登入The door slammed behind us.Adam released my wrist at once, but I still pulled it against my chest and rubbed the place where his fingers had been. The room was small, four concrete walls, a metal table, and one chair. The noise from the fight dulled behind the door.He stood with his back to me, one hand braced against the wall. His shoulders rose and fell hard. Sweat ran down his back. Blood had dried along his ribs, and a fresh line slipped from his eyebrow to his cheek.I stared at him and the room disappeared. His hands around my throat. My lungs refusing to work. His face above mine, empty and asleep. I stepped back until my spine hit the door.Adam turned at the sound. His eyes found me and stopped.He looked awful. His eyes were red, his hair damp and pushed back. He opened his mouth, then looked down at my hand pressed over my throat. Something tightened in his face.“Are you okay?”I almost laughed. It came out as a thin breath instead. “You dragged me into a room, and that’
Even povThe medic questioned me while I sat on the edge of the hotel bed with a blanket wrapped around my shoulders. I answered every one of them, but my voice sounded far away. My fingers stayed pressed against my throat. Every swallow burned.“Any dizziness?”“A little.”“Any trouble breathing now?”“No.”The medic leaned closer and checked my pupils. I flinched before I could stop myself.I wasn’t fine. I couldn’t stop looking at the empty doorway.Adam had run.The ambulance arrived ten minutesafter he'd left and by then, I had already shoved my suitcase shut with shaking hands.I left the trip that morning.Evelyn opened her door in an oversized shirt and socks, her hair piled messily on top of her head. The second she saw me, her mouth dropped open.“What happened to your neck?”I pulled my scarf higher, “can I come in?”She stepped aside immediately. “Eve, what happened?”“Nothing. I just need to stay here for a few days.”Her eyebrows pulled together. “Nothing does not leave
Adam's povI woke up wrong.My body was heavy and my mind felt like it was still underwater. I blinked hard and stared at the ceiling for a second before realising I wasn’t even looking at the ceiling. I was looking down. My knees were planted on the mattress, my weight was forward. Something soft and warm was under me.I looked down.Eve’s face was right there. Her eyes were open and wide. My hands were locked around her throat.The second my brain caught up, my whole body jerked back like someone had shocked me with live wires. I yanked my hands off her neck so fast I almost fell sideways off the bed. My fingers were still curled in the air.“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”Eve sucked in a loud broken breath and coughed hard. Her hands flew to her own throat. She rolled onto her side, gasping, trying to get air back into her lungs. I stared at her like she was something I had broken on purpose.My hands trembled uncontrollably. I couldn’t hold them still. I raked both of them through my hair and
Hazel povI sat on the edge of the balcony chair with my legs pulled up, staring at the dark water below the villa. The night air was warm and still. My wine glass sat untouched on the small table beside me. I kept turning the stem between my fingers without lifting it. The glass caught the faint light spilling out from the villa behind me, sending pale reflections across my hand before disappearing again. Somewhere in the distance, gentle waves lapped against the wooden stilts beneath the villa.I rested my chin against my knees and let my eyes follow the slow ripples stretching across the water. The breeze barely touched my skin, only enough to stir a few loose strands of hair across my cheek. I tucked them behind my ear without thinking, then returned my hand to the glass, rolling it back and forth again as if the small movement alone could quiet everything racing through my head.Alan stepped out through the open doors. I heard the soft scrape of his bare feet on the stone. He
He said it against my skin while he was still buried inside me.I froze. My hips stopped moving. My fingers were still locked on his shoulders and I just stared down at him like the words had punched the air out of my chest.“What?”Adam didn’t look up. He pressed his face harder into the curve of my neck and kept rocking into me, slower now, deeper, like he hadn’t just said the most insane thing I had ever heard. I dug my nails into his shoulders hard enough to leave marks. He hissed but didn’t stop. His hands gripped my hips and guided me back into the rhythm until I was moving with him again, still reeling.“Adam.”He only groaned and bit down lightly on my shoulder. I could feel every inch of him and it was almost too much on top of the words still ringing in my head. My thighs started shaking. He felt it. His hand slid between us and found my clit, rubbing in tight circles while he thrust up into me.“Come,” he said, voice rough against my neck, “now, give it to me.”The order
He pulled away from me after a while. I sat on the bed watching Adam stand there like he was still deciding what to do with me. My wet clothes were stuck to my skin and the ice pack on my ankle was leaking cold water down my leg but I didn’t move it. He ran his hand through his hair again and his jaw stayed tight the whole time. I raked my fingers through my own tangled hair and pushed it off my face.He walked over slowly. When he got to the bed he crouched down in front of me and lifted the ice pack off my ankle. His fingers brushed the swollen skin and I sucked in a breath but it wasn’t from pain this time.He pressed around it once then looked up at me.“You could’ve died out there,” he said. His voice was low and flat. “I had the whole team running through the rain because you decided to wander off with a map you couldn’t even read right.”I twisted the blanket in my hands. “I already said I was sorry.”He stood up and stepped between my knees. His hands landed on my thighs,
“Excuse you?” I said, eyes wide, phone pressed to my ear like I didn’t just hear what I thought I heard. Alan’s voice didn’t even flinch. “You heard me.” “Why the fuck would I do that?” I snapped, sitting up straight on my bed, heart racing. “You said you wanted your life back,” he said, vo
I headed downstairs, arms folded tight across my chest. My mouth was dry, my heart still thumping from what I saw. Or thought I saw. Frank’s disaster from earlier was thankfully gone from the living room. Couch was empty. Lights were dimmed. I let out a slow breath, half-expecting to find Alan
My first instinct was to push him off but he grabbed my wrist before I could slip away, dragging me down so fast I landed on top of him, my tits pressed against his chest. “What the fuck is wrong with you?!” I snapped, struggling to pull back. He stared at me like I just committed a crime. Hi
Hazel pov My first thought was to run the fuck away but I knew this man, he'd go after me, peel my damned mask off even if it was against the contract and my life as I knew it would be over. My body froze, but I forced my shoulders straight. The mask hid half my face. He couldn’t know unles







