Page 107 of Kiss Me Like I Didn't Kill You

I won’t cry.

I won’t cry.

He takes a step toward me, as though to steady me.

“Don’t,” I say, hardly recognising the sound of my own voice.

I look up at him through the haze, his figure blurred and indistinct. “Don’tevertouch me.”

He stands there, shirtless, wearing only a pair of pyjama trousers. I glance at the woman in his bed, she’s smirking.

How utterly cliché.

I shake my head and turn away, but his hand shoots out, catching my wrist. His voice slices through the silence. “Get the fuck out. Now.”

Behind me, the girl lets out an annoyed breath but doesn’t say a word. I hear the sheets shift, the faint scrape of movement, but I don’t look at her, I can’t.

I keep my eyes fixed on a single point on the wall until the front door clicks shut, leaving only the echo of it between us.

I wrench my hand free from his grip and shove him back, palms flat against his chest.

All the chaos inside me, every feeling clawing for space, narrows to one.

Anger.

“Why?” Push.

“Why?” Push.

“Why?” Push.

“What did I ever do to you?” I shout, my voice breaking. “Why send those notes? Why sleep with her? Why hurt me like this?”

He says nothing.

“Say something!” I cry, shoving him harder, his back meets the wall.

I stop, my breath ragged. “Why her? Youpromised,” I whisper, tears spilling freely now.

A thousand emotions flicker across his face, anger, pain, something that looks dangerously like regret.

“Why?” I ask again, but the word comes out small and broken.

I step back, but he catches my wrist once more. I twist out of his grasp and scream. “Don’t ever touch me again!”

Chapter 36

Ophelia

I leave his dorm. My legs are unsteady, but I keep moving, pushing toward my room.

My pulse thunders in my ears, my vision blurs at the edges. I don’t know if I’m about to faint or be sick, only that I need to get away from him before I come undone completely.

His face won’t leave my mind. It’s all I see, again and again. And that word. The one that’s been haunting me for weeks.

Murderer.

My chest tightens.