rubbed over my cheek, and I leaned in for more.
“Run,” he whispered. My stomach rolled, and I shook my head in disbelief. “Don’t make me repeat myself again. Run, and don’t look back.” His hand soothed along my chin, and the warmth sparked the blazing inferno I longed for moments ago.
