Page 92 of Hawthorne

Just as the high starts crashing down, Vincent stills with his fingers still inside of me, the both of us harshly panting with our foreheads pressed together. As serotonin dissipates and my senses slowly come back to me, I start to look around.

The storage room.Classy.

Is this all I am worth for him?There’s a voice deep inside my brain that keeps telling me, “Yes.”

That I’ll never be good enough for him.

I wasn’t for Charlie, and he is not even that high in the rank. My foolish self keeps falling and falling into this black hole without a trace of light surrounding it.

The worst? I do it willingly.

Look where that brought me…Being fingered in a goddamn storage room, likethe meaningless peasant that I am.

A wave of shame washes over me, and I quickly free myself from Vincent’s hold, putting my dress back in place and desperately trying to make myself presentable.

Let’s hope I don’t look as trashy as I feel.

I was only fingered, but it feels like I was fucked into oblivion. Into submission.

“Hey,” Vincent calls, but I ignore him, trying to arrange my cleavage. “Hey, Camilla,” he calls again. “What’s wrong?” Grabbing my elbow, he forces me to stop and look at him.

Like a grenade, I explode. “I am not a whore that you can finger or fuck around everywhere you want,” I snap. “If makingme feel this disposable and trashy has been enough to feed that possessive ego of yours, congratulations.”

Vincent’s face morphs, and I can’t decipher if he’s hurt or offended. It looks like I just slapped him in the face, but at this point, I am way beyond being the bigger person out of the two. I’ve had enough.

That’s why I leave before he can react and head towards the booth. I stay just long enough to grab my belongings and hastily say goodbye to Rachel, Charlie, and Oscar. They eye me curiously but thankfully don’t question my sudden need to leave.

As I walk outside to grab a cab, my body shakes with embarrassment and humiliation.

27

Vincent Hawthorne

Iam not a whore that you can finger or fuck around everywhere you want!

This woman will bring me to the brink of madness,I swear.

I missed her and knowing Charlie was her ex-boyfriend messed with my brain. Once again, my temper and possessiveness took over, and I let my angry lust shine through. Now I know how much of a mistake it was…

But Camilla didn’t say no. And I saw it in her eyes. She wanted it as much as I did. I just wasn’t expecting that once the high came crashing down, it would make her feel like that.

She is mad. She feels used, even if that wasn’t my goal at all. It’s not the first time she’s expressed that I make her feel irrelevant and meaningless. When, in reality, she has become the sole focus of my brain, the only target of my lust, the unique keeper of my grumpy heart.

And it has been like that for a good while now…

I did want to stake a claim by showing her how much I desire her and can’t resist her—as well as the other way around—butonce again, theall-mightyduke had to fuck it up.I need to fix this.

Swearing under my breath, I go after her, pushing through the sea of people in this goddamned prissy club. I had sworn not to set foot in these places after finishing university and for a good reason. As my sweet mother usually says, our people are higher and superior, but as I look around me, it makes me understand that we’re not.Not really.

We’re just some lucky bastards who inherit tons of money and keep marrying into money just so the family can keep the status. It’s not even about blood anymore.

If it were, I wouldn’t even be betrothed to Eleanor.

“I’m back,” I announce as soon as I reach the booth again.

Expecting to find a silent—but angered—Camilla, I am flabbergasted to see she has already left.

Bloody hell!

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