Page 56 of The Girl I Once Loved

“Why shouldn’t I have?” I rebuke callously. “You didn’t take them with you. You discarded them like day-old trash.”

“That isn’t fair. I didn’t have time to—”

“Oh, that’s right. I forgot. You didn’t have time to pack up your most prized possessions because you were too busy running away from your problems like some coward. The same coward who is now hiding behind other people’s names instead of being brave enough to use her own. You’re right. I’m the asshole here. A fucking idiot for thinking you’d ever change.”

“That’s not fair!You’rewhy I left!You’rethe reason why I had to leave everything I loved behind! Don’t turn my actions against me when you were the one who provoked them in the first place,” she reprimands with such loathing that I feel the full brunt of her hate in that one arctic stare.

“Is that what you tell yourself?” I scoff sardonically. “That I’m the reason why you chicken out? Spare me, Sky. You alone made your choices. I had nothing to do with them. You were given a chance. A chance to be something great. And you fucking took the coward’s way out. Sacrifices were made for you to be goddamn extraordinary, like you were always meant to be, and you just pissed all over them.”

“What sacrifices?!” she yells at the top of her lungs, no longer caring if we’re heard or not. “I’m the only one who sacrificed EVERYTHING! I left my family because of you! I left a sister who I adore more than anyone in this whole world because of you. I destroyed my relationship with my mother because of how I left. Because of you, she can’t even look me in the eye anymore. To have suffered all of that, only to have to come back home to face you… don’t talk to me about sacrifice, Noah. You have no idea what that word even means.”

“You think I don’t know sacrifice?” I shout, blood pumping furiously in my veins.

“I don’t think. I know,” she snarls with balled fists at her sides.

Nostrils flaring, I charge at her, making Sky quickly backpedal away from me until her back is flush against the wall.

I grab her throat and pin my chest against hers.

“You have no idea what I sacrificed. You have no clue.” I breathe out heavily, my eyes scanning every inch of her perfect face. “You could have brought the world to its knees, but instead, you waste your talent with this superficial drivel. Why? Just tell me why?”

She scowls at me, turning her head to the side, but like hell I’ll let her evade the question. I grip her chin and force her to look me in the eye, her gaze throwing silver bullets in my direction.

“Was it all because of the money? Is that why you did it?” I ask, needing to make sense of it all. “Because that isn’t you. It never was.”

“You don’t know me,” she spits out, her chest heaving up and down, panting for breath. “You don’t know the first thing about me.”

“But that’s just it. I do know you, little stalker. I might be the only one who truly does. And that fucking kills you.”

Eyes locked, we both gasp for air, the electric tension in the room stealing all the oxygen out of it.

“Tell me I’m wrong,” I whisper, gently strumming the back of my knuckles on her cheek.

“Fuck you.”

“You first.”

And before I can stop myself, my lips brutally crash with hers.

Sky lets out a wanton moan as my tongue dives into the deep crevices of her mouth, desperate to swallow up all the hate she has reserved just for me. She wraps her arms around my neck, tugging at my hair as I reacquaint myself with her ardent kiss. In our crazed, frenzied state, our mouths devour each other’s, needing to suck out the venom from our lips, until all that is left is the agonizing truth neither one of us wants to voice.

Fuck.

Her lips are still the sweetest thing I’ve ever tasted.

I deepen the kiss as I pull her leg up to nestle around my waist, needing to press my hardened cock into the heat in between her thighs. Her pliant body eagerly follows my every command, molding beautifully against mine. Fantasies about fucking her right here against her bedroom wall torment me, tempting me to give in to my desire, and fuck the consequences. My hand gently tightens around the softness of her throat, needing her to stay still just to keep me tethered. If she so much as touches me in any way, I won’t be responsible for my actions.

I want to taste every inch of her body, mark it with my teeth and cum. But if my lips leave hers, even for a little bit, I risk us both coming to our senses and stopping whatever this is before it's even begun.

So I just kiss her.

Kiss her like I’ve dreamt of doing for the past seven years.

And with each kiss, I divulge all my silent secrets.

How I fucking missed her.

How her name is branded on my heart.

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