13. CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER TWELVE

Dahlia

" M ine."

For years, this was the one word I've been desperate to hear—and no, the note he left me doesn't count.

I needed his voice. Have dreamed about it during my sweetest nightmares. Where spiders creeped up on every inch of my body. Where ravens croak from the sky.

Mine .

Finally, he said it.

Actually said it.

"Dahlia?" His brown eyes have softened the slightest bit as he's forced me into the elevator. He pins my arms behind my back, presses them and me to the elevator's wall. "Where'd you go?"

I would've told him I'm fine .

Except the pushy bastard has his hand on my lips. I stare at him. At his glowering eyes. His sculpted jaw, high cheekbones. The shadows lurking beneath them.

He thinks I've lost it. He remembers the days he'd drag me back to reality and thinks it's happening all over again. Starting to, at least.

I wouldn't have. If he'd been there, I would've been just fine.

I'm not being fair. I'm also not being rational. He's followed me home. He's the one who pushed me into the elevator. Because of him, I've been heartbroken for years.

Sadly, this is the moment that every hurt moment I've ever endured rises to the surface.

All of them.

"Mmm," I mumble, frowning.

He removes his hand from my mouth.

"Where was all of this for the last four years?" I snap.

Blaming him is wrong. It's not fair.

Luring him. That's what I'm supposed to do. Baiting him. Reeling him in, not pushing him away.

But I'm so mad I can't help it.

"Why did it take you for-fucking-ever, Ty?"

The elevator jolts when we reach my floor. It's pure luck that the old thing has gone up instead of crashing down. I'm sure it's coming any day now, though. Hopefully, with the neighbor who lives above me who listens to loud music and stomps almost every night. Cunt .

"Ah, good. You're not that far gone." An evil glint flashes across his brown eyes. "I have plans for you. For us. Better that you're conscious to witness this."

The door behind him slides open. The slowest thing ever.

"Better…yet unnecessary."

I should be afraid. A hard cock, a wild-eyed man, and a caged girl can only mean one thing.

Sex.

The painful kind. The kind that's forced on you whether you're into it or not.

I am, though. I am so into it.

Angry sex. An opportunity to take out my frustration on him.

Yes.

Because guess what? He isn't the only psycho. Isn't the only one who's mad.

I am too.

About everything.

I've waited for far too long that I'm overwhelmed.

Happy and sad and raging.

Fuck this. Fuck all of this.

I kick him in the shin. Tyler smirks.

"Come on, little savage." He whips me around, knocking the wind out of me by yanking me to him.

My back is to his chest. His cock poking my ass, and his hand silences another one of my screams. That pisses me off just bad. How fast he is. How he keeps blindsiding me.

How I've been needing it. How he's been depriving me of it .

"I hope you're ready, Dahlia. Ready to have a man so possessive, so obsessive, that you'll beg me to leave you." His mouth is hot in my ear, teeth grazing my ear. "If I'm doing this, if I'm going to risk your life so I can have you, this is it for you. For us. The idea of personal space is dead for you, you hear? You might not like it. You might resent me for being this protective, overbearing jerk. Too bad. I'm here. I'm staying. I'm taking what's mine."

As if I'd have it any other way.

Problem is, fear is illogical. Tyler's dick might be in charge now, but later? After he fucks me?

"Does this mean we're back to talking?"

"Don't know."

The answer he gave me back in my shop is a poisonous whisper. A dull, persistent ache in my chest.

He ignores my growl, walking us down the hallway. The fluorescent light flickers, about to burn out. The toes of my sneakers lift off the floor with how fast Tyler's dragging me backward. A scraping sound coming from my heels as I'm being hauled into my apartment.

A part of him believes he's hurting me. That he's taking me against my will.

False.

I want his hand off my mouth. I want to scream at him for leaving me. Then I'll lock us in here for days until I'm absolutely sure that he's mine for good.

He'll take what's his. Won't give up on us ever again.

Bam .

I'm flipped once more, my back slammed against the door to my apartment. Tyler's hand is firm on my mouth. The other one disappears into my bag.

"You taste like sugar." Tyler pushes my face to the side, his tongue tracing the curve of my neck. His lips lighting up every nerve ending on my skin. "Like something more. You're fucking addictive, you know that?"

I glare at him. At this furious man. The ravenous, hot man. Jesus, he's stunning when he's angry. Maybe it means he won't leave. Maybe it means he's fighting the terrible scenarios running through his head.

Vanquishing them. For me.

His teeth bite my ear. I scream into his palm while arching my back to get more friction. More of his cock.

"No, you don't know." I feel the moment his fingers lock around my key set. The muscles of his arm flex against my body. "I bet you thought it'd been easy for me, removing you from my life."

It takes Tyler no time at all to locate the specific key he needs. One twist of his wrist, and the lock gives in. The door pushes open.

"I can't stop thinking about you."

He's not done talking, but he's done standing in the hallway. We're in my living room, the door slamming behind us.

"You're a special brand of venom. Made specifically for me. You're everywhere." My back is up against the wall. Tyler's face is all I see. "You're there to stay. Part of my DNA, aren't you? I needed you out. Needed you gone. Needed to save you. You wouldn't let me. You've always been there. I'm drenched in you. Fucking drowning."

His fingers bite into my cheek. His eyebrows furl.

He's agonized.

He's acting as if he resents our love.

But not really.

This is him trying to get a rise out of me. Asking for a fight.

I'm always up to play with him. Always.

I scream into his palm. Bite him. Scratch his cheek.

His lips quirk. Eyes darken. Handsome and cruel.

"You were saying?" Tyler releases my mouth, cocking an eyebrow. He shoves his cock into me, letting me feel every hard inch of him. "Or is screaming all you can do?"

"Asshole," I spit out. Each breath I take is a ragged one. New air filters into my burning lungs, and it hurts. I like it. "You're a lying asshole."

"Lying?" The violent energy in him is barely contained, wiping out his amusement. "Asshole?"

"Yes, you are. You've always been a part of me too. So that's a lie." I fix him with a glare most people would run from. Not Ty. "An asshole for ever thinking you can get me out of your system. For deciding for both of us that we were better off apart."

My insults don't hurt him. He's listening.

Our foreheads are pressed together. Two broken, furious people glaring at each other.

"Newsflash, asshole . You love me. Neither of us is going anywhere." I tell him what he needs to hear. What he's needed to hear for the longest fucking time. "I'm not just a part of your DNA. I'm everywhere. Inside your head. The air you breathe. Your blood is black and red and Dahlia and you love that too. You can try to rile me up. Be mean all you want. Tell me being together is a colossal mistake. Or I don't know. If this is a sex thing, if this is you asking me to bite you while you fuck me, fine. Whatever it is, it doesn't matter. Nothing will change a goddamn thing between us. You and me, this is fate. This is motherfucking it. Forever."