Chapter 185
Kayleen hugged me, though none of my tears fell. My heart cried and cried, creating a lake in my lungs and preventing the air from taking over me.
That’s how I felt every time I thought about the intensity of what Dante meant to me.
He was the path to the darkest place in my soul.
A vibration from a device pulled us out of the trance. Cullbert cursed as he picked up his phone.
“Shit. It’s an alarm for my workout.”
I straightened up, ready to grab my backpack and leave.
“I also need to go home to study.”
“Do you want a ride? I have my parents' car. I don’t mind taking a longer route to drop you off.”
I immediately shook my head.
“No need. I still have some shopping to do.”
“Okay.” We stood up, heading toward the cemetery's exit. “You know I’ll always be here for you, right?”
“I know, Kayleen.”
“I mean it, Lia. I need you to feel it,” she said, stopping us mid-way. “You’re a part of me. If something hurts you, it hurts me too. If something makes you happy, it makes me the happiest woman in the world.”
“You don’t smile, Cullbert. What a lie.”
She smiled.
“It’s true. But still, you know there’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t do for you.”
“There’s plenty in this world you wouldn’t do for me.”
Kayleen punched my shoulder.
“Can you stop interrupting my speech? I’ve been practicing it since... forever?”
I laughed loudly and hugged my friend, planting a kiss on her cheek.
“You don’t need to say anything. I feel it. That’s more than enough.”
She rolled her eyes, and I squeezed her a little tighter.
“You’re my first love, did you know that?”
“I knew.” My mouth curled. “And you’re the only true love I’ve had in my life, did you know that?”
“I’d prefer to be the first, but it’s okay,” she teased. “We’re soulmates. Our parts complete each other, and that’s perfect.”
God.
How I loved her.
“I love you, Kay.”
“And I love you, Lia.”
And her tight embrace was a cure for all my pain.
I was alone, eating everything I had in the pantry.
I found a cake. It was homemade. Whoever made it was excellent, and I devoured half of it without hesitation.
It was my form of protest against this house. They’d go hungry.
I had also considered stealing Dante's credit card. I didn’t know exactly where I’d find it, but once it was in my sight, it would vanish.
I searched every corner of the house. Each room. Jaxon’s room was a mess. I had to close my eyes to avoid noticing the underwear scattered around and the rather undesirable box of tissues on the nightstand. However, the various computers in his space, along with another stack of physics and chemistry papers, showed just how superior his intelligence was.
Vance was a much darker and simpler version of Dante. He had numerous books on chess and various other mind games.
Dante’s room, on the other hand, looked like a gallery. Some statues still haunted me, and that bookshelf with Shakespeare’s books enchanted me. I had given him that. The love that Dante now had for the writer.
I stole one of the books, not caring if he would notice. And, by sheer luck, I found the credit card in one of the drawers of his nightstand.
I placed the book in my room, deciding to read it later. After eating, I slipped my shoes back on, ready to leave.
“Where are you going?”
I jumped.
Like a child planning something, I slowly turned, reconsidering what I could say. However, I didn’t shrug my shoulders or lower my head.
My torso was straight, as was my soul. Dante would no longer have any vulnerable moments from me.
“I asked a question, Gray. Answer,” he ordered, walking with all the authority in the world.
Although my feet began to feel rooted to the ground, I didn’t give in. I also closed the distance between us, the lines of my face drawn in a way that showed he would get nothing from me except what I chose to give.
“You’re not my owner, Faulkner.”
“I think some parts of your body don’t know that.”
His mockery came with a cold laugh.
I didn’t move forward.
A certain fear made my legs tremble.
“Everything that comes from you isn’t credible! Your word means nothing,” I snarled, clenching my fists.
His cruel smile didn’t fade.
“Are you pissed about what happened yesterday?”
“Being betrayed by you is a habit, but yesterday was just a reminder that my disgust for you will never die.”
A vein popped on his forehead.
His features were drawn in blood. Clearly, the anger from my words reacted badly in his system.
His next step froze my muscles.
I didn’t move when Dante continued staring at me, closing the meters between us.
Then centimeters.
Now millimeters.
I tilted my head, my chin pointing up, staring at him with a face as closed as his.
We were firing sparks through our eyes, burning our space with what our hearts pumped.
“If you know I can betray you at any moment, why don’t you just leave?”
“Because, just like you, I can betray you when you least expect it.”
I awakened something in him.
His fingers silently took my neck, his hand in his pocket, and the calmness with which the other tamed my body left my soul hungry.
I was hungry.
What the hell?
We didn’t break eye contact. I let him dig as deep as he could until he found the chaos he had created in me.
Our breaths were in the same rhythm, completely out of control and with no rhythm at all. I was feeding on the same air as that son of a bitch.
“Seems like someone decided to challenge me.”
His eyes left mine, trailing down to other parts of my face. To other parts of my body.
He wasn’t pretending.
He wasn’t hiding.
His fingers moved lazily on my neck. I could barely breathe, and the pressure came in doses and pauses.
“I’m not challenging you, Dante. I’m threatening you.”
“As if you could do anything. There’s nothing you can do against me. Never could. Not even when you were younger.”
I let out a catlike laugh.
“I was a ridiculous, naive child who believed in good hearts. And I thought you’d have one, Dante Faulkner.”
“Did it take killing your parents for you to figure that out? Who else will I have to take from your life for you to know your place?”
The ulcers opening inside me had no chance of healing.
How much he found it funny that he did what he did and didn’t care how I felt about it was the shot I needed to die and be reborn.
I clenched my fists. He looked slightly down.
“Want to hit me? I’ll let you. I like it when you act like a bold slut. Wild.”
His breath was too hot.
“I. Hate. You.”
His fingers froze on my throat.
“Say it again.”
“I disgust you, Dante.”
I was slammed against the wall immediately. His leg parted mine, locking his thigh in the middle.
My spine vibrated. A hot breath destroyed my ribcage.