FOUR

CHAPTER FOUR 

Most of the teachers had left but Taraji, the library teacher, was still there, which made my approach easier. I pretended to just be visiting, gave her a box of chocolate and breezed through the library when she was busy with a student. I went to the exact place I remembered sticking the textbook into. The textbook was one of those useless ones I knew students wouldn’t need so thankfully it was intact and the black-enveloped letters as well. I breathed a sigh of relief when I found the rest of the letters.

When I got back home, I looked for Storm everywhere until I asked the maid and she said he was in his room. At first I decided against going to his room but then I realized Donovan wasn’t home and Storm could very possibly decide to ask me about the letters when Donovan was around and I didn’t want that because I didn’t want Donovan to suspect a thing. So I decided to just go now that Donovan wasn’t around.

“The door is open.” His voice called out after a small knock.

I gently eased in, swallowing and braced for whatever version of Storm I get today. He was on his phone, sat on the three-seater couch just a few metres from his bed, his legs propped on the center table by the chair.

His room was almost as large as ours. It had a king-sized bed with dark red silk sheets.

His face lit when his gaze slid to me. “I suppose you have the letters.”

I nodded and closed the door behind me.

He got up and went to the small bar section at the corner of his room, poured himself a small quantity of Martell and poured another in another glass. He gave me one of the glass cups.

“Uhm, I’m good.”

“Take it.” His request sounded like a warning so I did.

He gave me a smirk that looked like a smile and walked back to the couch to settle on it, his muscles flexing behind his black t-shirt.

“Sit.” He nudged his head to the bed.

“That won’t be necessary. I just came to drop the letters, I’m leaving soon—”

“No, you are not. Sit.”

I stared back at him, his brown eyes assessing and challenging me.

I propped gently on the bed, the silk cool against the back of my thighs. I wore a sleeveless knitted mini gown so I crossed my legs because I was facing him and didn’t want him to get any ideas.

He took a sip of his drink, watching me through the rim of his glass cup.

“Storm, can we get over with this, please? Donovan would be back any minute from now. Just accept the letters and let’s live as we were.”

He said nothing in response and just kept watching me.

“Whatever happened in the past should remain in the past,” I continued, “I’m now married to your father and in other words, you are my son—”

“Read the letters to me.” He interrupted, staring as if there was something interesting on my face.

“What?”

“The letters, read them to me.”

“Storm—”

“Should I do it?”

I swallowed and slowly grabbed the first letter, drawing out the paper from the envelope. I had read just two of them. After the second one, I quickly realized his intention and stopped reading them.

I had not read this one.

“My Bambi,” I started. I frowned at the next words, “You are mine. Every breath you take belongs to me. I watch the way you move and it owns me. I need you closer than skin. Don’t look at anyone else. Don’t even think of anyone else. You exist for me. I will keep you. Forever.  

—Storm”

He smirked against his drink. “Continue.”

“Storm.” I warned.

“We could do this the hard way.”

I adjusted, settled the drink on the bed and picked the second one.

“Miss Leonard, I can’t sleep unless I know exactly where you are.” I paused, “The thought of you existing outside my reach makes me shake. You are the only thing that makes the world make sense. I want to lock the door and keep you here with me until the rest of the world forgets your name. Only I get to say it. Only I get to touch you.  

—Your Storm”

I picked up the third one, eager to be done with this quick.  

“My perfect girl,  

I keep imagining the way you would look when you’re under me. The sounds you would make. The way your body would open for me like it already knows who owns it. I need that so bad. Tonight. Every night. I will take you until you forget there was ever a version of you that wasn’t mine.  

—Storm”

The hair on my neck stood. He really wrote all this, hoping I return his feelings?

“Bambi,  

I love you so much it hurts. It is not soft. It is not gentle. It is the kind of love that wants to swallow you whole so no one else can ever have even a second of you. You are the only person I will ever need. Stay. Stay. Stay.  

—Storm”

“Mine,  

I want to mark every inch of you so the world can see you already have an owner. I want my name in your mouth when you come. I want you so full of me that walking away becomes impossible. You are not allowed to leave. You are not allowed to want anyone else. You are mine.  

—Storm”

“My sweet Bambi,  

Sometimes I just sit and think about how soft you are. How your voice sounds when you say my name. How the world feels quieter when you are near me. I love you in a way that does not know how to be normal. I love you in a way that would burn everything else down just to keep you warm.  

—Storm”

“My Bambi,  

I need to be inside you. I need to feel you tighten around me like you never want me to leave. I need to hear you beg and then give you everything anyway. You were made for this. For me. No one else should get to see you like that. No one else should get to have you.  

—Storm”

“Bambi,  

I hate the idea of you existing in a room I am not in. I hate the idea of air touching your skin that is not my air. Come to me. Let me keep you. Let me love you the only way I know how—completely, obsessively, without exit.  

—Storm”

“My girl,  

I dream about you constantly. About the way you look when you’re already mine and still asking for more. About the way your body answers only to me. I will never get enough. I will never stop wanting more of you. You are the only addiction I will never try to quit.  

—Storm”

“Miss Leonard,  

I love you more than I love breathing. That is not poetry. That is a fact. If I had to choose between the rest of the world and you, the world would not even get a second thought. You are the center. You are the only thing that matters. Stay with me. Belong to me.  

—Storm”

“Mine,  

I want to wake up with you still full of me. I want to watch your face when you realize I was inside you all night. I want you soft and claimed and unable to think about anything else. You are not shared. You are not free. You are mine.  

—Storm”

“Bambi,  

I keep your things close when you’re not here. I touch what you touched. I breathe what you left behind. It is not enough. It will never be enough until you are under my hands. Come back to me. Stay. Let me keep you the way I need to keep you.  

—Storm”

“My Bambi,  

I want to ruin you for anyone else. I want the thought of another person touching you to feel wrong in your body. I want you to need me the same way I need you—raw, constant, and without escape. You already do. I can feel it. Don’t fight it.  

—Storm”

“Miss Leonard,  

There is a rumour you are dating Mr. Damson, is it true? I just need you to confirm before I do something crazy.  

—Storm”

“My forever,  

Please, return my letters. I heard you were leaving. You are not allowed to leave. You are not allowed to change your mind. You are not allowed to exist in a version of the world where I am not the only one who gets to have you. I love you with everything I am. I will keep you with everything I am. You are mine. Say it back.  

—Storm”

“Miss Leonard,  

Since you complimented my writing, here is your name written 1000 times in my writing. Turn the page.”

I finished the last one and just sat there, the papers still in my hands, the room quiet except for the soft clink of his glass when he set it down. He didn’t say anything right away. He just watched me, waiting, like the words I’d just read out loud were still hanging between us and he wanted to see what they did to me.

“I want you to know that there was not one lie told in any of those letters and those words are still valid till this very moment.”

I swallowed.

“Now, you will return every one of those letters in a letter.”

“What?”