Friends

"Cassian, I need to talk to you.”

He didn't even slow down, his long strides leaving her scrambling to keep up as they reached the car. "Get in Selene."

She was furious, but with their parents still within earshot, she forced the anger down to avoid creating a scene, yanking the passenger door open and slamming it shut behind her.

The moment they pulled out of the driveway, she snapped.

"What the hell do you think you’re doing? What are you playing at, Cassian?"

He just stared straight ahead, aggressively focused on the road like she wasn’t even there.

"Why are you trying to get under my skin suddenly?" she demanded. "You’ve spent so long ignoring me, and I’ve stayed out of your way, giving you the space you clearly wanted. And now, we are no longer married, we’re not even friends anymore Cassian!, so what do you want from me?".

His silence only pissed her off more, making her blood boil. "Answer me! You don't get to do that under the table, right in front of our families, and then act like you didn't just cross a massive line!"

Suddenly, the car jerked onto the gravel and stopped abruptly,  and before she could even catch her breath, he turned off the engine, leaving her in total darkness.

Cassian was out of his seat in an instant. He stormed around the front of the car, threw her door open, and gripped her arm firmly.

"Out," he commanded.

Selene slapped his hands away as she stepped out, shoving his chest back. "Don't touch me! You have no right to treat me like this.”

"No right?" Cassian stepped forward, crowding her against the passenger door. "You think you can just walk away? Like you didn't just waste five years of my life trapping me in a miserable, cursed marriage?"

"I was trapped in it too!" she screamed back, tears of frustration stinging the corners of her eyes. She hated that he could still push her to the edge like this. "You act like I had a choice! You act like I was the one who planned this entire nightmare!"

"You had the power to stop it," he sneered, his face inches from hers, and his breath hot against her skin.

"I tried!"

Cassian’s voice dropped, "You didn't try hard enough, Selene, you could’ve convinced your father, you could have thrown a fit big enough to make him call it off."

"Oh, and you tried?" Selene scoffed. "Why didn't you convince yours? Why is this all on me, Cassian? You stood there and said 'I do' just as much as I did. Why didn't you stop it?"

The accusation hung between them, and the shouting stopped, leaving only Cassian panting, his chest brushing against hers with every ragged breath. 

He looked down at her lips, parting slightly as she gasped for air. When his eyes traveled back up to meet hers, the fury was gone, replaced by a raw hunger.

Reaching behind her waist, his grip tightened on her dress as he pulled her closer until her breasts were pressed hard against him.

He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers, his hands sliding down her back to grab her ass and lift her into him. Selene gasped, her mouth parting at the firm grip, letting him slip his tongue inside and cut off her breath.

He poured his anger and frustration into the kiss, pressing her hard against the car. It was chaotic, and for a second Selene forgot why they were fighting, forgetting the divorce and the five years of distance. She just wanted him.

But as quickly as he had kissed her, Cassian pulled back.

He didn't let go, his hand remaining locked on her backside to keep her trapped against his solid body. Their lips were swollen, both of them breathing loudly.

"Because you're still my wife," he whispered roughly against her lips. "And until the divorce is finalized, whatever I want to do, I will."

The reminder of the pending divorce snapped her back to reality. A mix of panic and frustration flaring inside her. "Why didn't you do anything since? Why now?"

A dangerous smirk flashed on Cassian’s face, erasing the vulnerability that had just been there during the kiss. He didn't answer with words, instead, he shoved his knee between her thighs, forcing her legs open beneath the high slit of her dress.

"You wanted me to do something since, Selene?" he taunted, "Did you spend the last five years waiting for me to touch you like this?"

She sputtered, her mind scrambling for a defense. She couldn't let him see how much he affected her. "What? No! You're my friend—were my friend, rather."

At the mention of the word friend, Cassian’s smirk deepened.

"Do best friends watch their best friend fuck someone else and enjoy it?"

"I..." she choked out, her voice trembling violently, eyes wide with horror. "I didn't enjoy it. I wasn't... I didn't mean to—"

"Oh, really?"

Cassian didn't wait for her to recover before sliding his fingers aggressively up the slit of her dress, slipping past her damp panties to cup her center where he felt the wetness pooling.

She watched his smirk drop, the satisfaction gone and replaced by a burning intensity as he stared down at her pale face, his fingers pressing firmly against her mound, proving the ultimate betrayal of her own body.

"Your body says otherwise El."

Before she could react, he pulled his hand back and stepped out of her space so fast she almost stumbled. Leaving her exposed to the cold air, he turned and walked back to the driver's side.

Selene remained there, paralyzed against the vehicle, her chest heaving in the dark.

He hadn't just left her exposed. He had used her own body to punish her—a brutal reminder of the years he felt she had stolen.