24. Cassidy

My eyes crackopen and I feel like I"m waking up after a zombie"s chewed on my brain. Everything"s achy and stiff in that way that happens when you don"t move the entire night because you sleep so deeply.

But then I remember Hayden coming home and fucking me into oblivion before I passed out. I can still feel him inside of me and I smile, rolling over to cuddle up against his bare chest. He"s still sleeping and I snuggle against him, breathing him in and letting his warmth seep into me.

He smells so good, and I inhale the scent of me mixed on his skin.

I freeze as I slide my hand against the soft and definitely-more-expensive-than-mine sheets.

This isn"t my bed.

I sit up and blink around the room, realizing with confusion that I'm in Hayden"s bedroom. "What the fuck?" I screech, throwing back the blanket and scrambling out of the bed. It"s then I notice my skin itching and burning down by low on my pubic bone where it shouldn"t be.

"Why are you screaming?" Hayden mumbles as he sits up. His hair's a mess from sleep, all wild curls and chaos. My gaze drops to his bare chest and I"m distracted for a second before I remember how pissed off I am.

"Are you kidding me? Why?" I gesture around, blowing my crazy hair out of my face. "I fell asleep in my apartment and somehow woke up in your bed!" I"m pacing now as I look down, finding myself in pajama shorts and a tank top. The pain underneath my shorts isn"t fading and catches my attention again, so I rip the tie open and pull the waistband out, finding I"m not wearing panties and I"ve got a bandage on my skin. "What the..."

Hayden"s not saying anything, just sitting back against the headboard smirking at me like he"s completely unrepentant about whatever he"s done.

I pick at the adhesive and slowly peel back the bandage, gaping at what I find underneath.

Hayden"s name is tattooed on me, right above my vagina. It"s small but clearly legible to anyone with eyes.

"You motherfucker!" I yell, lunging toward him with my fists clenched. He dodges me easily and jumps off the other side of the bed. "How could you do this to me?"

"I warned you, and you did say you'd give me anything I wanted." He shrugs and starts pulling on clothes, not looking at me as he does it. "You belong to me, but somehow seem to keep forgetting. Now you never will."

I"m shaking with rage, my fingers digging into my palms so hard I"m probably drawing blood. "You"re fucking insane!"

"I know." He nods and grabs his phone off the nightstand, tapping away on it as he walks out of the room acting like nothing"s happening and I"m not two seconds away from ripping his balls off.

I"m left standing there gaping after him like a fish out of water, completely unsure of what to say or do. This can"t be happening. It can"t be real. But when I look down again, it"s right there in black script.

A permanent reminder of this man I don"t think I"ll ever be able to get away from.

I was pretty sure I never wanted to. Now... I"m too fucking furious to consider anything but getting the hell out of here. I rush around the room, finding my suitcase in Hayden"s closet and yanking it out. By the time I"ve stomped around the room and flung every last thong and toothbrush into the damn thing, I"m panting and a little bit sweaty.

I sink down onto the bed and stare at myself in the mirror across the room, wondering what the hell I"m doing. And why the fuck I seem to only attract complete psychos.

Hayden blocks the doorway with his massive body, folding his arms across his chest as he watches me through dark eyes. "Where do you think you"re going?"

I glare at him, my hands on my hips as I stand my ground, even though he"s twice my size. "Move. I"m leaving."

"No. You"re not."

"Move."

Hayden"s jaw tics. "If you try to go back to your apartment, I"ll burn it down."

I laugh, but this so isn"t funny. "You"re certifiable."

He shrugs. "And? I mean it. If you try to leave and go back there, I"ll torch it."

I shake my head and try to shove past him, refusing to let him think he"s won or that what he did is okay in any way. But his arm goes around my waist and his fingers wrap around my throat so I"m completely at his mercy. He tilts my chin up so I"m forced to look at him when he says, "I"ve been patient, but you"re too goddamn stubborn. You don"t want to test me, Princess, because there is no line I won't cross to keep you."

I swallow hard, knowing he means it. "Fine," I whisper, hating that I"ve lost this round, but knowing the war between us is far from over. In fact, I'm already making plans about how I can get him back for what he's done.

He smirks and lets go of me, stepping back. "I love the way you give in to me."

I poke my finger into his hard chest, hating that being this close to him is making all kinds of things flutter and clench. Ugh, stupid hormones. "For now, but you"re going on the road at some point and just so you know, the first chance I get, I"m out of here."

His smile is all malice and danger. "Try it." Then he grabs my suitcase and walks back into the closet, unzipping it and starting to hang up my clothes and put them away in his drawers like he didn"t kidnap me last night.

Like I moved in the way he's been pushing me to.

I"m so angry I"m shaking, but the worst part of all of this is that as mad as I am, I still feel this crazy, intense pull to Hayden because I feel protected from the outside world when I'm with him, and I don"t know what to do with that.

He"s a monster, but maybe I"m one too, for wanting him anyway.

No one's ever been my safe place, not since I was a teenager and lost my family.

Either way, I can"t let him think he can pull shit like this and get away with it. And I don"t give a single fuck about his threat because I doubt he"d actually do it, so the second he gets on that team plane, I"m going to show him he doesn"t own me and if he wants me in his life, he has to earn the right and understand I"m his equal, not his property.