Chapter 006: There's No Going Back

MEEKA'S POV::

I stand there, frozen. The world around me feels blurred. Everything happening in this place, all fading behind the thud of my heartbeat.

He’s not even looking at me now. Just sitting there, swirling his whiskey like he didn’t just detonate a bomb in my chest.

“Two…” he murmurs, voice calm, lazy, like he’s not counting down to my total undoing.

“One.”

My throat’s tight. I can’t tell if I’m shaking from anger or anticipation. Probably both.

Then he leans back, his smirk widening just slightly. “Time’s up.”

That should be my cue to leave.

To grab my dignity, my bag, and walk out of this damn place like a sane person.

But my feet?

Yeah. They have other plans.

However, I manage to find myself moving them, finally making it to the door.

Almost.

The night air hits me as I step outside, cool against my flushed skin. I take one deep breath, then another, trying to convince myself this is over. That I’m not going to do something stupid.

Unfortunately, I've already done something stupid, because I can feel it.... the weight of that hotel key card in my pocket.

Wait. What the hell.....

When did I even pick it up?

My fingers curl around it, and my stomach twists.

“God, what’s wrong with me?” I whisper to no one, tilting my head back, staring at the city lights.

I could go home. Forget this ever happened. Pretend he doesn’t make me feel things I have no business feeling.

But instead, I find myself walking. One step, then another, toward the hotel room.

Because apparently, I’ve lost my goddamn mind.

SLADE’S POV::

A smirk curls at the corner of my lips as I watch her sashay toward the suite, hips swaying, and head high, pretending she isn’t trembling inside.

Hell. She shouldn’t have come, but she has.

And now, every dangerous thought crawling through my mind demands to be unleashed.

She said she only came to tell me to stop.... to end whatever this is.

But I know she’s lying. And she knows that I know she’s lying.

I can see it in her eyes. That flicker of hesitation, that pulse in her throat giving her away.

I’ve been fighting myself to stop whatever this is.... whatever she started.

But how can I, when she’s my brother’s fiancée?

Do you have any idea how intriguing that makes this?

Still, there’s a reason I asked her to meet me tonight.

One: I planned to let go if she refused to show up. If she stayed away, I would’ve walked away too. Maybe.

But she didn’t. She came. She came, looking like sin in heels, spitting fire like she didn’t crave the same heat I do.

Two: I dropped the key card, gave her one last chance to walk away. And she failed that too.

We've only known each other for two days, but she always fails when it comes to me.

So you see? I’m trying to be the good guy I’ve never been. But she’s walking straight to me willingly, like a sacrificial lamb.

I smirk, finishing my drink, then slide out of the booth. My steps are slow and deliberate, each one echoing with the kind of hunger I’ve tried to bury.

And as I head down the corridor toward Suite 1107, my pulse drums in rhythm with every wicked thought I’ve ever had about her.

Because if she’s inside that room.... then she’s already mine, and there's no going back.