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“Because I see you now,” he breathes so quietly I know I’m the only one who hears. “So say yes or I’ll make a scene so bad this entire room will be begging for your expulsion before the day’s over.”
“It was that pathetic display at your locker.” His face suddenly darkens, every ounce of softness disappearing. “You pulled out that pitiful little rose, and you had all this stunned excitement on your face. For him. For someone else.”
And I realized you were right. I haven’t seen you very clearly, but I do now. I see you – us – for what we are.”
“I like you, sweetheart. I like you a lot. We’re not friends. We’re going to be more than that.”
I’m not thinking very clearly,” he huffs, his voice thick with frustration. “Which is the problem. I’m always thinking clearly. I don’t worry. I don’t get emotional. I am always in control. Of everything. Except when it comes to you. You do this to me.”
“Please,” he cuts me off sharply. “This morning, when you looked at him, it took every ounce of my self-control to avoid walking over to Freddy Rook and bashing his skull in till he was no longer worth looking at. You do this to me.”
“You know I would’ve kept going if nobody was around to break the fight up, right? Maybe I would’ve killed him. Or just beat him within an inch of his life. And I would’ve done it for you.” His hand tightens almost painfully around my jaw, eyes flashing. “Just for you. For the sole crime of thinking he ever had a chance with you. Don’t tell me that kind of devotion doesn’t interest you.”
What belongs to me –” He hooks a finger under my chin. “ – belongs to me. If you think I’m going to entertain someone else even thinking they might have a chance with you, you must not have been paying very close attention tonight.”
“You’re a monster,” I whisper. He just blinks at me – unfazed. “You knew that already,” he says quietly and strokes the mark he left on my neck. “But I’m a monster infatuated.”
“It doesn’t matter if you change your mind,” he groans. “It doesn’t matter if you wake up one day and decide you hate me. I’ll never let you go.” His pace quickens, but his strokes have begun to get sloppy. “I don’t care what I have to do. Who I have to kill. I’ll break you into tiny pieces and rebuild you myself if it means I get to keep you. You’re never leaving me, sweetheart.”
“But what I feel for you –” His pitch eyes zero in on me, the light of the flames reflected in them. “It’s more. It’s not some vague, fleeting emotion. You’ve consumed me. You’ve crawled into my brain and infected every inch of it. You’ve turned me into a man obsessed. What I have for you…” He pauses. Searching for the right word. “It’s not love, it's limerence.” His grip on my waist tightens. “It’s not patient. It’s not always kind. It’s not selfless. It’s as dark and twisted as I am.”
