CHAPTER 11
892 Words
Juliana.
I should have stepped away.
Every instinct screamed at me to put distance between us, to remind myself who he was, what he had done.
But I didn’t move.
I stood there, the scent of gunpowder and Alexander’s cologne mixing in the air, my heartbeat a frantic rhythm against my ribs.
His hands were still on my arms, firm but not forceful, and his breath ghosted over my cheek, close enough to send a shiver down my spine.
I turned my head slightly, just enough to meet his gaze.
Mistake.
His blue-green eyes were unreadable, but there was something there, something dark, something dangerous, something entirely too tempting.
I swallowed. “Are you going to keep staring at me, or are we actually going to finish this lesson?”
Alexander’s lips twitched, like he knew exactly what I was doing, trying to deflect, to act unaffected.
But we both knew better.
His grip tightened, just for a second, before he finally stepped back, his voice returning to its usual calm.
“Again”
I exhaled shakily and forced myself to focus.
The next shot was steadier. The next even more so. I wasn’t great, but I was learning. And for some reason, Alexander seemed to enjoy teaching me.
Or maybe he just enjoyed watching me struggle.
Either way, the tension didn’t fade.
If anything, it only grew.
By the time we left the shooting range, my body was humming, not just from the adrenaline, but from the lingering awareness of him.
I had thought that getting out of the house would give me some sense of control again.
That stepping into Alexander’s world, even for a moment, would remind me of all the reasons I couldn’t let myself get tangled up in him.
Instead, it did the opposite.
I had never felt so out of control.
…………………………………………………………………………………….
The car ride back was quiet.
Not awkward, not tense, just… charged.
Like we were both aware of something neither of us was willing to name.
Like if one of us broke the silence, we wouldn’t be able to stop what came next.
I stared out the window, my fingers drumming absently against my thigh. I needed to shake off this feeling.
I wasn’t some helpless girl who got distracted by a pretty face and a dangerous reputation.
I had spent years hardening myself against men like him.
Men who took.
Men who controlled.
Men who thought they owned the world.
So why was it that, sitting next to him, I didn’t feel trapped?
Why was it that, for the first time in my life, I felt like I was standing at the edge of something far more dangerous than captivity?
When we pulled up to the house, I expected him to leave.
To disappear into his office, pretend like none of it had happened.
But he didn’t.
He followed me inside, walking a few steps behind me as I headed toward the stairs.
I stopped at the bottom step and turned to face him.
“Why did you agree to take me today?”
He tilted his head slightly, like he was debating whether or not to answer.
“You were bored” he finally said.
I narrowed my eyes. “You don’t care about that”
His lips quirked. “Of course, I don’t. But I do care about what boredom leads to”
I frowned. “And what’s that?”
He took a step closer, his presence swallowing the space between us.
“Restlessness. Frustration. Recklessness” His eyes flicked over me, unreadable. “Things I can’t afford from you”
The way he said it made my stomach flip.
“Because I’m leverage” I murmured.
Alexander’s gaze darkened slightly, and for the first time, I saw something there that almost looked like frustration.
“Because you’re mine to protect”
Mine.
The word echoed in my mind.
My breath caught.
It shouldn’t have made my skin tingle.
It shouldn’t have sent heat curling through my stomach.
But it did.
I swallowed hard, trying to ignore the way my pulse quickened.
“I don’t need your protection”
Alexander’s smirk was slow, knowing.
“That’s where you’re wrong”
He didn’t wait for my response.
He turned and walked away, his footsteps steady, his posture unshaken, like he hadn’t just changed something between us.
Like he hadn’t just left me standing there, my heart pounding, my thoughts a mess.
I had spent my whole life learning how to survive on my own.
I had built walls so high, so thick, that no one, not my mother, not my stepfather, not anyone, had ever managed to get through them.
But Alexander…
He wasn’t breaking them.
He was walking right past them, like they weren’t even there.
And worse?
I wasn’t stopping him.
I turned and climbed the stairs, my mind racing.
But even as I shut my bedroom door, even as I buried myself under the covers and tried to pretend that today hadn’t changed anything, I knew the truth.
I had felt it in the way my pulse skipped when he got too close.
I had seen it in the way his eyes darkened when I challenged him.
Something was shifting between us.
Something neither of us could ignore.
And if I wasn’t careful…
I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
- Writer
