Page 18 of The Pretty Psycho

"There isn't a world in which my heart doesn't belong to you, Bambi, and if I have to spend the rest of my life proving it to you, then so be it. But I hope you're ready, baby, because I am not giving up on you. I am not giving up on us." My lips parted, drawing his eyes to them. His hand lifted up, starting to reach for my face, making me close my eyes because I wanted it.

God, I wanted it. I wanted him in every shape and form. I wanted the shards of this so-called love and I had no idea if I was strong enough to carve him out of my heart.

But that touch never came.

My eyes flew open, seeing the darkness staring back at me and that arrogant smirk on those pretty lips. "You don't get to give me those little glimpses of you only to take it away. You don't get to hide yourself from me. I won't allow it."

"You won't?—"

"Shhh." He pressed a finger to my lips, shutting me down immediately. "I'm gonna leave now, but don't think that you're free." His hand wrapped around the back of my neck, pulling meto him until his lips pressed against my ear. Hot breath washed over my neck, eliciting shivers all over my body. "You bewitched me, my Bambi, and I can't even be mad about it because I would die a thousand times if I could feel your lips on mine just one more time. And I know you feel the same," he murmured as his teeth bit at my earlobe, making me clamp my lips just so I could pretend one more time that his touch didn't start a fire deep in my belly. "I'll just have to be patient and wait for you to come back to me." He took a step back, leaving me wrapped in coldness the moment his touch abandoned my body. "I'll wait for you to come back home."

He never gave me a second to reply, to refuse, to argue with him, before leaving the room as if he didn't just shatter the walls I'd started re-erecting around my heart.

I looked at Arseniy who had a shit-eating grin on his face, shaking his head as if he expected this and more.

"What kind of a brother are you?" I huffed, suddenly too dizzy to keep on standing and pretending I could already walk around as if I hadn’t gone through literal hell. "You should've kicked him out," I grumbled, walking back toward my bed.

Arseniy moved to my right, helping me climb on, and as I settled down, he pulled his phone out, letting me read what he wrote.

"Only the Devil could kick that man out, and trust me—I am no Devil."

7

ADRIAN

A dark energyslithered through my veins as I marched down the hallway, away from Vega's room, even though every single atom in my body screamed for me to stay.

To claim.

To kiss her and show her she belonged to me.

It took all my willpower getting out of that room and giving her time to process everything. It took everything in me to be a better person, a bigger person. A man she could call her own, instead of just taking and taking, just like every other person in her life. I wanted her to have the time with her brother, to listen to what he had to say, but I couldn't stay away for too long.

I’d been pacing in the waiting room for hours since she woke up this last time, but I knew that in order for her to heal, she needed her friends. She needed Yolanda, hell, even Dante and Jax, because whether she wanted to admit it or not, they were her friends. I was pretty sure they would protect her even before me, and I couldn't be angry at that.

She. Had. People. In. Her. Corner.

And that's all I wanted.

But the green little monster in my chest wanted us to be the only ones she needed, because she was the only thing we needed.

I'd stayed away for as long as I could, before marching over there and opening that door as if I owned the fucking place. I guess there was no reasoning with our primal sides when our mates, the other halves of our souls, were somewhere without us. I wanted her anger to erase the picture of the shattered girl from this morning. I wanted her to chew me up and spit me out and to tell me she didn't need me.

I wanted her rage, not the silence with the tearful eyes that stared at me, and I got it.

My lips pulled into a smile and as my thumb pressed on my lower lip, rubbing it absentmindedly, I relished the fact that she still had it. She still had her fire. She still had her fight, and no matter how long the road to recovery may be, she would survive. She'd be okay, because I wouldn't accept anything less.

I knew this wouldn't be easy. She wouldn't give in to me just because I suddenly pulled my head out of my ass and decided to pursue what I wanted from the get-go. And I wanted her.

I almost expected Arseniy to interfere, to try and kick me out, but after a second of him just standing there and observing what was happening in front of his eyes, I realized he didn't mind it. I’d spent so much time thinking about the consequences of falling for the lost princess of the Morozov Empire that I never once thought my friend might be okay with the two of us being together. And he was definitely okay with our relationship, judging by his reaction.

The strings of my soul tied to hers were pulling me back toward her, and every step I took was a step too far, because I wanted to go back there, to wrap my arms around her body and pull her to me. I wanted her to know that she could fall apart with me because I'd be here to catch her. I wanted her to know it was okay being weak sometimes, because only then we would be able to see how strong we truly were.

She wasn't ready for me. Not today, not so soon. However, I wasn't going to give up on her—on us. Vega Konstantinova was a siren calling my name, and I would die a happy man if it meant drowning in her dark sea.

"Adrian!" Jax's voice had me stopping in my tracks and as I turned around with furrowed brows, I saw him jogging toward me, followed by Dante and Dimitri, both of which didn't look all too happy. "We need to talk."

"Not now," I said, taking a step back from him. I needed to find Vega's doctor and find out when I'd be able to take her home. It was selfish, perhaps, tying her to me when she obviously didn't want to be tied down to anyone, but she had no choice in this. She was mine and I was hers. "I have somewhere else to be."

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