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“See, that’s all I wanted. I’ve tried so hard to stay away from you but then when I saw you atSpecimensthat night, it waslike fate, you know? I saw you there, alone and sad. You looked so unhappy without me and I knew you needed me again.” He cupped my face and leant in to kiss me. I tried to keep still, tried to let my survival instincts take over, but all my instincts did was scream that this man was not Alfie Tell and remind me what happened the last time another man’s lips had touched mine. I turned my head away and Adam let out a laugh.
“Oh, sweetheart, you don’t need to be nervous. I know it’s been a while but I’ll take my time, I promise.”
Bile rose in my throat. “Adam, we’re in the back of a van. This isn’t exactly romantic.” I tried to play my words off with a laugh but his mood had switched yet again.
“Why do you do this? After everything I’ve done to bring us back together, I just want to kiss you and you won’t even give me that.” He stuck out his bottom lip. He was actually pouting and that small piece of mouth flesh sticking out at me like the world was all my fault was the final nail in my coffin of patience. I was done with this man-child.
“Adam, I’m going inside.” I got up, preparing to push past him. He pushed me back and I fell, landing on my backside with a thud and knocking over more of Keira’s books.
“No. You can’t keep pushing me away.” He hissed as I forced myself back up into a kneeling position. I was getting out of this fucking van.
“I can do what I like. We broke up, Adam, ages ago. It didn’t work, just let it go.” I pushed past him. He reached out to grab me again and with the rage of a woman at the end of her rope, I punched him hard. Pain exploded in my hand but he staggered back as I shoved past him. I yanked my key out of the doors and slammed them shut, threw the key in my bag, and turned to run.
Alfie.
I wanted Alfie.
But Adam grabbed me, pinning me to the van, the metal cold and unforgiving against my back. My bag fell to the floor, its contents spilling out onto the ground. His nose was bloody, his eyes vacant. I tried not to show my fear as he pressed his body flush with mine.
“I’m in love with you.” I grimaced in disgust, the scent of his cheap cologne filling my nose. I tried to turn away but he forced me to look at him, his hand gripping my face, his fingertips pressing into my cheeks. “I want you.” His breath was damp and too sweet on my face. I put my hands on his chest, doing my best to hold him off as his lips hovered over mine.
“Adam. Hear what I tell you. I do not want you. I will never want—” His palm connected with my cheek so fast and so hard it stunned me. My left ear was ringing, my body bent double with the impact. I straightened, clutching my burning cheek, staring in shock at the man I’d once shared a bed with. He looked back at me, not with regret, but instead with the look of a man who’d just discovered a superpower he didn’t know he had.
“You shouldn’t say those kinds of things to me.” I didn’t have time to react before he hit me again. My head slammed against the van, making me dizzy. I choked on the blood in my mouth.
I dared to look at him but I couldn’t find my words. My heart was beating too fast and my face felt like it was on fire. A new fear gripped me, because Adam had noticed the marks Alfie had left on my neck.
Alfie.
I just wanted Alfie.
But Adam was on me. One hand gripped my breast and the other fisted in my hair, twisting my face up to his. He pulled at my collar, ripping my shirt,Alfie’sshirt.
“I can make you want me. I can make you want me more thanhim.”
I clawed at his face, but he was everywhere and so much stronger than me. Bile rose as he groped me, invaded me, and stole away my consent. I opened my mouth to scream, but all my lungs could find was adrenaline and fear.
Alfie.
Alfie.
And then Adam was gone, flung away from me and lying in a heap on the ground. I stared in confusion at my crumpled ex.
“Miss? Miss, are you alright?”
Elliot?My vision blurred as I tried to find him in the dark. Adrenaline did funny things to the human body…and the mind. I looked behind him for Alfie but I didn’t see him.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Adam was struggling up off the ground and I still couldn’t move, still couldn’t speak. Apparently he remembered Elliot from their run-in atSpecimens.
“Come on now, Miss,” Elliot said, calmly ignoring Adam as if he wasn’t even there, which just made Adam stick out his lip even more.
“She’s not going anywhere.”
I took a step towards Elliot. My foot nudged something and I saw my bag lying on the ground. I picked it up, not bothering to pick up the scattered contents. I straightened and flinched when Elliot’s fingers tipped up my chin so he could see me in the street-light.
“He struck you?” he asked. I nodded. Adam had hit me. Twice. Adam had tried torapeme. “Which hand did he use?” It took me a minute to understand his question. What did that matter?
“His right,” I told him.