Chapter 151 Since college

Chapter 151 Since college
Elma's POV

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

My hand still stung from the slap, my chest heaving as I stared at him like I could somehow will an explanation out of him through sheer force of anger.

He lowered the hand he'd raised to his cheek slowly, no anger in his expression at all, which only creeped me out. I know I've always hated him but today I feel more hate than I ever had.
"What's wrong with me?" He repeated slowly, crossing the last few feet between us.
His hand closed around my arms pulling me against him, the movement was so fast I stumbled, the air knocking out of my lungs on impact, my free hand landing flat against his chest to catch myself.

"That's what's wrong with me." His voice dropped low, I could feel his breath against my temple. "Hope that answers all your questions."
"Let go of me." I tried to pull back, but his grip only tightened, holding me exactly where he wanted me.
"You have a boyfriend," he said, ignoring my struggle entirely. "Sweet, uncomplicated, probably still thinks the two of you are going to grow old together, live somewhere quiet, forget men like me exist." His grip tightened further.

"And I'm your rival. The man trying to take apart everything you've built with your own two hands." He tilted his head, clearly enjoying the pain I was feeling. "Explain to me how any of that makes sense, Elma. Explain to me why I can't stop thinking about you anyway."
"You're sick." I spat the words at him, disgust and confusion tangled together in my chest.

"Probably." He didn't even flinch at the accusation, said it almost fondly, like it was a compliment rather than an insult. "But you already knew that. You've known that since we met, ever since I took interest in you, ever since I outbid you on Hendricks, and you still came looking for me anyway, didn't you? You always do, every single time."
"I came here because you're trying to steal my company."

"Is that the only reason?" His eyes searched mine.
I sighed. "Yes."
"Liar." He chuckled. “Liars get punished Elma…” He clicked his tongue.
I shoved against his chest, and this time he let me go, releasing my arms so suddenly I nearly lost my balance stepping back from him.

"I'm going to destroy you," he said, watching me steady myself. "I'm going to take apart everything you've built, piece by piece, until there's nothing left standing except you."
"You think I'm just going to let that happen?"
"I think you're going to fight me every step of the way." He smiled. "And I'm going to enjoy every second of watching you lose anyway. Right up until the day you finally come crawling to me, because there's nowhere else left to go."

"I won't let that day come."
"It's close." He said with total certainty, no doubt in his voice at all, turning back toward his desk. "Closer than you think."

I stood there for a moment, my whole body still trembling, torn between the urge to hit him again.
"You're going to regret this," I said finally.
He didn't even look up from whatever he'd already started reading on his desk. "We'll see," he said. "Close the door on your way out. Denise will show you the way, since you clearly needed the reminder of how doors work the first time.”

\-----------------Adrian’s POV------------------

The door clicked shut behind her, I sat there, staring at the space where she'd been, my jaw still tender where her hand had landed. I chuckled.

She thought that slap meant something, thought it was defiance or rejection of everything I'd just told her. She had no idea it was the opposite. Every time she fought back, every time her voice cracked and she still refused to back down, it only confirmed what I'd known since the very first time I met her.

My jaw tightened. She's always walking away. Soon she won't walk away, she would come back because I would leave her nowhere else to go. I can't wait for that moment. I wanted to see the confidence disappear from her face, watch the woman who could stand in front of me and tell me exactly what she thought of me, finally lower her eyes and ask me for something.
My fingers curled against the edge of the desk. “She has no idea how long I had been waiting for this.”

I ran a thumb absently along my jaw where the sting still lingered. I could still taste her, that kiss had been years in the making, I wasn't sorry for it, not even a little.
I'd felt her freeze the second my mouth found hers and for those few seconds, before she remembered to fight it, she'd kissed me back. I knew she had, her fingers curled against my chest instead of pushing immediately
She was lucky she'd pushed me away when she did. If she hadn't, I don't know if I would've stopped.

I wanted her broken. I want her standing in this office again, except next time without any fight left in her, without the fire that made her slap me across the face and mean it. I wanted her exhausted, out of options, finally understanding that there was no version of this where she won, no version where she got to keep pretending I was just some rival she could out-maneuver if she worked hard enough.
I wanted her on her knees, metaphorically or otherwise, admitting she needed me.

I deserved that….After everything. My eyes drifted to the door again, to the space she'd walked through and before I could stop it, the memory pulled me under.
The quad outside the literature building, ten years ago, late spring, everything green and warm.

I'd left the flowers on her windshield that morning, the way I had every week for almost a year by then, careful never to be seen. I liked watching her find them from a distance, liked the small, surprised smile that crossed her face every single time.
She never knew it was me. Not even in high school, when I'd started this whole thing and not in college, when I'd followed her here on purpose, told myself it was about the program, about opportunity, when really it had only ever been about her.

That day, I watched her walk across the quad with the flowers still in her hand, her bag slung over one shoulder, laughing at something her friend said. I had always wished she'd find out who her secret admirer was and understood everything I'd been too much of a coward to say out loud.

Then a guy jogged up to her. Some huy from her econ class, everyone knew him, he was always around her.
She smiled at him the way she'd never once smiled at me.
He leaned towards her, his lips meeting hers right there in the middle of the quad, in front of everyone and in front of me. The flowers I'd given her still clutched loosely in her hand.
I looked away, my chest went cold, silent and final….very, very final.

I blinked, the memory dissolving. My office settled back around me, the taste of her still faintly on my mouth.
She had chosen someone else once, walked away from me without even knowing I was there….She wouldn't get to do it again.

A quiet smile touched my lips. “I’ll make her regret choosing someone else over me.