Page 28 of Hidden

I frowned at the tray. “What’s this?”

“Breakfast,” Damen said, his expression guarded—a stark difference from a moment ago. “I know you haven’t been eating.”

That explained how long I’d been asleep, there was no good way to tell time here. It was just my luck the one time Damen tried to feed me, it would be prison food.

“I’m not hungry.”

Damen’s lips thinned as he studied me over his glasses. There was an appraising glint to his eyes. “You need to eat, you’ve got to be hungry. I know you like food, and I’m not like Julian—sneaking you in snacks. You need real food, he’s been coddling you too much.”

“Who doesn’t like food?” I retorted, hoping my face wasn’t as red as it felt. “That’s not the problem! And don’t say that, Julian doesn’t coddle me.”

“There’s a difference between coddling and encouraging. He’s blurring that line.” Damen was frowning, his steel eyes seeing right through me. “He’s afraid to push you right now, but don’t get used to it. He won’t always be like this. He knows he’s wrong, and he has his limits. Meanwhile, someone with some sense needed to come in here and make you eat.”

I gasped. Who did Damen think he was? He was so wrong. “You can’t make me eat! You don’t know what the people are doing to it. I’d rather die than eat poison!”

The words were barely spoken before Damen was in front of me. He grabbed my wrists, pulling me closer to him. Gone was the calculating look in his eyes, panic in its place.

“Don’t joke about that.” His words were jilted, completely unlike his usual, smooth tenor.

“I’m not joking.” I tried to pull my wrists away, but his grip didn’t let up. It should have scared me, but instead his pushiness made me angrier. “Let me go. It’s not any of your business if I die or not. You’re not the one with people forcing medication and treatment on you.Youcan’t make me do anything I don’t want to do.”

The banked fury in Damen’s eyes flared to life, and he released my hands only to grab my shoulders instead. “It’s not my business?” There was something powerful in his voice I’d never heard before. But instead of scaring me, the sound caused my toes to curl.

“It is my business,” he continued. “You’re the most important person in my world. You always have been. And if something happened to you, I would be destroyed. You need to take care of yourself.”

I knew there was something there, but the deeper meaning behind his words escaped me. All I could focus on was his hands—large and hot against my skin. I had the sudden urge to do something about it, but I had no idea what. Frustration pooled in my stomach.

I didn’t care who was mad at me anymore. I was tired. Tired of everyone taking away my choices. Tired of everyone telling me what to do. And I wassotired of people lying to me.

I didn’t care if they had “reasons.”

I might be curious to hear about those reasons one day, when everything calmed down. But right now, none of that mattered.

I was angry at the boys, even though they had helped me and had taken me in. Even though they had done so much for me.

Julian’s subtle pushing was annoying, even though he was trying so hard. And now Damen was trying to boss me around too. I had no idea what Titus and Miles were doing. But if Titus had destroyed his house, it was probably nothing good.

I was so mad, and so worried about them.

And I was angry at myself, because I was just as bad. They’d told me about their world, and I promised to talk to them about my past. Yet, because I was a coward, I hadn’t been able to do that.

I’d run away instead.

Plus, I should tell them about the woman in my dreams. Every second where I didn’t tell them made me even more of a hypocrite.

But I couldn’t, there was something undeniable screaming at me to keep it secret.

I didn’t understand what the heck was going on anymore.

“Don’t tell me what to do.” My breathing grew heavy and stars crossed my vision.

I had to do something. I needed to touch him. Without another thought, I grabbed the front of his shirt in my fists, bunching the fabric. Damen’s furious expression fell, and the tension in arms lessoned, but it was too late. I didn’t care anymore.

And before I could talk myself out of it, I took advantage of his surprise to jerk him to me.

I’d never been kissed before, and I wasn’t even sure if one could classify my attack as a real kiss anyway.

When I pulled him to me, I was desperate for something just out of reach. Even the feeling of his hard chest under my fingers hadn’t been enough to satisfy these urges. The only solution had been to kiss the poor man.