Chapter 9
The noise in the club was deafening. I squinted through the haze in the direction she
was pointing.
A figure stood at the edge of the crowd, half-swallowed by the strobe lights. Something
about the way he carried himself felt familiar: the height, the shoulders, the way the
room seemed to shift around him.
“I want that one! How much for him?” I yelled, pointing.
The figure stepped forward, and even through the blur, I could feel the intensity coming off him. “I called you.” His voice was low and tight. “Why didn’t you pick up? And who
exactly are you trying to buy?”
Called? My phone was off. His voice sounded familiar, though. Really familiar. I tried to
focus, but I’d had way too much to drink, and his face wouldn’t stay still.
“What’s your name? I’m booking you for ton-”
He kissed me before I could get the word out.
He pushed me back into the booth and kissed me, hard, desperate, like he was trying to
end the whole night with his mouth. The club went wild.
Whistles and screams erupted from every direction. Before I could process any of it,
Harrison had me thrown over his shoulder and was carrying me out.
My best friend jumped up, grabbing his arm. “Hey! Put her down! Husband or not, where are you taking her?”
I pounded on his back with both fists. “Put me down!”
He didn’t flinch. Didn’t slow down. I kept hitting, kept yelling. “Put me DOWN!”
I screamed the whole way. He never once broke stride. I had no idea where he took me.
He dropped me onto a bed.
I scrambled upright, swaying as the room spun around me. “Harrison, what are you
Chapter 9
90.00%
doing? Get OFF me!” I shoved at his chest.
He didn’t move an inch. Instead, I heard the sharp sound of leather sliding through belt
loops. His belt. Before I could react, he’d caught both my wrists and bound them
together.
The room was spinning. His lips were at my ear, his breath warm against my skin. “Why do you want to leave me? Is it because you don’t love me anymore?” A pause. “Or
is there someone else?”
My eyes filled with tears. I sank my teeth into his neck, hard, and the tears broke loose.
“You’re the one who fell for someone else!” I was sobbing now, hitting him between broken words. “You’re the one who wanted me gone!”
“Don’t cry. Baby, don’t cry.” He kissed my cheeks, my eyelids, catching every tear
before it could fall.
His hand moved to my back, rubbing slow circles, like I was something fragile enough
to break. “I’ve never wanted anyone else. Not once. Not ever.”
“Liar!” The word ripped out of me, wet with tears.
“She was all over you. She was in your arms. And you’re going to stand there and tell me
it meant nothing?”
“It really didn’t.” Something between a laugh and a groan slipped out of him.
“You saw that from upstairs, didn’t you? Baby, did you also see me push her away a
second later?”
I turned away, the room lurching with me. “No, I didn’t. Whatever, I don’t care! You’re going to end up with her anyway.”
“Why would I end up with her?” Harrison’s voice went sharp.
That shut me up. I couldn’t exactly tell him about the comments.
Then something hit me, something I could actually say, and the hurt came rushing
back.
Chapter 9
“Because you think I’m a clingy burden.”
“How could I ever think you was a burden?”
“You hate it when I text you a hundred times a day. You hate it when I drag you to bed
every night.” I bit his shoulder again like punctuation, teeth sinking in with every grievance.
“That’s what this is about?” He didn’t even flinch at the bite.
“What do you mean, ‘that’s what this is about?? Isn’t that enough?” My voice cracked
on the last word.
“Okay. Okay, it’s my fault. All of it.” His voice went soft. “I’ve never, not for one
second, found you to be too much.”
I cried until I had absolutely nothing left.
He tilted my chin up, making me meet his eyes.
“Baby. Who told you all this?”
