“ Would you believe me if I kissed you right now?” His heart thudded against his ribs as his gaze met hers. He felt it—under his fingers—her tremble. The soft gasp that slipped past her lips. The wild rhythm of her pulse beneath his thumb.He hadn’t meant to pull her this close. Okay… maybe he had. But he hadn’t expected that look in her eyes.Not fear. Not hatred. Something worse.Something dangerous. Something that said, ’I won’t pull away if you do.’And that thought was driving him insane.It took everything in him not to give in, not to devour her lips, not to strip her down and make her his until she couldn’t remember her own name.He always had control. His rules were simple, no softness, no strings, no distractions.Because no one had ever been worth breaking them for.He didn’t think he had feelings. But now… he wasn’t so sure.Her lips parted slightly, like an invitation he knew he shouldn’t accept. Because once he did…there’d be no going back. No hiding. Not from her. Not
Antonio’s laughter echoed through the kitchen, deep and rich, like it rarely ever got the chance to escape his chest. It caught Eloise completely off guard, she blinked, confused. Her brows scrunched together. “ Why are you laughing?” She asked stiffly, trying not to look as thrown off as she felt. He wiped the corner of his mouth with his thumb, still smirking, “ You're jealous.” Her face went from pink to red in a blink. “ What?! Me?” She pointed at herself in disbelief, “ Brenda,” he said lazily, like the name doesn't mean a thing, “ you brought her up like she stole your puppy,” “ I did not,” she scoffed, eyeing him, “ I just asked an honest question.” He tilted his head with a mischievous, narrowed gaze and a crooked smile on his lips, “Uh-huh.” “ I'm not jealous,” “ Right,” “ Don't look at me like that when I'm just asking a logical question, I just wanted to know.” Antonio leaned forward, elbow on the table, resting his chin on his knuckles, “ And that log
“ I should have held it in…,” Eloise muffled a scream into the pillow and tossed around the bed in embarrassment. “ What was I thinking?” she cried and pulled her tousled hair over her face as she sat up, “ Crying all over him like some pathetic lady.” She groaned falling back into the bed, wishing the ground would just open and hide her away from Antonio. “ I can never face him again,” she told herself, knowing Antonio's personality. “ How will I even face him? I'm sure the moment I step out of this room and he sees me, if he doesn't laugh and say I look ugly when I cry, he'd be like,” she twitched her lips and mimicked Antonio's deep voice, “ What are you going to do about my shirt that you ruined with all your tears and Mucus…..arghhhhh.” She groaned and cried with only sound and no tears and dragged the duvet over her head. She was still groaning when her mind flashed back to the look in his eyes, and she stilled, slowly pulling the duvet to her nose. Her lips parted
“ Help!!!” Tamara shouted only to be answered by the eerie silence of the road. The man who called himself ‘Ghost’ had taken her from a better road to a more isolated one, then dumped her there.“ That son of a bitch,” she cursed as she dragged herself along the road, fear seething through her bones, anger and frustration weakening her hands that had her heels dangling from her tired fingers.She looked at her phone again and let out a sound caught between laughter and sobs as the supposed lifeline to civilization displayed a mocking ‘No service’ “Why is the universe so against me?” she cried with her slumped shoulder.She raised her phone and started searching for a signal. After searching for a few minutes, a bar popped up.“Huh, ah,” she squealed with joy like she had just received a gold bar. She never thought having a service would bring her this much joy and relief.She immediately attempted to call her mum when a call came in instead. She frowned deeply but the call wasn't on
“ Ahhh…,” Tamara screamed, anger boiling through her veins. Her breath ragged and eyes blurred with tears. She sat outside the gate, knees throbbing, scalp burning, breath caught somewhere between ragged sobs and disbelieving gasps. It was hard to believe that something like this would ever happen to her. Not from anybody not to talk from her best friend. She had dragged her. By the hair. Like a rabid animal. In front of people. Tamara’s lips trembled along with her hands. Her chest burned with humiliation, her scraped and bleeding palm could not bleed out the rage and embarrassment. How dare she! She screamed again. She was supposed to be her underling, Eloise was supposed to be her rag, her doormat whom she gets to decide what fate she'd have. But now, the one who's supposed to be at her feet had dragged her by the hair and humiliated her. Tamara quickly stood up, rage seething through her veins, her hands trembling to break anything and everything as her whole body shook.
How dare she even try to lie to her? How dare she try to play the victim!Eloise’s breath was ragged, her fury was volcanic, and her urge to scream was to erupt. But instead, her fingers latch onto Tamara’s hair like claws before she could finish her lies.A shriek tore through her throat the moment she felt the brutal grip.“Ahhh! Wh-what are you doing?!” she cried, her eyes wide with disbelief.But what she saw in Eloise’s eyes wasn’t just anger. It was hatred. Unfiltered, deep, and soul-cutting.Before Tamara could say one more word, Eloise yanked her so hard, jerking her neck like a rag doll, that her balance gave way, and Eloise dragged her down.“ “Let go of me! Are you insane?!” Tamara shrieked, her hands flailing.“You think you get to ruin my life and still play the victim?” Eloise growled between clenched teeth, her grip iron-tight. “Animals like you don’t deserve that privilege.”And with that, she began to drag her. Her blood boiled as memories flashed like lightning….Alis