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“So, Pepper called and told you all this because some drunk ass was rambling at her bar?”
I shook my head and pointed a finger at him. “DO NOT bring Pepper into this. She is my friend. She heard something I needed to hear. What? Are you going to deny it?”
He straightened back up and shook his head as he started toward me. “No, Briar, I’m not going to deny it.”
I wanted to pound my fists against his chest and scream at him. I’d thought he loved me. He’d made it all seem so perfect. I had allowed myself to believe I could have it. That I was one of the lucky ones to find real love. The kind that lasted forever. The heart-pounding, stomach-fluttering kind that made all the bad in your past worth it because it had brought you here. To this man.
But he was going to be just one more of the heartbreaks in my life. Not the happily ever after. I should have never thought I had one. Even for the brief time I did. Because I’d been right. It had made me weak. I was already feeling lost, and I hadn’t left yet.
When he reached me, he cupped my face with one hand. “Does it matter? If I did it all because I love you? I had to find a way to keep you.”
I shook my head. “No. No! Storm, that is not love.” Didn’t he see that? “That kind of manipulation and lying isn’t love.”
He shoved his fingers into my hair. “I told you at the very beginning that you had no idea how fucking twisted you made me. If what I feel for you isn’t love, then it’s the next step up. Because I swear to God that what this is surpasses any fucking definition there is to the word love.”
It was obsession. He had some driving need to have me. But I wanted him to love me. Not this sadistic, warped thing that he felt for me. His actions had been selfish and all for his gain. He wouldn’t even let me work because he didn’t want to share me. As much as I loved him, in time, that would eventually be what destroyed us … destroyed me. How did I know he didn’t go to topless parties with live sex when he wasn’t here with me? I couldn’t believe him. He was capable of dark shit.
“I need some space. Time to think about things. I’m going to go to Maeme’s. Dovie is already there.”
His hand fisted in my hair, holding it tight enough that it stung. “No. You’re not leaving me, Briar. I will handcuff you to the fucking bed. I won’t let you walk away.”
“Storm, I can’t stay here.”
He leaned down closer to my face with a wild, frantic look in his eyes. “No. You’re mine. You love me. And I worship you. You know the truth now. You know my twisted side. We have to work through it. Just try and understand why I did it.”
This was killing me slowly. Seeing him like this. I hated it all. Nothing he said was going to be enough to make me stay. There was too much. He’d crossed too many lines. He’d crossed lines I never imagined existed. I wanted his love. But I wanted his respect. I wanted him to see me as a partner, not a possession. I had to be able to trust him.
The chime of the door came just in time. I wasn’t so sure he wouldn’t handcuff me to the bed like he’d threatened. Right now, nothing would surprise me with him. Storm grabbed my arm and shoved me behind him, spinning around to face the door.
Thatcher walked in the room first, followed by King.
Storm’s hand moved fast, and I jerked against his other hand wrapped around my arm as he pointed his gun at them.
“We came to take her to Maeme’s,” King told him.
“You called them?” Storm’s tone was a mix of disbelief and fury.
“Put the damn gun away before I have to shoot you in the leg, which just sounds tedious as fuck,” Thatcher drawled.
“Maeme sent us,” King told him.
Storm’s grip on me tightened, and I let out a small cry. He looked back at me, and his tortured gaze ripped a part of my soul out. His gun lowered, but he didn’t take his eyes off me. The silent pleading was going to haunt me for the rest of my life.
“Let me go,” I said, my voice raspy and thick with the emotion threatening to break my will.
We stood there like that for several moments. Each second that I looked at him intensified the pure agony. Knowing I had to go before I broke down right here, I stepped back and turned to look at the door, walking toward it. Not able to see anything else. Just focusing on the exit. I had to go. For me. I had to do this for me.
