Page 36 of You Were Always Mine
I bite my lip hard enough to sting. He doesn’t know. He can’t. He thinks I’m mad about his stupid jokes, his hands wandering — not the fact that every guy who touches me feelswrong unless it’s Kai.
ME: I’m not mad.
The typing bubble pops up instantly. My pulse races.
TYLER: Good. Then let me make it up to you. Tomorrow night. A movie. Just us.
I stare at the screen until the words blur. My heart is pounding, my chest aching. Tyler is safe, normal, everything I’m supposed to want.
But Kai’s voice is still in my head — snarling, filthy:You’re mine. You’ll never take another man.
I swipe at my wet cheeks, forcing my thumbs to move.
ME: Fine. A movie.
The second I hit send, I regret it. My stomach twists, my hands shake, but the message is gone — glowing on the screen like a promise I don’t know how to keep.
And then the door slams downstairs. His voice echoes through the house — low, sharp, already inside my head again before he even reaches the stairs.
I shove the phone under my pillow, my whole body trembling, as if Kai can smell Tyler’s name on my skin.
My pulse stutters — too loud in my ears — because I can feel him before I see him. Kai fills the doorway, broad shoulders, jaw tight, eyes darker than the room behind him.
‘Who were you smiling at?’ His voice is flat — casual in the way a knife looks harmless until it’s pressed against skin.
My throat sticks. ‘Nobody.’
He steps in, shuts the door behind him, and the soundclicks like a lock. He doesn’t move closer, but he doesn’t have to. His gaze strips me bare.
‘You don’t smile at nobody.’
I roll onto my side, back to him, clutching the pillow like it can shield me. ‘Not everything’s about you, Kai. You’re not the centre of the world.’
He exhales sharply — like smoke — and for a second I think he’s going to let it go. Then the mattress dips under his weight, the heat of him burning at my back.
‘Maybe not the world.’ His breath ghosts my ear, low and lethal. ‘But I’m the centre of yours. Don’t think I don’t see it.’
I flinch, hating that my body betrays me with a shiver. ‘You’re delusional.’
‘Then prove it.’ His hand grips the pillow, yanking it out of my arms and tossing it aside. ‘Tell me who you were texting.’
The lie is ready on my tongue — Tyler’s name swallowed like poison — but my voice cracks anyway. ‘It’s none of your business.’
The silence after that is unbearable. Thick. Suffocating. The kind that makes you wonder if the storm will break into thunder or pass you by.
He doesn’t reach under the pillow. He doesn’t need to.
Kai just leans closer, the mattress dipping beneath his weight, his breath brushing hot against my ear. My pulse stutters — traitorous — as if my body doesn’t remember how much I hate him, how much Ineedto hate him.
‘Who were you smiling at, Scar?’ His whisper cuts like smoke — slow, dangerous. ‘Because it sure as fuck wasn’t me.’
I squeeze my eyes shut, willing my face to stay blank, my fists to stay clenched around the sheets — but hedoesn’t move. He presses his forehead to mine, his mouth hovering so close I can taste the whisky on his tongue, and it makes my stomach clench with shame.
‘You think I don’t notice?’ His voice drags lower — a filthy growl. ‘Every time you look at that phone, every time your lips twitch like some other guy deserves that smile — it makes me want to break something. Makes me want to breakhim.’
My throat burns, my breath coming in little shudders, because his words aren’t empty threats. I know it. I feel it.
‘It’s none of your business,’ I manage, though it comes out small, cracked.
