Page 31 of Mariposa
“I’m pretty sure you said I wouldn’t make it after a few weeks.”
“I was stupid,” he scoffs. His breath forces static to blare into my ears. “Tell me the day and location of the graduation ceremony, and I’ll be there. The last I heard, my dad was teaching the course again. Maybe I can introduce you guys for the first time if he has time, and we can all catch up.”
Why hasn’t Kade told him he’s my instructor yet?
“I don’t think so. All this time, I’ve been trying to force the ultimatums my mother and you gave me before I left out of my head. The guilt you guys made me feel for doing something that honors my dad…and you think I’ll just race into your arms after what you said to me?”
He’s quiet.
“No. This time,I’m sorry,” I recite his fake apology back to him.
“Okay. I get it. You’re still mad. Completely valid. Can I see you then? If not at your graduation, then somewhere else? Some other time?”
He’s so dismissive. Is he not hearing me? I don’t have the energy to argue with him. Whenever we would get into disputes, we wouldn’t stop until we fixed things, but this time? I have no interest.
“No, Adam. If it wasn’t official for you when you said all of those things to me at the airport, I’m declaring it now. We’re over.”
“Dammit, Violet. Don’t say that. Please. Don’t break up with me over the phone. We’re not in fucking high school.”
It sounds like he’s berating me, and it only fuels the urge to get away from this conversation.
He was the one who ended things months ago.
Fighting back tears of frustration, I hang up.
I refuse to deal with this now. I’m glad I ended it. Now, we both don’t have to keep wondering where we are with each other. It feels good to rip off the Band-Aid, once and for all.
I slide fifty-pound plates on either side of the bar, forcing Adam out of my mind. I dip under it, plant my feet, and squat.
“I see you’re still here, with working legs,” Willis snarks behind me. He leans on the side of the machine, chewing his gum, while Preston chuckles like a puppet.
He closes the distance, his cold breath clouding my ear as I rise with the bar. “You really shouldn’t lean over rooftops. It could be dangerous.” My face twists in repulsion as his breath whooshes on the side of my neck. Biting the inside of my lip, I jerk my head toward him, ready to remind him of what happened in combatives, but a loud, familiar voice interrupts me.
“Willis, Preston.” Booker’s southern accent clips the conversation short. “Sergeant Slater needs you over there.” Hegestures over his shoulder with his thumb while glaring at the two men beside me.
“Yes, Sergeant,” Willis and Preston reply synchronously and walk away as if they have tails between their legs.
He crosses his arms and shakes his head. Even Booker has picked up on the fact that those two are always around me, doing little things here and there to get under my skin. I wonder when they’ll stop…or if Willis will try to do something worse.
Instructor Booker gives me a quick nod before walking to the men’s restrooms.
Sweat drips off my cheek, landing on the ground. It’s hot in the gym today. At this point, the entire room resembles a sauna. Straightening my back, I tighten my glutes and flick my eyes to the mirror—they grow wide when I glance up at the monstrous being. The machine that’s been responsible for my torment, looking at me through my reflection.
Beast.
He’s right behind me.
I gasp.
“Sir?”
He stalks toward me—with every step he takes, tingling floods my body until a pulse comes alive between my thighs while a deeper shade of red paints my cheeks. With bated breath, I still, only my grip tightening around the bar until my knuckles turn white.
He towers over me. Our size difference has to be an entire foot, with the way the back of my head barely meets his chest. He doesn’t respond right away. His foot gets in between my feet and kicks them one by one further apart until he’s satisfied.
“Stay off your toes,” he tells me without eye contact. He walks away from me, and I can’t help but watch him go.
No one in my class likes him. Everyone fears and scatters when he walks into a room. They try to run, terrified to be on hisradar when he’s near. But me? I crave the devil’s attention. He’s stunning in ways that have me wanting the villain. Beast makes sin tempting.
