13. ~Brianna~

13

~Brianna~

That was how he'd done it.

The bastard had written a script on my system that had caused the audio file to play after a few seconds' delay once I'd connected my laptop to a HDMI cable—basically when he knew I was going to be in presentation mode.

Piece of shit.

It had taken me a couple of hours once I'd arrived home to locate the hidden file and erase it from my system.

Hours that could have been better spent studying and learning.

I'd already lost the rest of the day because of the humiliation of it all and left campus immediate afterward, missing three classes.

The idea of going back there tomorrow after this was mortifying.

But if that asshole thought I was just going to take this lying down, he had another thing coming.

He wanted the part of me that had been lost along the way then he was going to get it.

Just not in the way he intended.

So after I'd determined the source of his interference, I'd then spent the rest of my time honing in on him through his hack into my system.

The guy was good. He had many failsafes in place. Firewalls didn't even begin to cover it.

Fortunately, this wasn't exactly my first rodeo.

I'd delved into network security—or the reverse—for years after that awful nightmare that had destroyed my life. It had been my way of trying to take back control of things.

I hadn't touched it in a long while.

That didn't mean the skills weren't still there, though.

And he was about to pay the price.

"Whoop!" I cried, throwing my hands in the air as I finally managed to breach his system.

And then I sank back against my chair in the kitchen and watched as the worm I'd programmed went to work eating its way through his hard drive and decimating the thing to fucking nothing.

My stomach rumbled as I watched in sadistic satisfaction.

That was when I realized that I'd just immediately sat down and opened up my laptop about six hours ago and I hadn't moved from the kitchen since. I hadn't even taken my coat off.

Well, I had time now.

I pushed out of my chair, intending to make a sandwich—a new recipe I'd been looking forward to with cheese, ham and slices of apple—when my phone buzzed on the table top.

Picking it up, I was startled when I saw it was him.

Hell Spawn: Nice try. Color me impressed, baby.

Brianna: No idea what you're talking about.

Hell Spawn: Your denial is pointless. You think I don't have things in place to notify me of any breaches?

Brianna: I guess your detection is shit and slow on the draw.

Hell Spawn: Because your worm is tearing through my system as we text?

Brianna: Aww, payback's a bitch, huh?

Hell Spawn: It's a decoy hard drive.

I jolted.

Brianna: You're lying.

Hell Spawn: Nope. You're not the first to try something like this.

"Shit," I ground out.

Hell Spawn: In your haste to get at me, you didn't protect yourself either. You've given me the means to redirect your attack and wipe out your entire system. Fortunately, I'm in a good mood and not looking to do permanent damage to all that impressive work of yours—all those next-gen apps you've so painstakingly created. So we'll just chalk this up to a lesson you've learned. That lesson being that you can't usurp me. You can't stop me. You're just wasting energy trying to prevent the inevitable. You and me, Wildflower.

"Argh!" I yelled, slamming my fist down on the kitchen table, my laptop rocking from the force of it.

In the midst of my fit of rage, another text came in.

Colton: Please consider finishing the duet with me. It can be away from Lev. Just need a few more hours. I'm at Nirvana tonight bartending. Come by and we can arrange a time, talk.

I frowned. And not just because of the jarring difference in temperaments and approaches between him and Levi.

Brianna: Thought you just performed there.

Colton: That's because you spent most of the summer working your sweet little ass off in your apartment on those apps.

Brianna: You think I have a sweet ass?

Colton: Damn, you're actually flirting with me, cutie.

Brianna: I am.

Colton: Keep it coming, I'm all for it.

Brianna: I'll be at the bar in a few. See you.

Colton: You still drinking those Strawberry Chocolate Martinis? Or was that just a one-off for that karaoke night with your friend?

Brianna: They're my go-to.

Colton: I'll start mixing it now then.

Brianna: Thanks.

Colton: Looking forward to seeing you.

I scoffed as I put my phone down and rose to my feet. I bet he was. But not out of actually wanting to see me, nor even because of the duet, but because of whatever plan he and Levi had cooked up now.

Levi coming at me harshly and Colton coming at me so nicely… it was an obvious play they'd concocted to try to throw me off base. Maybe like before having Colton lull me into a false sense of security before Levi struck hard.

They really took me for a fool if they thought I was going to fall for that again.

The first time, I'd only allowed it because of my intent to head into the lion's den to get Levi off my scent without causing a whole thing.

That option was over and done with now.

No more nice and polite approach.

They'd already fired the first shot.

I wasn't going to let them get a second one in.

At least not without doing some damage myself.

Time to hit back.

I watched Colton's firm, sculpted ass moving in his black leather pants that were basically painted onto his skin. He had a skull and crossbones scarf looped through the belt, the way it was falling at the front highlighting a particular attribute. The way he moved was so sleek and fluid, like a jungle cat—a puma, maybe. He had a metallic silver tank on that was partially sheer and both of his tattoo sleeves were in full view.

I hadn't allowed myself to notice it so much before because I'd been so worried about the Levi bullshit, but… hot damn… he was really something.

I forced myself to look away and I focused on my surroundings instead.

The place was a multicolored neon heaven, the bar stools, the tables, even the fairy lights hanging around the edges of the window frames green, pink, orange neon. Everything was bright and bold and edgy—perfect for a college haunt.

He finished serving a group of girls, flashing them a movie-star-worthy smile, then came back to me and leaned up against the bar again, shoving his elbow onto the bar top and resting his head in his palm in a relaxed yet flirty way. "So, have you made your decision about the duet yet, cutie?"

"Maybe you haven't plied me with enough alcohol yet."

"I definitely haven't. That's still your first and you're only halfway through it after a whole twenty minutes of you being here."

Yeah, I needed to keep my wits about me.

"Aww, my bad."

He grinned. "You know, I don't think I need to be doing that, considering I've caught you checking out my ass several times when I was serving customers."

I brought my glass to my lips to hide my guilty reaction and took my time having a sip.

He kept his gray eyes on me the entire time in playful challenge, cocking an eyebrow expectantly for my confirmation.

When I put the glass down, I gave it back to him, "As if I haven't caught you staring at my boobs too many times to count."

He slapped his hand over his heart. "I'm wounded, cutie. That's such a pessimistic way of looking at it. I was merely admiring that dress." He gestured at my pink and black glitter mini-dress with the flared sleeves that I'd paired nicely with a pair of knee high black studded boots.

"Well, it is definitely worth admiration," I jested.

"The way you wear it is where the admiration's at."

"Wow, you're laying it on thick. You really want this duet, huh?"

"I do, but it's not just about that."

I cocked a highly skeptical eyebrow.

"Nah, I like you. You're growing on me with our every additional interaction."

"That's high praise, especially when you have a whole campus worth of fans available to you. It doesn't exactly fit with your Maverick moniker either."

"Well, you're one of the few who's talked with me like I'm actually a human being and not some fake fantasy they usually only tend to see. It's either the Maverick thing or the frontman of Mythic Cry rockstar dream they see."

I frowned. That was… heartbreaking.

"It seemed like you reveled in all of that."

"It might sound like bullshit, but it's my music that I revel in, losing myself in it when I'm songwriting or letting go up on stage. The rest… the admiration… it can be nice in small doses, of course. I know how to work it. But keeping up that image all the time… it gets a little much." He shrugged. "But who am I to complain? It's a small price to pay for success, right?"

"In a way, but it doesn't mean you have to settle for a life you don't entirely want. I didn't."

"No?" he asked, looking all curious.

I took a sip from my drink, then told him, "I reinvented myself and now I'm a far cry away from what I grew up with." I blew out a breath. "And I'm trying to keep it that way, despite some stubborn interference."

"Lev."

"You didn't even need to ask, huh?"

"No, cutie. Like I told you, when he gets a target in his sights, he doesn't stop. It's just hella weird that it's a person this time and not just a goal or an injustice of some sort." He studied me intently. "There's something about you that he can't let go of. It's crossing into obsession. Bad for all of us. Especially Mason."

"Mason? Your elusive third?"

"He's not that elusive. He just tends to keep to himself. He's not the in-your-face type like Lev and me are."

"He's not down with Levi's antics then?"

"Let's just say, he's not a fan of chaos. He likes to keep things in line. And doing that with Lev, especially when he's in one of his obsessive modes, isn't exactly easy."

Noted.

"You telling me this means you didn't actually call me here for Levi then?"

"What? No."

"It wasn't another joint operation between you like before to get me to the mansion?"

He pushed off the bar and held up his hands. "No, I swear. It was about the duet and… you know… getting to hang a little with you too."

Oh crap.

My phone chirped and I rummaged in my fuzzy purse and pulled it out to see that the program I'd been running since I'd walked in here had now completed.

"Is that a text?" Colton asked. "Him harassing you again?"

No. It was another way to turn the tables on that bastard.

Unfortunately, when I'd thought Colton had been working with him again, I'd considered it fair game to use him to achieve it.

I'd hacked into his phone and planted something on there that, when it came within a few feet of Levi's, would give me access to his GPS, so I could track him wherever he went—no more surprises.

"No. Not this time."

"Chloe?"

I shook my head. "I haven't heard back from her since she thanked me for the IG thing that you pulled off."

He smiled. "Yeah, she thanked me too. My inbox was blowing up for hours with her gratitude."

I laughed. "Sounds like her."

"You must be lonely without her here. If you want—"

"Lonely? Nah," an irritatingly familiar voice sounded a moment before Levi was there sliding onto a stool to my left beside me. "Not lonely, are you, Brianna?"

I ground my teeth. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Wasn't me," Colton said quickly, before glaring at Levi. "Come on, brother, give the girl a break."

"A break?" Levi responded with a noticeable edge.

"Yeah, I heard about the shit you pulled in her class earlier."

"Hmm. Makes me sound like an asshole, doesn't it?"

"Honestly, yeah. What's going on, brother?"

"Same question," Levi said, glaring back at him.

"Just working and chilling every few minutes here with her to keep her company."

"And how did she come to be here, hmm?"

Colton rolled his eyes. "Obviously you already know. Read my texts again."

"Ding ding. Right on the money, cupcake."

"Then you'll know I asked her down here to talk about finishing the duet. Something that you've made a hell of a lot harder with what you've been up to."

"And something that wouldn't have happened at all if it wasn't for my suggestion."

"Jeez, you need to chill. Big time, Hellraiser ." Colton laid his hand over Levi's on the bar top and I watched curiously as he stroked his fingers softly. To my utter surprise, I saw some of the tension leave Levi's shoulders, his jaw unclenching too. "Vodka neat?" Colton asked after he noticed it too.

"Yeah, all right. Thanks."

As Colton headed off to take care of the order, I took in Levi out of the corner of my eye as I sipped at my drink.

He wasn't wearing the usual black hoodie and cargo pants that I'd come to think of as his uniform.

Instead, he was clad in a pair of black jeans with a bold red zig-zagging design down the legs that matched with the V-neck muscle tee he had on that was clinging a little too appealingly to his basically carved-from-stone torso. I had to blink away images of seeing it in all its glory a few days ago. His curly hair was wilder than usual—crazier. There was days' old stubble covering his jaw and he rubbed his hand roughly over it back and forth, something it appeared he was doing to try to calm down a little more.

Suddenly, his striking pale blue eyes snapped to mine.

"Colt doesn't spend more than a few minutes talking to an outsider. Unless he's fucking them."

"An outsider?" I asked, ignoring that last part.

"Anyone who's not me or Mason. Means he likes you."

"And that's why you're pissed?"

"I was until I realized something as I observed the two of you while I was distracting you with some bullshit arguing."

"You're another level of manipulative, you know that?"

"I can be if it proves necessary. And I told you, you're making it necessary."

I rolled my eyes. "And what is it that you supposedly realized?"

The corner of his mouth turned up. "That him liking you is actually an asset."

"In what sense?" I asked, worriedly. Really worriedly when I saw that creepy glint in his eye quickly follow.

"To me with you, of course."

"What?"

"You're comfortable with him. Rare for you with a man."

"You don't know—"

"Vodka neat," Colton's voice came as he returned and slid a glass across to Levi, who caught it easily in his palm, then snatched it up and took a couple of large gulps.

"Mmm, top shelf. Nicely done. Appreciated, cupcake."

Colton beamed at his praise and gratitude.

That was an interesting dynamic.

"You two seem… peaceful," Colton said, looking between us.

"On the surface," I couldn't stop myself from biting back as I glared at Levi.

He smirked at me. "You like me being the asshole, huh? Lets you keep the innocent princess title. It's a real shame, because we both know you're a whole lot more than that." He leaned in and grasped my hand on the bar top, making me jolt at the searing contact as the warmth of his skin burned into mine. "You think you're living your best life, but you're only standing in the shadow of it because of what you've closed off, what you've tried to bury."

I went to pull my hand away, but he held fast. "If you don't let yourself acknowledge the pain, the wounds will never heal."

Our gazes burned into one another's as his words hit home in an intense way that had me frozen into inaction for several moments.

"What pain?" Colton asked, thankfully cutting through the weird and overwhelming moment. "Something else you did?" he demanded of Levi.

"No, so don't get your skintight leather pants in a bunch, cupcake." Levi sucked back more of his vodka, right down to the last drop actually. Then he pushed it away and said, "As for me being painted as the asshole here, let's clear that up, shall we?"

"Oh, jeez," Colton breathed.

Undeterred, Levi shifted on his stool to face me head-on. "How about you being completely dismissive of me? Unappreciative of my efforts to make sure our first encounter was comfortable for you and that you were put at ease? Unappreciative of the pleasure I gave you at a slow and easy pace? Then dumping ice-cold water on me for my efforts too. Then let's not forget you trying to completely wipe out my hard drive in a vicious attack."

"Wow, that's… you two have certainly been going at it," Colton commented.

"And because it's not in the way you want, asshole, you keep coming at me," I bit at Levi. "The texts. Leaking that audio to my entire class during my presentation and fucking humiliating me."

"You shouldn't be embarrassed, that breathy voice of yours as you cried out ‘Oh God, Levi' was the sexiest thing I've ever heard."

"You piece of—" I grabbed the umbrella out of my drink and went to jab it at him, but he caught my wrist before it could make contact.

"Love the fire," he said, like he'd planned the entire thing from start to finish in order to get this exact reaction from me. "Keep it up."

"If you continue like this, you won't be keeping it up ever again."

Colton let out a low whistle. "Damn."

I yanked my hand free of Levi's and pushed off my stool, shrugging my bag on over my shoulder. "I'm headed to the bathroom." I told Colton, "If you're inundated when I get back, just text me some times when the recording studio is free—on campus only—and we'll finish the song." His eyes lit up, but I turned away and glared at Levi. "As for you, don't be here when I get back. And stay the hell away from me going forward."

"And like I've now told you repeatedly, no can do."

Urgh.

I turned my back feeling their eyes on me as I went.

I pushed my way through the crowded bar and all the revelry taking place all around me.

It seemed like a metaphor for my life.

Never quite able to be a part of it, always holding back, always feeling like I needed to, that it was the only way I could actually be.

"You think you're living your best life, but you're only standing in the shadow of it."

Damn him and his relentless bullshit.

He was starting to get inside my head.

And not just there either.

This was becoming a serious problem.

Him touching me—even if it was just my hand—really hadn't helped matters.

And those enthralling blue eyes of his burning so intensely into mine just added a whole other level to it all.

It was why I'd excused myself claiming I needed the bathroom.

What I had really needed was to take a beat in order to get a fucking grip.

I stepped out of the bathroom after spending what had amounted to fifteen whole minutes just leaning against the stall wall trying to get myself in check and trying to figure out how to stop Levi and take him down without giving him what he wanted and letting him break what I'd worked so hard to create.

A new me.

A new life where the past simply didn't exist to me at all.

But every time I came into contact with him, even via text, I felt him smashing up against that and trying to tear it all down.

That was why, as I went to peer around the corner back at the main area of the bar, I stopped myself.

While it had actually been nice to hang out with Colton and have somebody to talk to and everything with Chloe still away, there was too much baggage there for it to be more than an one-off. And I didn't want to risk facing off with Levi again.

I couldn't trust myself with him.

"You've never met anybody who could understand what you went through back then. Until me. I was there. I know , Brianna. And I know how to make it better, to give you what you need without triggering you."

Those words of his had been haunting me ever since he'd spoken them in hot words at my ear.

Because, as much as I really wanted to deny it and just shake them off, they were true.

All too true.

And I didn't want them to be.

I didn't want that to be the case at all.

It couldn't be.

Shaking my head vehemently as if that could dispel it all, I spun and rushed out through the rear emergency exit.

Thankfully, as I stepped out into the back alley it was well-lit just like the rest of Stonewell tended to be at night. Probably with it being a college town. In a bid to help out drunk college students milling about at night and trying to find their way home.

I made it halfway down the alley, taking the roundabout route to the parking lot where I'd left my Charger, when that comfort was suddenly ripped away.

The lights went out.

A chill ran down my spine and I felt that familiar panic start to rise.

No. No. Stop.

I blinked a few times, both in an effort to try to push it away and to also acclimate my vision to the sudden darkness.

I was able to see my way forward. Just not anything else around me.

I continued walking, hurrying my pace.

And that was when I heard it.

Footsteps.

Heavy footsteps moving at a determined pace.

Adrenaline pulsed, reverberating through me.

Just keep walking. You're being paranoid.

Of course I was. It was just my terror of the dark skewing things.

I was just starting to spiral. It wasn't real.

I forced myself to remain calm even as the adrenaline didn't dissipate and, instead, started to climb, making my hands shake with it.

I turned the corner, going the opposite route to the parking lot, this way leading to nothing. Whoever was behind me should then pass right on by, then I could relax and come out, and not be in a highly-strung state by the time I reached my car and needed to drive.

I squinted through the dark, the faint glow of moon high in the sky providing just enough light for me to see a shrouded figure nearing the corner I'd just taken.

My breath caught in my throat when they slowed down instead of continuing on.

And then they turned, coming the same way I had.

Coming toward me.

I used the darkness and shadow to my advantage, ducking into a slight alcove and flattening my back against it.

They were actually following me.

It was a fact now, not merely a paranoid delusion.

As my anxiety threatened to take the wheel and make me useless and likely freeze up, I channeled the adrenaline into something else altogether.

I focused it into strategizing, into what needed to be done.

I also reminded myself that I had the skillset to defend myself and to dispose of a threat. I wouldn't let myself freeze up and compromise that. I wouldn't let fear rule me.

I wouldn't let it hurt me.

Not anymore.

I was sick of it.

So fucking sick of it.

The heavy footsteps drew closer.

Closer. Closer.

As soon as the figure was within reach, I struck, snatching their arm, using it as leverage to yank them into me as I bent at a ninety-degree angle, then used their weight combined with the momentum to haul them over my shoulder.

Satisfaction surged through me as the stalker landed with a brutal thud on the unforgiving concrete, grunting as the wind was knocked out of them.

It had taken me ages to learn that move and I'd only employed it once in a real life fight prior to now.

I didn't have too long to bask in the success of it and the power I felt as a result, I needed to incapacitate the offender quickly before they were able to recover.

Pouncing, I straddled them, driving my knee brutally between their legs, feeling my knee cap grinding into a hard cock. He grunted again as I brutalized his balls in the process too.

I used the opportunity to pin his hands down with one of mine against his chest, digging my nails into his palm.

Then I reared back with my free hand to deliver a knockout blow to his temple.

I never made contact.

My wrist was snagged before the blow could land.

"Impressive."

Panting and hopped up on adrenaline and a whole lot else with everything having moved so quickly it had basically been a blur, it took me a moment to match the voice to the man.

I shoved his low-hanging hood with my other hand, pulling it from his face.

"Dammit. Levi."

"Hey, Wildflower ."

I slapped his chest. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Me? Just innocently walking to the parking lot when a sexy thing jumped me."

"Bullshit. The lot is the other way. You were stalking me."

"I just wanted to make sure you got home safe."

I scoffed. "You're really trying to paint yourself as some chivalrous gentleman?"

"Is that really so hard to imagine?"

Was this guy for real? "Yes," I ground out.

"Before we get into this, you mind moving your knee?"

I looked down to see that one of my knees was still shoved between his legs, while I had the other bearing down on his ribs. "My bad, does that hurt?" I couldn't help taunting.

After everything he'd done, he was damn lucky this was the extent of it. So far.

"It's slightly bothersome."

He was barely showing it, just the slight tightness of his jaw giving away that he was actually feeling any pain.

I applied more pressure, shoving harder. "Better?"

"Last chance."

"In case you hadn't noticed, I'm the one with the upper hand here. You're not in a position to demand anything."

"You don't think so, hmm?"

"No. Not to mention, you absolutely deserve it."

"Debatable."

"The hell it is."

"Don't make me use unpleasant methods again. You didn't like the last time I took it there."

"You—"

My words turned to a squeal as he executed a series of lightning-fast moves that broke my grip, forcing me onto my side, where he then hauled me to my feet and ran me into the brick wall.

I choked from the severe winding sensation of the jarring movements as he closed in around me, crowding me against the wall with his knees trapping my legs and one hand wrapped threateningly around my throat.

"I did warn you," he said, off my stunned reaction. "Yet, once again, you chose the hard way." He studied me up close. "I'm starting to think you like it that way. Harsh and heavy-handed, being dominated by me. Is that how you want it, Brianna? Is that the only way you can let go?"

"You're sick," I rasped against the constricting grip he had around my throat.

"Oh, baby, don't kink shame."

"It's not a kink. Not for me."

"Don't be so sure."

When I went to throw another biting response at him, he tightened his hold around my throat, then leaned in and whispered hauntingly at my ear, "When the lights went out, did you see the demons?"

Oh my God.

"Is that… is that what you call them?"

"Yeah."

When I didn't respond, he asked, "You?"

"I don't call them anything."

"How about in your head?"

"I don't think about them… about it."

"Impossible."

"It's not. It's in the past. Far in the past."

"What about your nightmares?"

"Stop," I said, struggling against him. "Get off me."

"Are you sure that's what you want me to do?" he said, rolling his hips.

A gasp escaped me as I felt his hard cock rubbing against my inner thigh. "How… how are you hard after I brutalized your balls and dick alike?"

He ground harder against me, making me feel every impressive inch of him.

God.

"My pain tolerance is spectacular." He slid his free hand down to the hem of my dress and fingered the material. "You know what else is spectacular? You in this dress." As he started inching it up and exposing more of my thigh, he spoke at my ear in a low rumbling sexy tone, "Most spectacular of all, though, is how you react to my slightest touches."

Shit.

Goosebumps broke out at the point of contact, my core clenching at his teasing.

"Your pulse is pounding," he said, stroking the sensitive skin of my throat and adding yet more stimulation to the mix.

He took it further as he nibbled at my ear lobe, sending sparks of intensity through me.

"Levi…" I thought I meant it as a protest. I thought I'd intended the word ‘stop' to follow right after. But it just ended on a soft moan instead.

"There it is," he said, lifting his head, his face so close to mine it felt like his striking blue eyes were melding with mine.

His hand left my throat and trailed down, across my collarbone, to the tops of my breasts. At the same time, his other slipped right under my dress, his fingers gliding all the way up my thigh to the edge of my panties.

Sparks of need spread everywhere then, heat engulfing me, and I couldn't look away as the sensual intensity trapped me in his spell.

And then he slid two fingers beneath the silk.

It had me bucking against the wall.

A sexy groan emanated from him. "Christ, you're soaked," he growled, as he dragged his fingers through my folds.

The sure and sensual way he touched me had me sinking into it, into him, and the long-denied pleasure he was eliciting.

He brushed his lips over mine and spoke in hot, consuming words, "Admit it. Admit it couldn't just be anyone. Say it, say this is all for me, for what only I can do to you."

I gasped as he yanked my panties down to my thighs. "Tell me you feel it, this connection between us."

"I…"

My words caught in my throat as he thrust two fingers inside me.

"You need more convincing, got it," he said, smirking, then slicking his tongue over my bottom lip.

Recognizing how… favorable my reactions were, it had me snagging his wrist and stilling him beneath my dress.

This was dangerous, a really bad idea.

"This is… it's… too much," I only just managed to get out as he started curling his thick fingers inside me, unable to thrust because of my grip on him.

"Then tell me to stop."

"And… and you will?" I choked, barely able to speak as his talented fingers caused a storm inside me.

"I will. I'll release you, step back, and walk you to your car and that will be it."

"You'll also leave me alone going forward?"

He grasped my jaw with his free hand. It wasn't harsh, but gentle instead, and he stroked my cheek with his thumb, back and forth, soft and slow. "No. I can't. But I won't touch you again unless you beg me to." He released my jaw then started playing with my hair, running the black strands through his fingers. " Or, you could stop stabbing your nails into my skin and let me give you what we both need."

"What's that?" I rasped.

His eyes were on fire as he uttered on a primal growl, "To make you shatter for me, Wildflower . To feel your sweet cunt squeezing the fuck out of my fingers and watch you come apart for me. To taste you on me. To feel you shuddering in pleasure and screaming out my name. To have you need me so fucking bad and finally recognize it as you let go of everything else."

Crap, his words were… something else.

The way he looked at me, like he needed to devour me, like he needed me so fucking badly… I'd never felt anything like it.

Dangerous and uncontrolled… there was just so much intensity coming from him, coming from us whenever we came into contact. It was virtually unbearable.

It was more than sexual tension, but that was a big part of it still.

And maybe… maybe giving into it now would kill his obsession with me, or at the very least tamper it down until I found a way to kill it for him.

At least that reasoning and excuse was what I told myself as I released my death grip on his wrist and dropped my hand down by my side.

What appeared to be an actual genuine smile spread over his face and a little bit of surprise too, like he couldn't quite believe it was actually happening.

"Fuck, baby," he groaned.

Then he yanked my panties the rest of the way down my legs and I stepped out of them.

I'd only just managed it in my shaky, overwhelmed state when he roughly grabbed one of my thighs, hooked it around him as a form of support, then pulled his fingers out of me almost all the way before ramming them back deep inside.

I screamed and arched my back as he hit a spot I hadn't allowed him to before when I'd been trying to hold off.

"Right there, hmm?" he breathed at my ear.

"Yes," I moaned. "God, yes."

He didn't stop then, finger-fucking me with wild abandon.

Hell, the way he filled me with just his fingers, the way he moved, curling and thrusting with such ferocity and passion… it took me over and I threw my head back and started fucking back against him, moving with him, until I was completely immersed in just the moment, just him and me.

I was barely aware of what else he was doing, until his rhythm broke for a second, and then I noticed that he was no longer grabbing my thigh, but using his hips to support me while he made me come undone. And then I felt it.

His big cock grinding along my inner thigh.

I jolted, snapping out of my bliss haze.

"We… can't… not here… not…"

"Shh," he crooned, brushing his lips over mine. "I'm not gonna fuck you."

I frowned, not understanding.

"I know you're not ready for that."

He did?

The surprise must have been all over me, because he brushed some strays strands of my hair out of my face in an unprecedented tender gesture as he said, "I told you, I know how to make it better, to give you what you need. Just try to trust me."

He brushed his thumb over my clit, sending sharp sparks of pleasure through my body.

His eyes darkening, on me the entire time, he sped up, until he was brushing then flicking, then pulling, while his fingers ravaged me, his cock so close to all of it as he ground his shaft against the sensitive flesh of my thigh harder, more determinedly, like he wanted to make damn sure I couldn't forget that it was there, not even for a moment.

I was drowning in his attentions, drowning in his gaze, losing myself to the building pleasure.

Moans were spilling from my lips and needy sounds I couldn't control for the life of me.

The next thing I knew, I was letting go and grabbing his nape, then yanking his mouth to mine.

I took him in a bruising kiss, pouring all my confusion, frustration, and long-denied need into it. A dark laugh rumbled from him as I lost it and thrust my tongue into his mouth, tangling wildly with his. He let me dominate, explore, and relish it, while he stepped up his torment down below until I was thrusting my hips wildly, and fisting my hand in his tee, holding him to me, needing him against me.

Closer, closer.

The wave hit me without proper warning and I was ripping my mouth from his then and shrieking out into the night, my body convulsing with the power of it as it tore through me.

"Fuck, the way you come… out of this world," I heard him say as I was in the throes of it.

He shifted his weight, roughly grasped both my thighs, then grunted, a moment before warm liquid sprayed over my inner thigh.

I choked out a gasp.

Had he actually—

The smirk on his face said it all.

Sadistic satisfaction lit his rugged features as he lifted my dress and made me watch as he smeared his cum all over my pussy.

Before I even had a proper chance to register that, he snatched up my panties and eased them back up my legs, fixing them into place. "You'll keep me there as you drive home. Preferably through the night too. But I doubt you'll go that far. No matter, we'll work up to that." He released my thighs and tucked himself in, then stroked my hair. "My Wildflower."

Still dazed and trying to get a handle on what had just happened, all I could manage to ask was, "Why do you call me that?"

He smiled. "One, because I know about your tattoo of the dandelions. Two, and most importantly, because people think wildflowers are fragile and weak, but they actually survive brutal weather and awful conditions and somehow manage to thrive in the worse situations and environments. They're also beauty amongst brutality." He kissed my cheek softly. "And you, Brianna, you were an angel among demons. That's what I saw six years ago and what I still see now, despite your attempt to hide it."

Oh my God.

All I could do was stare back at him as his words rolled through me.

And then his arms were around me, pulling me into him, holding me protectively. "You're marked now."

"Levi—"

He gripped me tighter, urgency spilling from him. "You. Are. Mine."

Oh no.

What the hell had I done?