Page 57 of The Destruction You Desire

With a small smile, I shove my slice into my mouth, demolishing it like a starved man.

I've eaten half of it by the time she finishes her first slice, but she gives up on the crust and throws it back into the box.

"Pey—"

"No," she snaps, jumping up from the chair and pinning me with a look that stops me from saying anything else. "I appreciate what you're trying to do here, Luca, but I'm not a fucking kid."

She storms across the room and yanks open the door and disappears outside.

"Fucking hell."

My fingers curl around the arms of the chair in my attempt to stop me from chasing her.

I give her a few seconds before I walk over to the window and pull the curtain back.

She's sitting on the curb in front of a car with her head in her hands, her shoulders shaking with her tears.

"Shit."

Rubbing my hands across my face, I lift them to my hair and pull on it until it hurts.

I can't stop fucking up, even when I'm trying not to.

I stand at the window and watch her for the longest time, and eventually, she sits up straight, wipes her face with the backs of her hands, and stands.

She finds me behind the curtain the second she turns around and my breath catches in my throat at the unfiltered pain in her eyes.

Walking back to the room with her head held high, she says nothing as she steps up to me and takes my hand in hers.

Following her lead, I trail behind her as she walks into the bathroom.

I stand awkwardly in the doorway as she reaches into the shower and turns it on.

"P?"

She looks over her shoulder before her fingers wrap around the bottom of her tank and she peels it up her body.

Her jeans go next until she's standing before me in just her underwear.

My body heats, my heart rate increases even though I know it's wrong. She's having one of the worst days of her life and here I am getting lost in her already.

She turns to me and although she still looks utterly devastated and on the brink of falling apart, there's something else in her eyes.

Hunger. Determination.

Both of them stir something inside me.

I told her I'd be whatever she needs me to be. And I meant it.

Taking a step forward, I lose my fight and my eyes drop from hers in favor of her body.

Reaching behind her, she undoes her bra and lets it fall down her arms.

My cock swells at the sight of her breasts, her already peaked nipples.

She steps up to me, pushing her thumbs into her panties and letting them drop to her ankles.

She doesn't touch me as she stretches up on her tiptoes and breathes in my ear, "Make it all go away, Luc."