I'd expected, foolishly, that my choosing of Lucas over Julie and the girls would have been enough to mend the bridge between us. It took me a while to see just how much I'd hurt him, and what I'd need to do to win back his trust.
At first I was lost in kissing him, it was the answer to every wishful dream and unanswered prayer that I'd had since walking away from him. How many times had I looked for him out in the world? How many times had I insisted on going to his favourite places in the hopes that I could catch a glimpse of him? How many times had I dreamt of stumbling across him and once more losing myself in him? Just. Like. This.
Then he pulled back, and I felt my heart break at the look of anger and accusation simmering behind his eyes. His breath rose and fell in harsh huffs, half breaths, half growls. The truth was written all over his face, and the sight of it almost broke me. "You aren't going to take me home," my whisper was barely out when his hands roughly yanked me to my feet.
"Bathroom, now." With his fingers biting viciously into my arm Lucas directed me through the crowd, down the back hall and into one of the single stall rooms. The lock clicked shut and I found myself backed against the wall with Lucas' hand around my throat. My heart sang at his use of my favourite power play and I smiled, just a little.
Pushing against his hand I begged for more, when his fingers flexed and tightened my eyes fluttered shut. They flew open a second later when his grip bit harshly into my skin for a second and he gave me a shake.
"No, look at me," he growled. "You're here to answer my questions not to play." Obediently I opened my eyes, only to have them fill with tears when he asked his first question. "How many times have you let that bitch dress you up like a common whore?"
"Don't do this Lucas," I whispered. I tried to look away, to turn my head, but on either side was a mirror showing me everything I didn't want to see.
He was right, I looked like a whore. The skin tight Lycra dress was too small and hugged every part of me I hated. I wouldn't have chosen it, I'd only worn it because Julie had insisted. I was wearing five times more makeup up than I'd ever wear if left to my own devices, and my once bright red lips were a shade too dark for my pale skin. After my kiss with Lucas I looked ridiculous and knew it.
"Don't what?" He seethed, leaning over to catch my eyes again. "Don't ask how many nights you've gone to whored yourself out for her? Don't ask how many guys have fucked what should be mine?"
Angry didn't begin to describe the energy rolling off him in this moment. Livid probably wouldn't do it justice either, and while his hand was around my throat, Lucas maintained that perfect control that ensured he wasn't hurting me.
I wanted him too though, that's always been a part of my fucked-up-ness. The need to be punished for the thoughtless, terrible things that I do to him, to us. It drove me to ask for, to say things I shouldn't and tonight that was no different.
"I shouldn't have called you," I whispered in a voice broken with a short gasping sob. "I should go." When I moved to pull away his hand tightened to an unforgivable force that pushed me back against the wall and held me there. My body fought back a riot of arousal and regret.
"You didn't call me," he reminded harshly. "I called you after you texted me for the first time since walking out on me two years ago. So no, you don't get to go. You're going to tell me just how many times you've gone out to 'hook up'."
I fought it for as long as I could. Not because my answer was all that terrible to normal people. 'Normal' people wouldn't care that I'd gone out at least 30 times with my friends in the last two years. 'Normal' people wouldn't think twice about...
"How fucking many?" He hissed in my ear. In the end he leaned forward and maybe it was the fact that those furious grey eyes weren't burning through mine, but whatever it was it helped my confession.
"I've gone out 30 times, maybe forty." He held me there like that, his mouth pressed against my ear, our breath quietly syncing into the same frantic pace. He didn't speak, I could tell he was waiting for the rest. "I kissed a handful, I left with three."
I thought his grip would tighten with each sentence but it actually let up a little with each word. His maddening lips moved against my neck and I shivered involuntarily.
"So you slept with three then?" Was it just my imagination or had some of the anger in his voice ebbed a bit? His nose moved and traced the line of my ear, again I shivered. I took a chance and reached for him, sliding my hands up his chest to cling at his lapels.
"I tried," I confessed with a sob. For a second that hand holding me pinned against the wall tried to pull away but I pushed against it, silently begging him not to.
"Explain," he murmured against my cheek, licking away a tear that fell. When I still struggled to find the words his voice softened even more. "Talk to me kitten, I need to know."
He did need to know, I knew it the second I'd picked up the phone and heard his voice. My hands clenched around the fabric they clung to.