Page 53 of The Pretty Savage

And now it came back to bite me in my ass.

"Y-You're hu-rting me," I gasped, clawing at his hand, trying to remove it from my neck, but there was no use. The man that held me throughout the night, the man that murmured soft words and told me he was there for me, was nowhere to be seen.

So much so that I really believed I had dreamed all those words, because there was no way this was the same person. The person from last night helped me through my nightmare, but the one now in front of me wanted to destroy me.

"Adrian?" I gasped again, seeing black dots dancing in the periphery of my vision, and I knew it wouldn't be long before I would lose consciousness. "Please."

19

ADRIAN

The moment I opened my eyes less than an hour ago I knew two things—I was all alone in Vega's room, and I'd fucked up massively. But what bothered me more than anything was the thought that she had a perfect opportunity to kill me and didn't take it. But that didn't change the fact that she was here under false pretenses and that she most probably was our enemy.

She couldn't be trusted and I foolishly fell into her bed, falling asleep for the first time in days without the help of any drugs, which only made me crankier with each passing moment.

Maybe I was more exhausted than I initially thought, which was why I fell asleep with her. Yeah, I couldn't accept anything else. I just needed to find her and threaten her not to tell anyone about me being in her room last night, but the moment I tracked her, the moment my eyes landed on her and Dante standing in front of the combat building, looking far too cozy for my liking, I lost it.

A red haze took over my mind, and like an animal I only had one thought in my head—destroy.

I wanted him as far away from her as possible. No, I needed him far away because I knew I would drive myself insane if I had to spend another second watching him talk to her, touch her. He was touching what was mine, goddammit, and for the first time since I met her, I didn't deny that fact.

Vega Konstantinova was mine.

In the minute that it took to cross the distance between them and me, I knew I was more fucked than I initially thought, but I didn't care either way. She was a beacon of light in this eternal darkness I called life, and I'd be damned if I allowed someone to take that away from me.

Even if that someone was one of my best friends.

But I didn't expect her to jump on my back and murmur soft words I didn't know she was capable of. I didn't expect her to calm me down, for her touch to be soothing instead of burning like everyone else's.

I rarely allowed people to touch me, to see me for who I really was, but she was able to shatter the walls around my soul within seconds and unable to stop myself, I took her away. Far, far away from the man my mind deemed to be dangerous.

I guess what I needed was some clarity, and no matter how much every single part of me yearned for her, for her sweetness and her power, for the way she held on to me, clinging to me, I couldn't have her. I could never have her, but that didn't mean I could simply let her go.

The shock on her face as I dropped her down, wrapping my hand around her neck and holding her to the wall, pierced through my heart, but she needed to be taught a lesson. She wasn't to go near me or my friends, and she had to learn the hard way, it would seem.

Her wide eyes were filled with fear for the first time, and I could see the terror rushing through her.

I hated it as much as the part of me loved it, but I couldn't stop now. I couldn't show her what I really felt, or what I really wanted, because she couldn't be trusted. I couldn't trust her, no matter how hard I wanted to.

"Adrian," she gasped. "You're hurting me." I knew I was and I hated myself just a little bit more as her eyes fluttered closed, but I was angry.

So fucking angry.

At her.

At Dante.

At myself.

And I had no idea where to direct that anger, because as much as it pained me to admit it, the two of them had nothing to do with the poisonous fury spreading through my veins. I was ashamed of myself, of my weakness, of the need I had for her when I didn't even know her, and I had to get rid of it.

She fought me at first, trying to move my hand away from her, but with each passing second I could see the fight waning in her, leaving her limp body in my arms, and I. Didn't. Like. It.

"Fight, dammit!" I roared, getting into her face, yet she didn't even flinch. Didn't move.

She simply kept staring at me with accusations in her eyes, and I hated it. I hated the apathy taking over her features as if she was ready to die here, by my hand. There was no sign of the fire I saw yesterday when she bit my lower lip. There was no stubbornness in those green and brown eyes, nothing that showed me the girl she was.

Vega was putting up her walls, so high up that there was no way for me to see what was behind them. There was no way for me to reach the person she was, to bask in the warmth of her soul. Instead, a pair of lifeless eyes stared at me, and I knew I fucked up even before the first word rolled off of her tongue.

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