9
1412 Words
KATHERINE
The ringing in my ears faded slowly, like smoke clearing after a fire.
Silas’s voice cut through first, “Katty—” His breath was ragged, his hand pressed against his arm where blood seeped through his sleeve. Not gushing, not fatal, but enough to leave him pale and furious.
I stumbled toward him. “You’re hurt—”
“I’m fine.” The lie was sharp, biting. He jerked his arm out of my reach, his jaw clenching. His eyes, though, weren’t on me. They were locked on the stranger.
The stranger stood there, unnervingly composed, as though the chaos hadn’t touched him. His chest rose slowly, steady, his hands bare of blood, his gaze fixed on me like I was the only person in the room.
“You should take care of that,” he said to Silas, almost casual.
Silas’s nostrils flared. “And leave her with you?”
The stranger tilted his head. “She doesn’t seem as scared as you want her to be.”
My lips parted, but nothing came out. He was right, I wasn’t trembling, I wasn't screaming. I should’ve been. Instead, my pulse thudded in a rhythm that felt dangerous for an entirely different reason.
Silas turned to me, hurt flashing across his face in a way that cut deeper than the blood on his arm. “Katty… please. Don’t do this.”
“I’m not doing anything,” I whispered.
“You’re letting him stay.” His voice cracked.
“I—” My throat closed around the words.
The stranger shifted closer. Not enough to touch me, but enough that the air thickened. “She’s not letting me do anything. I decide for myself.”
“Like hell you do,” Silas spat. His voice trembled with rage, with something desperate. He looked at me again, softer this time, pleading. “Katty, are you really serious? Are you really going to allow a complete stranger to remain in the house with you?”
The stranger’s mouth curved, the ghost of a smile. “Maybe or maybe I’ll ruin the part of her that doesn’t know how to choose for herself.”
Heat rushed to my face. My lungs fought for breath, but it wasn’t fear filling them. It was something I didn’t dare name.
Silas stared at me like he didn’t recognize me. Like I had betrayed him just by standing still. His shoulders slumped, the fight draining out of him.
“Fine.” His voice was raw. He grabbed his coat, his movements jagged, furious. “Burn yourself alive, Katty. Just don’t ask me to watch.”
The door slammed behind him, the sound like a knife splitting through bone and then silence.
The kind of silence that presses against your skin, that makes every breath sound too loud, too revealing.
I turned slowly, my pulse hammering. The stranger hadn’t moved. His eyes hadn’t left me.
“You didn’t stop him,” he said softly.
“You didn’t, either.”
“I wasn’t the one he came here for.”
The weight of his words coiled around me, tight and inescapable. I should’ve felt trapped. Instead, I felt… seen.
I swallowed hard. “You think you know me.”
“I don’t think,” he said. His voice was low, steady, threaded with certainty that made my chest ache. “I know enough.”
I shook my head. “You don’t.”
“Then show me what I’m missing.”
His challenge hung in the air, daring me to step forward, daring me to break first.
I didn’t move. My body betrayed me anyway, my breath quickened, my knees softened, and my palms itched like they wanted to reach for him.
He noticed, of course he did. His eyes darkened, something dangerous and electric flashing there. “You don’t run. You don’t scream. You don’t even push me away. Do you know how rare that is?”
My voice cracked when it finally found me. “Maybe I’m too tired to fight.”
“Or maybe…” He stepped closer, slow, deliberate, like he was giving me every chance to stop him. “Maybe you don’t want to.”
My heart stuttered.
He stopped just inches from me, his presence heavy, magnetic. I could feel the heat radiating off him, feel the air shift with every quiet breath he took. My body swayed toward him before my mind could stop it.
“You should be careful,” I whispered, though my voice shook. “I’m not someone you can control.”
For the first time, he smiled fully, sharp, knowing, and devastating. “I’m not trying to control you, Katherine.” His voice dipped lower, intimate. “I’m trying to see if you’ll let yourself be free.”
Free.
The word struck me like a match against dry wood. It shouldn’t have lit anything inside me, but it did. A spark, bright and terrifying.
I hated it. I wanted more of it.
“You’re insane,” I whispered.
“Maybe.” His gaze dropped to my mouth, slow, deliberate. “But so are you—for letting me stand this close.”
Every nerve in my body screamed. For him. Against him. I couldn’t tell the difference anymore.
“Why me?” The question slipped out, raw, too vulnerable.
His eyes snapped back to mine, and for once, there was no mockery there. Just the truth. “Because you look at me like you already know what I am and you’re still standing here minus the fact that you already snatched me off the streets”I didn't imagine that this was the way I would be paying dearly for my mistakes.
My chest tightened. I should’ve stepped back. Instead, my feet rooted to the floor, my body trembling with something that felt like surrender.
The silence stretched. His gaze locked me in place, daring me to move, daring me not to, and then he leaned in.
Not enough to touch. Not enough to seal what trembled between us. But close enough that I felt his breath ghost over my lips, warm and dangerous.
My pulse roared.
“Careful, Katherine,” he murmured. “If you let me stay, you won’t want me to leave.” It was the way he addressed me by my full name.
‘Katherine’ like he had always known me. Like I had always been on the radar of his existence. My heart was threatening to burst out of my chest. I was beyond surprised that it hadn't happened yet. It terrified me.
The floor tilted beneath me. My knees nearly buckled. My hands clenched at my sides, desperate for something to hold onto that wasn’t him.
“I never asked you to stay,” I whispered.
“No.” His voice was silk over steel. “But you didn’t ask me to go, either.”
My lips parted, a thousand protests tangled in my throat. None of them came out. My instincts screamed at me to voice them out but it was like the words were lodged at the back of my throat. Because he was right.
And I hated him for it.
And I wanted him for it.
I broke first. I stepped back, the distance slicing like a blade. I pretended not to feel the intense dissapointment at the distance i created between the both of us “Get out.”
He didn’t move.
“I said—” My voice cracked. “Get out.”
His eyes softened, just a fraction, like I’d amused him or maybe like I’d disappointed him.
“I’ll go,” he said finally, quiet but sure. He turned toward the door, every movement unhurried, deliberate. Like he was giving me time to change my mind.
My chest ached. My hands shook. My body screamed for me to say something, anything to stop him.
I didn’t.
His hand touched the doorknob. My breath hitched.
Then he looked back, his gaze locking with mine one last time.
“This isn’t over, Katherine.” His voice was a promise, dark and unshakable. “It’s only the beginning.”
The door clicked shut behind him, the echo spreading through the empty house like a secret.
I stood frozen, the silence pressing in, my pulse still trapped in my throat, and for the first time, I wasn’t sure if I was terrified of him leaving or of him coming back.
- Writer
