Page 80 of Fractured Fates

He kisses me again as I’m jolted through aftershocks of ecstasy and then I collapse against him, panting.

I want to make him feel that good too. I want him to touch me, really touch me. My hands stray to the buckle of his belt.

But then something changes. His body snaps rigid. He pulls away from me, his hand sliding from my hair, his other removing my hands from his shirt.

“We shouldn’t be doing this.”

“What?” I say, dazed, my head still spinning with the effects of his dizzying kiss and my earth-shattering orgasm.

“We shouldn’t be doing this, Rhianna.”

“Why … why not?”

“You’re a hell of a lot younger than me.” I scowl at him.

“So?”

“I’m complicating matters,” he says sternly, a frown forming on his brow.

“How is this complicated?”

Nothing about this felt complicated. It felt like the least-complicated thing I’ve experienced in weeks.

But he’s in no mood to argue. He takes my waist in his hands and maneuvers me back to my seat.

“I don’t want to go back,” I tell him. “I want to stay with you.”

I could become addicted to the way he makes me feel.

His shoulders stiffen, then he relents, his hand covering mine.

“You don’t have a choice.”

“I’m safe with you.”

He shakes his head. “No, you’re not. You’re not safe with me. Not one little bit.” And I sense there’s more to his words than I understand.

I want to argue with him, tell him he’s being a jerk. But I’m tired and confused and I have no idea how this works. Maybe this is what a hook up is like.

He kicks out the stand and soon we’re turning in the direction of the academy.

I can’t help but lean my chin against his shoulder and watch as the old mansion draws closer and closer and closer.

When he drops me outside, I slide reluctantly from his bike, and stand in front of him, suppressing the need to bite at my thumb.

“Will I see you again?” I ask him.

“No,” he says, eyes trained straight in front of him. “No, I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

And as I watch him sail away, I wonder how it is possible for my heart to feel so elated one moment and so fractured the next.

25

Rhi

Winnie’s waitingfor me with questions when I sneak back into the dormitory later.

“Oh my God, Rhi, where have you been?”