Page 46 of My Ghost

Lily sits beside me, brow raised.“So…” she starts, her tone light but probing.“What was that about?”

I let out a bitter laugh.“Which part?The part where he stalked me to karaoke night?Or the part where he almost crushed Dave’s windpipe?”

She tilts her head, watching me curiously.“Matteo doesn’t usually lose his temper like that.He is always levelheaded and composed.”

“Levelheaded?”I whip my head around to face her, incensed.“Lily, he’sinsane!He’s been hovering over me like…like some prison guard.At work, at lunch, now at karaoke!I can’t move without him showing up and breathing down my neck.It’s like I’m his—” I stop myself before the word slips out.

“His what?”she presses on softly.

I throw up my hands in frustration.“His asset!That’s all I am to him, a tool to get to the network he has me investigating.He drained my accounts, Lily!Every cent I had, he took it to force me to work for him.And now he is acting like he owns me.I can’t even go out for a drink without him being there and watching.He’s clearly insane.”

Lily doesn’t say anything for a moment, but her eyes narrow slightly.“I’ve known Matteo for some time now,” she says finally.“This clearly isn’t about work.”

I scoff.“Oh, come on.What else would it be about?”

Her lips curve into a knowing smile, though there is something sad in it.“Erin, people like Matteo…they don’t get possessive overassets.He doesn’t stalk employees to karaoke nights.”

I gape at her.“Are you suggesting he…what…wantsme?”I can’t even say it without a wave of heat crawling up my cheeks.

“I’m suggesting,” Lily says carefully, “that there might be more going on in that head of his than you realize.And maybe that’s what’s making him unravel a little.Work can’t be the sole reason.”

I lean back against the seat, crossing my arms, as if that could shield me from her words.“If what you say is true, then why did he reject me?Why did he make it so clear that I’m not good enough?”

Her gaze softens.“I know you felt humiliated.But, Erin, Matteo…he’s probably just not good at saying what he feels.”

I shake my head, my frustration boiling over.“No.Believe me, he absolutely doesn’t want me.Besides, he has a girlfriend, a beautiful and sweet woman.He only wants my skills.And I’m done letting him rule my life.”

“Do you want me to talk to Dark?He could ask him to back off.”

I shake my head, fury rising anew.“I can…Iwillhandle him.Who does he think he is?He’s trying to control my life, but if he thinks I will let him, he has another think coming.”

Lily studies me for a long beat, then sighs.“Fine, if you say so.But, Erin…” She leans in slightly and grabs my hand to squeeze.“Be careful.There’s something about Matteo when it comes to you.I’ve never seen him lose control like this before.”

Her words settle into me like lead.I stare out of the window as the city lights blur past, but my mind is spinning with the memory of Matteo’s dark gaze burning into me, with the heat of his anger he only ever seems to direct toward me.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Matteo

I sit in my car gripping the steering wheel so hard the leather creaks under my fingers.Lily’s car is slowly disappearing down the road after dropping Erin off at The Atrium.I know I shouldn’t be here.I’ve followed them like some deranged stalker without even knowing why.I tell myself that it’s to make sure she made it safely home, but that’s a fat fucking lie.I just need to know where she is.I need to see her, even if it’s only from a distance.

I know that tonight I’ve crossed a line.Another one.I can feel the edge of my sanity crumbling beneath my feet, the ground giving way.I’m losing control, and it’s all because of her.With her sharp tongue, her stubborn fire, that defiant smile she throws my way when she’s trying not to look afraid.Every inch of distance she puts between us feeds this ache in my chest, this madness that is eating me alive.She’s under my skin, in my blood, twisting me up until I can’t tell the difference between rage and desire.I know I’m spiraling but there’s nothing to catch me and break my fall.What a fucking mess.

‘I know exactly what I mean and what I don’t mean to you.You’ve made that very clear.’

Her words echo in my head.She doesn’t have a goddamn clue.She thinks she’s just an asset to me.Christ, if only she knew.

Every day I sit in the office with her mere feet away without being able to touch her feels like hell.Every time I breathe, I smell her scent.She smells like warm skin and something sweet and flowery, and it’s driving me mad.Every time I lean over her shoulder, pretending to check the blurred lines of code on her screen, I’m breathing her in.I’m fuckinginhalingher.One wrong move, and I’ll bury my face in her hair like some animal.Sometimes, she tilts her head ever so slightly and it takes everything in me not to press her against the desk and show her exactly what shemeansto me.But I can’t.Because I know that if I cross that line, there will be no coming back.

I want to control it…I know I should control it.But I can feel the grip I’ve kept on myself unraveling, thread by thread.Every time she laughs with that fucker Dave, every time she looks at me with that mix of defiance and contempt, I can’t fucking breathe.And tonight, when I saw her with him, smiling and teasing him, something inside me snapped.

When she looked at me across that karaoke bar, singingI Will Survivelike it was aimed right at me, I swear, I almost dragged her out of there just to remind her who she belongs to.

Because maybe she can survive without me, but it hit me then with merciless clarity thatImight not survive without her.My chest constricts, and for a second, I suffocate.I need to get out of my head or I’ll put my fist through the dashboard.

Without thinking, I pull my phone from my jacket and punch a contact.“Can I come up?”

Minutes later, I’m standing in front of Jade’s apartment.The hallway is quiet and I can’t keep my gaze from darting to the door on the other end of the hallway.My jaw locks before I force myself to knock.