Page 87 of Obsession

My lashes flutter as my tears threaten to spill over. “I didn’t ask you to do that.”

“Yes, you did.” He places a tender kiss at the corner of my mouth, whispering, “When you opened your heart to a monster like me.”

“You’re not a monster.”

“Yes, baby, I am. I’m the worst of them all.” His heated breath dances across my tingling lips. “Mark Archer is one less monster from your past for you to worry about. Trust me, I won’t rest until I’ve hunted them all down. Only then will I allow myself a taste of these sweet lips again.”

Wait, what?

“You’re leaving?” I ask when he sidesteps me and makes for the door.

He turns in the doorway, and my chest aches at the look of regret on his handsome face.

“Why?”

A muscle works in his jaw. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Hurt me?”

He breaks eye contact, gazing absentmindedly at the window before his dark, tormented abyss returns to feast on my face. “I don’t know how to give you what you need, Savannah.” His shoulders droop as he lets me glimpse the man behind all that darkness. “I’ve never touched a woman without hurting her.” With a small shrug, he looks at me, a muscle ticking madly in his cheek. “I couldn’t live with myself if I hurt you.”

“You’re lying to yourself.” I cross the small space until I’m so close to him that his body heat seeps through my clothes. Craning my neck, I stare up into his bottomless ocean—every crack and imperfection. “You didn’t hurt me back at the prison when I removed your handcuffs.” I reach out to touch him, stopping short when I notice him stiffen. “I’ve never felt so alive, Robbie.”

Dropping my hand by my side, I swallow past the hurt I feel when he shuts down on me. “You didn’t hurt me the other night either when you chased me down by the river.”

Soft fingers slide beneath my jaw, and he tips my chin up. “The first girl I ever killed was an accident. She just wanted to make sure I was okay, and I wrapped my fingers around her throat and didn’t stop squeezing until she was dead. Do you hear me, Savannah? I didn’t mean to kill her, but I did.” He leans down, forcing me to look him in the eye. “I can’t promise I won’t do the same to you, but I can promise to slay every fucking dragon from your past and bring their heads to you on a silver platter. I’m a monster, Savannah. So, let me do what I was born to do. Let me love you the only way I know how.”

He walks out before I have a chance to respond, leaving me to stare at the empty doorway with my heart in my throat and the whisper of a kiss on my lips. I chase him, intercepting him just as he’s about to reach the stairs.

Rounding him, I let him see the truth in my eyes. “So hurt me, Robbie. I want you to.” I rest my palm over his thunderingheart, marveling at how I can have such an effect on a man like him. “Let me in. I’m not scared of you.”

In a swift move, he wraps his hand around my throat and shoves me up against the wall with such force a gasp rips from my lips. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”

My throat bobs beneath his warm palm as I swallow down any fear. “You don’t know me, Robbie. Maybe I’m a monster too.”

His fingers tremble on my neck. “This is how I killed her. In this same position.”

My heart thuds while he searches my eyes with an intensity that burns down every wall I’ve ever built. I want the pain I see in those dark eyes. I want it all. I wanthim.“You won’t hurt me.”

“Won’t I?” he grits out, his jaw tense.

I shake my head. “No, you won’t, Robbie.”

His bitter, cold chuckle lacks any kind of gentle, reassuring essence, leaving me in the aftermath of his stormy emotions.

“Is the urge there? Do you fantasize about hurting me?” I squirm, holding his gaze. “Then do it. Hurt me.” When he growls deep in his chest, I continue, “See, Robbie? You can’t bring yourself to do it. That’s why I trust you. Even now, tormented as you are while fighting your demons, you refuse to let your darkness take over.”

A muscle works in his jaw, and he releases me with a final frustrated growl before storming down the steps. The door slams shut, and I squeeze my eyes shut to stop the tears from falling. My heart is aching, my clit is throbbing, and my sanity is slowly slipping through my fingers. I need to reach him somehow before it’s too late.

37

ROBBIE, 16

No matter how much I ran away from my past, I always returned here, starved for affection. Even the toxic kind. I hadn’t meant to do it, but as the cold nights closed in and loneliness hooked my heart, I found myself outside the trailer, shivering in the pouring rain.

Mom creaked open the door, took one look at me, and stepped aside, tightening her pink robe.

I had no one else.