Chapter 13: Chapter Thirteen.

Jhelani's POV:

"Drop them," His throat worked, his eyes dilating for a second.

I licked my dry lips, my nervousness eating it's way out.

"One: I'll be gone if you tell me the true reasons why you guys did all that back in school. What's your reason for bullying me so bad and making my life miserable because I know for sure that I did you guys no wrong," my breathing came out as a shiver.

The my voice dropped, "I could remember that we were never enemies. We were once close, best of friend's. You, Kian, Jace. The three of you always stood up for me. Fought for me and even put your education at risk just to cover up for me so I won't be expelled from school and my scholarship won't get cancelled."

"Then suddenly, y'all changed. You changed so fast I couldn't even keep up. You made my life hell. I keep wondering what I did wrong to you. Why did you guys hate me so much. Embarrassing me in front of the class, tore my favorite diary, made the whole school believe that I was a cunt, sleeping with several men to get good scores. I need the answers Damon. Give me a fucking answer. You are the eldest of them all so I expect you not to hide anything from me."

"Second condition." He said. I felt my heart ripping apart from the way he just jumped my questions like my feelings never mattered to him. He didn't look apologetic or moved.

I pressed my lips together, swallowing hard to conceal my emotions and not let my tears pour down.

Maybe I shouldn't have let it show in the first place. I shouldn't have brought up the past. But I thought maybe doing as Archie suggested would get us back together again and this hatred would be gone forever once they gave me their reasons, but I fucking forgot that Damon was the hard headed one between the three of them.

He doesn't think with his emotions. Unlike me who—shit. Jhelani you fucked up. But I still didn't want to back off. Maybe I could still break through the Ice he surrounded himself with. Even if it means hurting myself.

"Two: I want you to touch me. Kiss me like you mean it. Tell me I mean nothing to you and If you can do all that without flinching, then I would leave for good." I could hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears.

Yes, I must confess I did have a thing for Damon. And I still do. I love him, despite everything.

A part of my heart subtly wanted him to do all that I dared him to do. But on the other side, I knew that if he did, then it would mean my mission here wouldn't be completed. I would have to leave Town before I found my answers but my treacherous heart didn't seem to care.

His eyes slithered, brows drawing up together. "Is this a dare?"

"Yes. I, Jhelani Snowfire, dare you, Damon Cross, to tell me that I mean absolutely nothing to you. I want you to kiss me while doing so."

"You must be joking."

"I am not." I squared my shoulders, but they felt tense. My heart was racing so hard, an electrifying feeling jolting through my body.

The air between us thickened, hotter than the cold night causing goosebumps on my skin. Damon’s icy eyes locked on mine, searching, burning, dissecting.

“Careful, Snowfire,” he murmured, his voice a dangerous whisper. “You don’t know what you’re playing with.”

“Oh, I know exactly what I’m playing with. Unless you’re too much of a coward to take up a dare.”

His jaw clenched. His chest rose and fell with slow, controlled breaths, as if he was fighting something inside of him that he wasn't ready to break free.

For a moment, he said nothing. Just stared. My heart slammed against my ribs, like it wanted to escape me and run into his hands. Anticipating.

Then, without warning, his hand slammed against the wall beside my head, caging me in.

His face was so close I could feel the warmth of his breath against my lips. I shut my eyes. His other hand hovered at my waist, hesitating. like touching me might set him on fire.

“You want me to kiss you. To tell you what you've been wanting to hear,” he said, voice husky. “Then hear me say it, Snowfire. You mean nothing. Nothing.”

But the way his voice cracked on that last word betrayed him. I heard it. I heard it well. He didn't hate me.

My lips parted, trembling. “Then prove it. Prove to me that I mean nothing to you. Kiss me, Damon, and I will fucking stay off limits." And that was all it took.

Damon’s mouth crashed onto mine, rough and searing, like he was both punishing and worshipping me at once. I could taste the need in his kiss, his tongue diving into my mouth once I parted my lips.

His hand slid to the back of my neck, pulling me deeper, while the other pressed firmly against my hip, holding me against the wall.

I gasped into his kiss, my fists tightening in his jacket before I could stop myself.

He growled low in his throat and into my mouth, like my desperation to have him closer than this was gasoline thrown into the fire raging between us.

His lips moved against mine hungrily, crashing, sucking, demanding, shameless in the streets like lovers. As though years of buried emotion were finally tearing their way out. Breaking free.

But then he broke away suddenly, his forehead pressed to mine, both of us breathing ragged. His eyes were wild, conflicted, tortured. And pain hiding underneath.

“I told you…” he rasped, voice shaking with the effort to stay in control. “…you mean nothing.”

It might have been believable. Except his hand was still trembling on my cheek.

My chest heaved. Breathing hard after we broke from the kiss. I whispered, barely audible, “Liar.”

His eyes shut tight and when they opened again, there was nothing left. Only regret I could see.

"This is wrong," he whispered, almost like he was saying it to himself.

But I could only whisper, hoarse, “Then why did you start? You love me, don't you?"

Damon’s throat worked as if the words scraped raw against the part he wanted to conceal the most.

His hand was against the wall by my head, but I felt the tremor in his arm. Every line of his body leaned into mine, desperate, aching, yet holding back like there was this chains bounding him in place. This responsibility clawing at his mind.

His jaw clenched, muscles ticking as his icy eyes burned with something I couldn’t name. “Because I’m weak when it comes to you,” he confessed. “And I can’t afford weakness.”

I swallowed hard, my chest rising and falling, lips still tingling from his kiss.

This was the first time he's revealing his feelings for me and somehow...I felt bubbles of happiness in my heart for the first words he said.

But Damon stepped back an inch, then another, dragging the distance between us like it was killing him. Running his palm down his face and then raking through his hair, tugging on it.

"You don't get it. You're getting it all wrong," he muttered and my brows creased, about to take a step forward.

"What am I getting wrong? Tell me and maybe—i would try to make it right. Us together," I said but he raised his hand in the air, stopping me.

"I can see the look in your eyes. You think I have some dumb stuffs for you but no. I have no feelings for you in that way. You're getting it all wrong," he groaned out.

I felt a slap of disappointment on my cheek.

His hands dropped to his sides, curling into fists as though he had to physically restrain himself from touching me again. “You think I want this… but I don’t, and you have no idea what it means if I give in. What it’ll cost you.”

“Then tell me!” My voice cracked, desperate. “Tell me what it means! What it’ll cost! Because all I see right now is you running from me. Telling me to stay away. Giving me reasons to hate you and everyone else even if I don't want to.”

His eyes shut for half a second, pained. When they opened again, that cold mask slammed back down over his face. “Exactly. And if I keep running, it’s the only way I can keep you safe. It's the only way I can keep this land alive and the people it—safe as a leader. It's my job. It's my responsibility to keep everyone united without war outbreaks.”

Safe. The word cut deeper into my heart.

"W-what...what do you mean,"I stuttered, my voice trembling.

"Because you are trouble. You bring trouble. No one wants you here. Everyone wants you gone. I've done my part. Now it's left for you to leave just as you promised." He said.

He yanked his jacket tighter around himself, turned sharply, and strode toward his bike. His steps were quick, angry, like leaving me here was the only way to keep himself from breaking apart. The only way to stop his mask from falling off and revealing his true emotions.

I stood pressed against the wall, trembling, lips swollen, skin burning where his touch had lingered.

I swallowed hard, listening to the roar of his engine as he disappeared down the street.

But even as he left me there, the ghost of his touch stayed. His words ringing in my ears.

I am trouble. I bring trouble. No one wants me here. Everyone wants me—gone. For good.