Chapter 3

“Eric, where’d you find that bracelet? You’ve been staring at it for over an hour. Don’t tell me it belongs to your mystery woman.”

The private room was packed with privileged rich kids.

Any one of them came from a family most people wouldn’t dare cross, but right now they were all gathered around Eric, eager for gossip.

Eric kicked the guy who’d spoken and grinned around the cigarette between his teeth.

“What mystery woman? Cut the bullshit. She’s not even divorced yet. At best, I’m the other man.”

Tyler Grant was probably the closest to Eric out of everyone there. With one hand around the waist of the woman in his arms, he smirked.

“When someone else becomes the side piece, it’s shameless. When you do it, suddenly it’s some epic love story?”

The room burst into laughter.

Another rich kid with bright green hair chimed in.

“Come on, Eric. How could you be the side piece? Everyone knows the one who isn’t loved is the real homewrecker.”

Eric took a drag from his cigarette.

“Then I guess I’m not the other man.”

“You’ll kick her husband out soon enough.”

“I’m more like a tool she’s using.”

Silence.

Eric swept his gaze around the room and scoffed.

“What happened? You all had plenty to say a second ago.”

He sounded like he was joking, but everyone who knew him could tell he was annoyed.

Clearly, he didn’t like hearing them gossip about Stella.

The atmosphere had just turned awkward when Eric’s phone rang.

He glanced at the number on the screen and clicked his tongue, looking irritated.

Yet even his scarred eyebrow seemed to lift with interest, like a vicious dog suddenly calming down the second someone scratched behind its ears.

He answered and deliberately lowered his voice.

“Who’s this?”

The entire room fell silent.

Someone even paused the music.

Tyler nearly spit out his drink.

Who the hell was this guy?

Tyler had known Eric practically his whole life, and he’d never heard him use that ridiculous, deliberately deep voice.

Who’s this?

Give him a break.

The rabid dog had suddenly decided to play gentleman.

Whatever the person on the other end said, Eric hung up a moment later and immediately got to his feet.

Tyler called after him.

“Eric, you’re done drinking?”

Eric waved without looking back.

---

Stella waited outside the hotel for more than half an hour before Eric’s black Cullinan finally pulled up.

He stepped out and took out his phone.

A second later, Stella’s phone rang in her pocket.

Eric heard it and turned toward the shadows where she was standing.

Then he strode straight toward her.

His familiar scent reached her first, something cool and clean mixed with cigarette smoke, surrounding her in an instant.

A jumble of memories from earlier flashed through her mind, making it suddenly hard to breathe.

Eric wore a black button-down with the sleeves rolled to his elbows, exposing his muscular forearms.

Stella’s gaze caught on the veins running beneath his skin.

She remembered how they’d stood out when he gripped her waist, how frighteningly strong his hands had felt.

As if he could snap her in half without even trying.

Stella instinctively took a step back, retreating deeper into the shadows.

She held out one pale hand, palm up.

“Bracelet.”

Eric lowered his eyes to her hand.

Suppressing the urge to bite it, he leaned closer instead.

“I ditched an entire room full of friends and drove all the way over here, and that’s the attitude I get?”

His breath brushed across her palm as he spoke.

Her fingertips curled involuntarily.

For one strange second, she almost thought he was going to rest his chin in her hand.

Stella took a deep breath and softened her tone.

“Thank you. Now please give me my bracelet back.”

Eric leaned closer.

“What happened to your voice?”

He was suddenly far too close.

Startled, Stella quickly backed up another two steps and found herself directly beneath the streetlight.

The finger-shaped bruises around her throat had already turned a deep purple.

They looked brutal against her pale skin.

Eric narrowed his eyes.

“Lucas did that?”

“That’s none of your business.”

Stella frowned, making no attempt to hide her disgust.

“Can you just give me the bracelet?”

“No.”

“You...”

She glared at him in frustration.

The next second, Eric wrapped an arm around her waist, lifted her off her feet, and threw her over his shoulder.

The moment Stella realized Eric was carrying her toward the Cullinan, she started struggling furiously, punching and hitting him.

“Eric! What are you doing? Put me down!”

Eric slapped her on the butt.

“Behave.”

Stella’s face instantly turned red.

From anger.

Eric opened the passenger door and tossed her inside.

The next second, she slapped him across the face.

His expression turned dangerous in an instant.

Stella regretted it the moment she did it and quickly went on the defensive.

“You... you hit me first.”

Eric pressed his tongue against the inside of his cheek and raised his hand.

Stella instinctively squeezed her eyes shut.

But the slap she expected never came.

Instead, she heard a click.

He’d buckled her seat belt.

His amused voice sounded beside her ear.

“What? You thought I was going to hit you? I’m not Lucas.”

Stella opened her eyes in surprise, only to flinch when she realized how close his face was.

So close she could clearly trace the scar cutting through his eyebrow.

So close she could feel the heat radiating from his body.

She clenched her teeth, and all the color drained from her face.

She felt sick.

Stella quickly turned her head away.

“Can you get away from me?”

Eric raised an eyebrow.

“Stella, are you afraid of me?”

She was.

And not just because Eric had a reputation for being a rabid dog who’d bite anyone who got too close.

Stella swallowed the resentment rising in her chest and looked at him coldly.

“Do you know how disgusting it is when you look at me like that?”

Eric froze.

Stella hadn’t meant to provoke him.

But she couldn’t stand being trapped with him in such a small, enclosed space either.

Once the words started coming, she couldn’t seem to stop.

“You’ve wanted to sleep with me for years, haven’t you? The first time I met you in Lucas’s college dorm, you were already staring at me with that disgusting look in your eyes.”

Lucas and Eric hadn’t just grown up together.

They’d also been roommates in college.

Once Stella started dating Lucas, running into Eric became unavoidable.

The first time she ever kissed Lucas, she’d looked up and seen Eric standing nearby.

Watching her.

Staring at her like a starving wolf.

Later, when she and Lucas officially got together and he introduced her to his friends, everyone immediately started teasing her by calling her “Mrs. Lawson.”

Everyone except Eric.

He barely acknowledged her.

That night, both Stella and Lucas had been drunk.

And in the dark, Eric kissed her.

She’d known from that moment that he wanted to sleep with her.

Otherwise, she never would’ve gone to him yesterday.

No one else would dare cross Lucas.

And no one else would dare go after a woman Lucas considered his.

Eric said nothing.

Only then did Stella realize how dangerous the silence had become.

She forced herself to stay calm and held out her hand again.

“I don’t want to ruin your friendship with Lucas. If he finds out you slept with me, he’ll definitely turn on you. So just give me my...”

Before she could finish, Eric lowered his chin into her palm.

Like a vicious dog waiting to have its chin scratched.

And if she refused, it might lunge forward and bite her.

A smile tugged at his lips.

There was something almost excited in his eyes now that she’d finally called him out.

“Yeah? So what?

“You knew exactly what I wanted, and you still came to me yesterday. Don’t tell me you weren’t hoping Lucas and I would end up at each other’s throats.”

He’d seen straight through her.

Stella didn’t bother denying it.

She tried to pull her hand away, but Eric caught her wrist.

His palm closed around it, hot against her skin. Her pulse hammered beneath his fingers.

“Fine,” he murmured.

“Use me however you want.”

Then he lowered his head and took the tip of her finger between his lips.