Chapter 8
964 Words
Anne
I panicked at the thought of never having to leave this place. "Let me go!" I begged him and cry.
Jay
Those three words—let me go—land like execution shots in the silence.
My ice-blue eyes locked on her tear-stained face.
"Let you go."
I repeat it like he's testing a foreign language, voice scraped raw. My jaw clenches hard enough that muscle jumps beneath stubble, that thin scar through my eyebrow stark against skin gone pale. For several heartbeats he just stares at her—this woman, I want to claim, she looks at me like he's a monster.
"Where would you go, little dove?"
Not cruel. Not mocking, just... broken. Genuinely asking, as if the concept itself makes no sense in his fractured world. He drags one hand through raven-black hair, leaving crimson streaks through the dark strands.
"Fine," I said, and let her go.
Anne
I was surprised that he just let me go. I just needed to be alone and think about everything that happened. "Do I have a room?"
Jay
The question shifts something in my expression—resignation bleeding into the possessive need he can't suppress even now. I straighten slowly, broad shoulders rigid beneath expensive black fabric as ice-blue eyes track your every micro-movement with predatory focus.
"Yes"
The single word comes out rough, controlled. He gestures toward the grand staircase with one hand, the other running through raven-black hair in a gesture that betrays my inner turmoil despite the careful mask sliding back into place.
"You have a room, little dove. Yours. Through most nights you"
I cut myself off, jaw clenching hard.
"Second floor. Third door on the left. The one with the fireplace."
I walked past her carefully, maintaining distance as she was fragile. I head towards the staircase, clearly expecting you to follow, though his movement lacks his usual predatory confidence. There's broken in the set of his shoulders now, violence contained but barely.
"I'll show you"
He pauses at the base of the stairs, glancing back with those piercing eyes that hold too many emotions—possessiveness, anguish, desperate need all warring beneath the surface.
"But understand something, sugar." My voice drops lower, silk over steel. "You're mine and I will make sure you remember."
Anne
I was angry that he called me his. I don't belong to anyone, I'm not something you can own.
"I don't want you, leave me alone."
Jay
The words detonate in the space between you and something inside me doesn't just crack, it shatters.
For three terrible heartbeats, he goes absolutely still on that grand staircase. Ice-blue eyes widen with pure devastation before narrowing into feral and dangerous, pupils dilating until only thin rings of blue remain. My hands curl into white-knuckled fists at my sides, every muscle in that broad frame going rigid with barely contained violence.
"What did you say?"
The question comes out deceptively quiet—silk stretched over razor wire. I turned fully to face her, descending one step, then another, each movement slow and predatory. Moonlight catches the sharp planes of my face where she clearly can see the rage.
"You don't want me?" my voice drops into cold and lethal.
I close the distance between us with frightening speed, one hand shooting out to grip her jaw—not gently, not carefully, but with bruising possession that forces her face upward to meet those burning eyes.
The other hand slams against the wall beside her head, caging her completely. The scent of leather and blood overwhelms her senses as I lean in, forehead nearly touching hers.
"I will not accept you rejecting me, sugar." My grip tightens until it borders on painful.
Something cracks in my expression—possessive fury bleeding into raw anguish.
"Leave you alone?" A bitter, broken sound escapes me. "You're asking me to abandon you."
My thumb strokes along her jaw despite the bruising grip, a gesture of twisted tenderness.
"I would burn this entire world down before I let you go."
Anne
I was very scared when he grabbed me. The way he touched me hurt. It was clear that he would never let me go, but I couldn't accept it. I needed him to leave me alone. "I want to be alone in my room."
I said stubbornly.
Jay
The request hangs between them—alone in my room — and my grip on her jaw trembles with the visible effort it takes not to tighten further.
My chest heaves with ragged breaths, blood still dropping from shattered knuckles to stain expensive marble beneath her feet. For several heartbeats he just stares, jaw clenched so hard she can hear my teeth grinding.
"Alone"
The word comes out broken, scraped raw. My hand falls away from her face slowly, reluctantly, like releasing you physically hurt me. I step back — one step, then another—creating a space that feels wrong to someone so inherently possessive.
"Fine, little dove"
My voice drops into something cold and controlled, volcanic rage compressed into deadly calm. Those piercing eyes tracked her every movement as I gestured toward the grand staircase with one bloodied hand.
"Second floor. Third door on the left. Your sanctuary."
I move aside, giving her clear passage, through every line of my muscular frame screams resistance. My hands curl into white knuckled fists at my side, blood seeping between my fingers.
"But understand this, sugar." I leaned against the wall, deceptively casual despite the violence radiating from him. "You get tonight. One night, to process, to breathe, to convince yourself I'm the monster your mind thinks i am."
My jaw clenches, ice-blue eyes burning with possessive certainty.
"Tomorrow we will start fixing this, and you will remember who you belong to."
- Writer
