by Lisa Simmons
“I fucking love you too,” I said, laughing. He opened one eye as he peeked at me, his hair wet and his cheeks flushed; he looked absolutely exhilarated and painfully beautiful. After shooting me a lopsided, dimple-inducing grin, he slung his arm around my shoulders and pulled me on top of him. I grinned as I shifted my weight and let my arms fold over his chest before resting my chin on them. I felt the slow drag of his fingers running down my back, the feel of it diminished slightly by the sweatshirt I was still wearing. I felt hot, the fabric trapping the heat and sweat that had been procured from what we’d just done. “I’ve never heard you so loud,” he said suddenly, a smug grin on his face as he looked up at me. I felt a blush creep across my cheeks.
“What?” I asked. To my knowledge, I hadn’t really been that loud.
Had I?
He laughed and I was reminded of the cocky man I’d met months ago at the party, the looks he’d given me clearly communicating that he knew exactly what he was doing.
“You were practically shouting. And all that moaning and stuff... I think my neighbors heard, baby,” he said smugly. He continued to run his hands down my back as I buried my face in his chest to hide my embarrassment.
“Oh my god,” I mumbled. I hadn’t even realized at the time but now that he said it... I hadn’t exactly been focused on being quiet. He laughed loudly, his chest vibrating beneath me.
“I thought it was hot,” he admitted, bringing one hand up to force me to look at him. He raised his eyebrows at me and nodded to reiterate his point. “Really fucking hot, actually.”
I blew out a breath as I tried to calm the blush in my cheeks. “Well good then because it was all your fault.”
He chuckled again, clearly not at all remorseful about it. He shot me another grin before wrapping his arms around me and hugging me to him. “You can scream my name anytime, baby.”
“Oh god, just stop,” I cringed, hiding my face into his neck now that he had me pulled further up against him. He let out yet another amused laugh before kissing my cheek.
My breathing was finally returning to normal, as was Reece’s as we lay there on the floor tangled up together. A blissful lightness had settled over my body, the day with Reece and the things he had just done to my body successfully lifting nearly all the stress from me and replacing it with an endorphin induced happiness. Reece was, without a doubt, the best thing to ever happen to me. What could have been minutes or hours passed as we both hugged each other, too exhausted to move from the floor. It occurred to me that it was getting late because the windows were dark from the night sky. I groaned internally, upset that I would have to go home soon. It was Sunday night, I still had a lot of homework to do, and I had class Monday.
“Reece,” I said quietly, making sure he was still awake despite the probably uncomfortable floor. I hadn’t noticed in the slightest, but that’s because I had been far too preoccupied with the way he was making me feel to be worried about it. “No,” he said, accurately guessing what I was about to say. He tightened his grip around me in a preemptive attempt to keep me here.
“I have to go home,” I said disappointedly. As much as I never wanted to leave his side, I had to at some point.
“No you don’t,” he replied stubbornly. “You need to stay here with me.”
“I wish I could, Reece,” I said honestly. I hated how every time I left him it felt like I wouldn’t see him for ten years.
“Let me come with you then,” he countered.
“I can’t, I have stuff to do and I’ll never get it done with you there.”
“Sure you will,” he said lightly.
“No, I won’t, because you’re distracting as hell,” I told him with a light laugh. It was the truth.
“You know I’ve never even been in your room?” he said suddenly. I blinked and looked at him before I realized he was right. The farthest he had ever made it into my apartment was the kitchen that one time ages ago when he’d come over. Even then, I hadn’t been able to hold out against him.
“You haven’t,” I repeated, still finding that odd. “How is that possible?”
“I don’t know,” he laughed. “You always just come over here.”
“Because you live alone,” I said simply. As much as I loved Emily, it was really nice not to worry about any roommates at Reece’s house. He nodded, seeing my rationale.
“Still... could be fun. And we should probably christen your room since we’ve taken care of your kitchen,” he said, winking at me.
“We just had sex, you fool. We’re not even fully dressed yet,” I said, laughing. This was true, yet despite my statement I knew that would never stop me.
“So? I always want you, Abby, I’ve told you that before,” he said honestly. There was spark in his eye that told me he was telling the exact truth and it made my heart pound a little harder in my chest.
“Still? Even after everything we’ve been through?” I asked. He had said once a long time ago how he always wanted me when he saw me, but I didn’t know if that was based off our chemical physical attraction alone.
“Of course,” he said incredulously. He looked at me like I was insane. “Actually, it’s even worse now than when we started all this.”
I smiled happily, beyond pleased to hear his lust for me hadn’t diminished at all as we developed in our relationship. “It’s the same for me.”
“I know,” he said smugly, grinning at me once more. I shoved his chest lightly and shook my head.
“You cocky idiot,” I teased.
“Yeah, yeah, you love me,” he said lightly.
“I do indeed,” I admitted. He ticked his head backward, drawing me forward before pressing his lips against mine in a light kiss. “But I do have to go, Reece.”
He sighed heavily before letting his arms fall dramatically to his sides. “Fine, do as you must.”
I giggled, kissing his lips one more time before pushing myself off him and standing. The sweatshirt I was wearing fell down to my thighs even when I raised my arms above my head to stretch. A slight groan left my throat at the feeling of my muscles stretching out after so much time on the floor and I caught Reece’s smirk at the sound. “Not a word,” I warned teasingly as I moved past him to go find my clothes from yesterday. He followed me into his room, sitting on the edge of his bed as he watched me gather my things. He didn’t say anything until I was ready to go, turning to face him before leaving his room.
“Okay, ready,” I said, bouncing on the balls of my feet as he pushed himself from the bed. He followed me out to the door, hauling me to his chest one more time as he hugged me goodbye.
“Drive safe,” he said quietly, his words muffled by my hair as his lips pressed into the top of my head.
“I will,” I said into his chest. I pulled back enough to tilt my head back, puckering my lips at him as I waited for a kiss. He rolled his eyes at the cheesy gesture before obliging and closing the space between us. His lips lingered on mine for a few seconds before pulling back and releasing me. “Bye, Reece.”“Bye, Abby,” he said with a soft smile, opening the door for me and leaning over the frame as he watched me move outside. I shot him one last grin over my shoulder before heading to my car and climbing inside. As much as I didn’t want to leave him, I knew I had to if I wanted to be a productive adult at some point in my life. The drive home was quick and my mind was, as always, consumed with thoughts of Reece as I parked and made my way up to my apartment. It was relatively late so I wasn’t surprised that most of the building was quiet while I moved down the hall. I had just pulled my key out of my bag to unlock the door when I froze.
My eyes landed on the door, but it wasn’t closed as I had expected it to be. A gap a few inches wide separated the door from the frame, and there was no light coming from inside the apartment. Heavy beats of my heart set my pulse pounding through my veins before my mind could catch up. Emily must have not closed it all the way, I thought, trying to calm myself down and ration
alize the situation. That’s all.
My hand pressed against the wood and I swallowed harshly, the dark of the apartment unfolding before my eyes as I squinted into it. It was hard to hear over the pounding of my heart, but nothing made a sound as I slowly entered the apartment. I scanned what I could see, but it was too dark to see much. My hands fumbled for the light switch on the wall, my frantic movements increasing with each passing second. Finally, I found the switch on the wall and flicked on the light.
Immediately my eyes searched the living room, still adjusting to the sudden brightness but seeing nothing. I let out a heavy sigh of relief, my eyes closing as I relaxed a little. Clearly I had just overreacted.
“Hello, Abigail,” said a cold voice from the kitchen, the opposite way of which I had looked. My heart hammered in my chest once again, instantly recognizing the voice.
Oh god, no.
This can’t be real.
What is he doing here?
I turned slowly on the spot, my feet rooted to the floor as I braced myself to see what I had heard. There, standing in the middle of my kitchen, was exactly who I didn’t want to see.
Jack.
"Look what you're doing, look what you've done... but in this jungle you can't run."
Chapter 60
No.
This isn’t real.
This is just another nightmare and Reece is going to wake me up any second.
I opened my eyes after slamming them shut immediately after seeing him, my tentative squint guarding my eyes from the sight I was desperately hoping would be gone. My heart plummeted in my chest when he stood there still, observing me with a derisive look on his face as the blood in my veins turned to ice. My mouth dried instantly, the sudden fear rising in me taking over my body. I could feel my jaw clamp shut as I held my breath against my will, my lungs unable to expand and draw a breath as I was paralyzed with fear. No.
“Not going to greet me?” he said in mock sweetness. My body felt rigid as I tried to believe he was actually here.
“What are you doing here?” I managed, my voice tight behind my clenched teeth. I could feel my heart pounding in my throat as I spoke.
“Ah, what am I doing here...” he repeated, pretending like he was thinking it over. His tone was laced with an unnerving calm and casualness that set a chill to my bones. “We have some things to discuss, darling.”“Don’t call me that,” I said immediately, my reaction to his overused pet names making me feel sick to my stomach. He shot me a disapproving look before taking a step toward me.
“Now, now, don’t be rude, Abigail,” he said calmly. I would have been less afraid if he had been angry; this disturbingly calm manner was unpredictably chilling. I swallowed and took a shaky breath before speaking.
“Where’s Emily?”
“Not here,” he said vaguely. My already existing fear intensified as I worried he’d done something to her. It must have shown on my face because he waved his hand casually before speaking again. “I didn’t do anything to her. Stop being ridiculous.”“Is it really so ridiculous for me to think you’d do something like that?” I snapped before I realized it probably wasn’t wise to speak to him in that tone. Every time I saw him, he appeared more and more deranged so it wasn’t really a far stretch for me to imagine him hurting her in some way. Now that he stood in front of me, I couldn’t help but notice he looked thinner than the last time I’d seen him. When we had been together, he had been slim but athletic, his body in great shape from years of hard work. Now, he just looked skinny and unhealthy, his skin taut over his atrophied muscles and his face slightly sunken. What had happened to him?
“I’m insulted from your opinion of me,” he said smoothly. I stared at him, blinking as he tore me from my thoughts.
“Well you’ve earned it so I’m not sure why you’re surprised,” I said slowly. I knew I shouldn’t be provoking him but I couldn’t help it. He smiled slowly, the happy expression not reaching his cold eyes as he watched me. “Always so spunky, aren’t you?” he commented. I didn’t like the condescending way he was looking at me; it reminded me of the way Samuel seemed to constantly look at me and it made my stomach twist into knots. Clearly they’d picked up a few habits from each other. “What do you want, Jack?” I sighed, my arms crossing defensively over my chest as he took another step toward me.
I didn’t like him getting closer and I didn’t like the way he was slowly decreasing the space between us. The calm façade that had settled on his face was just that: a façade. He appeared to be casual and collected, but there was something slightly off in the carefully controlled expression. His eyes didn’t reflect the emotion from the rest of his face; they looked too dark, empty, hollow, and they were the only thing that gave away the fact that beneath the surface, he was surely anything but what he was trying to project. He had already proved himself to be violent, indulgent, entitled, and ruthless, but that wasn’t what scared me the most; what did, however, was the barely-controlled unpredictability lurking beneath the surface, the deranged workings of his mind that caused him to see a skewed version of the way the world actually was. “I think you know what I want, Abigail,” he said, his voice menacingly quiet. He stared at me, the blank, hollow expression in his eyes making me take a step backward. He matched it with a step of his own, keeping the distance between us the same as it had been before. “Me?” My voice cracked slightly on the word I hardly managed to speak.
He nodded slowly. “You.”
I watched him closely, my eyes never leaving his as I waited for him to continue. “You can’t have me, Jack,” I said slowly in an attempt to keep him calm. Something flashed in his eyes and I could see he was just on the edge of snapping into an unstable state. “I’m with Reece, you know that.”He flinched at the words, his lip curling into a derisive sneer at the mention of Reece’s name. I had tried to keep my voice as even as possible to try and reason with him, but I could see it hadn’t worked. His carefully controlled calm was quickly breaking. I should have known he was beyond reasoning with. “You don’t listen, Abigail,” he spit suddenly, his brows pulling down tightly as his fists clenched at his sides. I swallowed audibly and took another step back. “How many times do you need to hear it?”“Hear what?” I asked shakily. I jumped as he slammed his hand down on the counter top, a loud slam ringing through the room. My heart, which was already pounding in my chest, increased its pace at the sudden loud noise. “What did I say? What did Samuel say? What did fucking everyone say, Abigail?” he growled, the casual tone to his voice nearly completely gone now. He was quickly transforming into the unhinged man I had seen flashes of over the past few months- the man that terrified me. I was silent as I took another step back, my attempts to be subtle catching his attention anyway as his eyes flashed to my feet. My back collided with the wall as I reached the extent of my space while his lip curled up into a jeering smile when he saw I was stuck. He took another menacing step forward, the terrifying smile on his face chilling me to my bones. “I don’t know,” I said stupidly, my brain unable to process what everyone had said even though it had been lurking in the back of my brain for ages now.
Leave Reece, they’d said. Leave him or he’ll get hurt.
It was what Samuel had very clearly implied the day he found me at the mall, the menacing group of what I could only imagine as henchman more than enough evidence that that was exactly what he’d meant. He shook his head slowly, an angry disappointment flashing across his face.
“I warned you, Abigail. We all did, but you were too stupid to listen.”
Again I was silent as I gulped loudly, my heart hammering against my ribs as I drew short, shallow breaths.
“You were supposed to leave him for me, yet here you stand, defiantly telling me you’re with him. Is that something you really want to rub in my face, darling? Does that seem wise to you?” he said, his calm composure suddenly returning as he took yet another step toward me. It was unnerving how quickly he flashed between
calm and borderline insane. He was about six feet away now, but it felt like only inches as I watched him.
“I-I’m not rubbing it in your face,” I said honestly. That was the last thing I wanted to do because despite his unstable state, he was right: that wouldn’t be wise to do.
“Oh, but you are. You’re pushing me, Abigail. I’ve been trying to give you a chance to save your pretty boyfriend but you just keep making it more and more difficult on yourself,” he remarked coolly, glancing down at his hand. I noticed a few cuts that were nearly healed, the faint red lines evidence of his fight with Reece. “Do you remember what we said would happen if you didn’t leave him?”I could feel my hands shaking against my ribs, my crossed arms doing little to make me feel protected from this unhinged man standing in front of me.
“Yes,” I said quietly.
“What did I say, Abigail?” he said lowly, his tone growing impatient at my reluctance to answer.
“You said... well Samuel said... you’d hurt Reece if I didn’t. You said you’d have me again whether I liked it or not,” I said tightly, my voice strained with fear.
Now that I repeated the words, I wondered how I had even arrived in this situation. How did my ex-boyfriend of three years suddenly become so insane? Why was he so hell-bent on getting me back when he had hardly wanted me when we were together? Why couldn’t they just leave me alone and let me be together with the man I loved so desperately? It was all so unfair and frustrating that I nearly started crying on the spot. “That’s right, sweetie. But still, you didn’t listen. Still, after more than your fair share of warnings, you haven’t listened,” he said slowly, cocking his eyebrow condescendingly and shaking his head deliberately. “So stupid.”At this moment, I almost agreed with him; I had indeed been stupid to let things go this far. I watched him closely, unsure of how to respond. His eye twitched slightly as he stared at me, and again I noticed the hollowed look of his usually handsome face. His hair had grown out, but not in a purposeful way. The dirty blonde strands were scraggily and limp as they hung around his face, and the hair covering his chin made him look like he hadn’t bathed in weeks. He looked so different from how I remembered that I wondered if he was sick or something. “You know what has to happen now, don’t you?” he asked slowly. The space between us was down to about a foot now and I couldn’t help but press myself further into the wall to try and distance myself as much as possible. Up close, he looked even more unhinged and unstable. The hauntingly dead look in his eye seemed to intensify as he narrowed them at me. “No, Jack, I don’t,” I said quietly. I hoped if he saw how much he was scaring me, he would back off a little. If he wanted me back so badly, there had to be some semblance of emotion in him, didn’t there? I doubted even that, however. His motivation for wanting me back so badly was mysterious to me, although I suspected it had more to do with losing me to Reece than actually wanting me. He didn’t like the fact that I’d moved on from him at all. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to hurt your precious boyfriend,” he said casually, actually lifting his shoulders in a shrug as he glanced up and down my tense body. Panic flashed through me as he uttered the words I had been dreading hearing. “No,” I said immediately, my instinct to protect Reece kicking in and making me speak before I had even fully processed what he’d said. “You can’t.”