Daddy’s wild girl

Chapter 43

Bella’s pov

I lay on my bed, staring up at the cracked ceiling of my dorm room while the distant sounds of the campus night hummed outside. No matter how hard I pressed my eyes shut, I couldn't get him out of my head. Ethan. The way his knuckles felt against my skin, the way he had roared at Scott, and the way he looked at me—like I was a puzzle he was determined to solve and destroy all at once.

My hand drifted instinctively to my neck, my fingers brushing over the skin where the Alpha Daddy mark sat like a brand. I hissed, the phantom sting of it making my blood boil.

"Stupid," I whispered to the empty room. "You’re so incredibly stupid, Bella."

Every time I felt that mark, I was reminded of the man who put it there. A man so devoid of a soul that he didn't care whose lives he ruined. The disgust I felt for him was a physical weight in my chest. How could I have ever loved someone so vile? Someone who didn't care about boundaries, who would sleep with a mother and then turn around and take the daughter without a second thought? He was a predator, a monster wrapped in a beautiful, terrifying package.

I gripped my pillow, my knuckles turning white. I wasn't going to let this mark define me anymore. I wasn't going to be a trophy for him or a target for Scott.

"I’m getting rid of it," I promised the shadows. "I'll scrape it off my skin if I have to. I'm going to be free of you."

I fell into a restless sleep, dreaming of dark water and cold eyes.

The next morning, the hallway felt like a gauntlet. The second I stepped out of my room, I felt the shift in the atmosphere. The air was thick with whispers, and every pair of eyes was glued to me. It wasn't the curious stares from before; these were sharp, jagged, and full of resentment.

As I rounded the corner toward my locker, I saw a flash of movement from the corner of my eye. A girl I didn't even know tipped a water bottle, aiming straight for my head. My reflexes—sharper than they used to be—kicked in. I pivoted on my heel, the water splashing harmlessly against the lockers behind me.

I didn't give them the satisfaction of a reaction. I kept walking, my chin held high.

A few feet away, I spotted the group of girls who had been so "kind" to me at the bonfire. The ones who had shoved snacks into my hands and giggled about how lucky I was to be Ethan’s girl. I opened my mouth to offer a small, polite greeting, hoping maybe some sanity remained in this school.

The moment our eyes met, their faces hardened into masks of pure ice. They turned their backs on me in unison, their whispers loud enough for me to hear.

"Look at her, acting like she's better than everyone."

"She treated the King like trash. Who does she think she is?"

I tightened my grip on my bag. So that was it. Because I had yelled at Ethan, because I had pushed him away and refused to play the role of the doting girlfriend, I was now the school’s Public Enemy Number One. They worshipped him like a god, and I was the heretic who had dared to strike him.

"Whatever," I muttered to myself. "I’ve survived worse than high school mean girls."

I was making a beeline for my first class when a wall of blonde hair and expensive perfume blocked my path. Amelia. She was flanked by her usual drones, her arms crossed over her chest and a smirk on her face that looked like it had been painted on with venom.

"Don't go feeling too high and mighty, Bella," Amelia said, her voice dripping with fake pity. "I saw what happened at the bonfire. Don't think for a second that Scott is actually interested in you. He was just using you to get a rise out of Ethan. You’re a tool, nothing more."

I stopped, looking her dead in the eye. I was so tired. Tired of the games, tired of the threats, and tired of her.

"Trust me, Amelia," I said, my voice calm and low. "I am nowhere near interested in Scott. In fact, the thought of dating someone like him is so lowly, so beneath me, that I can't even process it. But you?"

I stepped closer, watching her smirk flicker.

"You and him? You're a perfect match. You’re both shallow, cruel, and obsessed with people who don't want you. You deserve each other."

Amelia’s jaw dropped. She gasped, her face turning a shade of red that clashed horribly with her lipstick. For a second, I thought she might actually lunged at me, but I didn't give her the chance.

I shoved past her, my shoulder hitting hers hard enough to send her stumbling back into her friends.

"Hey! How dare you!" she shrieked behind me, but I didn't look back.

I had enough monsters in my head to deal with; I didn't have time for the ones in the hallway. I had a mark to erase and a life to reclaim, and if Ethan and his kingdom wanted to go to war with me, they were going to find out exactly why I was the girl with the pliers.

—

The silence of the empty classroom felt heavy, broken only by the sound of my own quick breathing. Ethan stood there, leaning against the door he had just locked, a bright, chillingly cheerful smile on his face. It was the kind of look that didn't reach his eyes—the kind he used when he was playing a role.

"What took you so long, darling?" he asked, his voice smooth and teasing. "I’ve missed you."

He stepped closer, his shadow falling over me. I knew he was referring to the fact that I had walked into the building ten minutes after the bell, but the way he said it made it sound like we were actually something to each other.

"Get off me, Ethan," I snapped, placing my hands against his chest to shove him back. It was like trying to move a mountain. His heart was beating steady and slow under his shirt, a stark contrast to the frantic drumming in my own chest.

"Now, is that any way to greet your boyfriend?" he murmured, his hands coming up to rest lightly on my waist, keeping me pinned between him and the desk behind me.

"You aren't my boyfriend," I hissed, my eyes flashing. "We've been over this. The whole school might believe your lie, but I don't."

He didn't look bothered by my anger. If anything, he seemed to thrive on it. He leaned in closer, the scent of his expensive cologne and a hint of lingering smoke swirling around me.

"Give me a morning kiss first," he said, his voice dropping to a low, suggestive whisper. He tilted his head, his gaze dropping to my lips with that same hungry intensity from the night before.

"What? No!" I yelled, turning my face away so he could only reach my cheek. "Are you insane? After everything you put me through? After the lies you're spreading?"

"I'm not spreading lies, Bella. I'm creating a reality," he whispered against the skin of my jaw, sending a shiver of pure frustration through me. "One where you’re safe from people like Scott. One where you belong to me."

"I don't belong to anyone!" I shoved harder, managed to gain an inch of space. "Especially not a psycho who thinks he can claim people like property. You saved me from the water, Ethan, and I thanked you for that, but it doesn't give you a right to my life."

He pulled back just enough to look me in the eye, his smile fading into something sharper, something more possessive. "You still don't get it, do you? In this school, you’re either with me, or you’re prey. And I don’t like seeing my things get hunted."

"I am not your thing!" I shouted.

I tried to bolt for the door, but he moved with that terrifying speed of his, blocking my path once more. He didn't look playful anymore. The "morning kiss" comment was a taunt, but the look in his eyes now was deadly serious. He was about to remind me exactly who ran this school, and no matter how much I hated the mark on my neck, he was the only one able to remove it