“You’re a terrible liar, but I’ll play the game. If you won’t tell me, I’ll find out myself.”
His fingers leave my nipple, but before I can release the breath I’ve been holding, he trails his hand down and over my bare stomach.
I suck in a crackling breath at how gentle, almost soothing, his touch is. It’s the complete opposite of the devil look in his impenetrable eyes.
His fingers play with the waistband of my skirt. “Are you a virgin, Frozen?”
My stomach plummets with so many feelings I can’t keep up with. I look away from him and stare at a tree so hard as if willing it to go up in flames and end this nightmare.
It’s not prudeness that fills me. It’s not even shame.
This arsehole actually terrifies me and I hate myself for it. I also hate the tingles erupting at the bottom of my belly.
What in the ever loving hell are they supposed to mean? He’s violating me and I’m freaking tingling?
“No?” He sounds almost disapproving. “Who did you give it up to? The biology teacher? Some loser in your previous public school?”
I meet his demon eyes again. “That’s none of your business.”
“Did you like it when he plunged inside you?” he continues as if he didn’t hear what I just said. “Or did it hurt? I bet you were too tight, huh? Did he tear you in one go or did he take it slow? I bet the sorry fuck worshipped you like some Goddess, didn’t he? But you’re not a Goddess, you’re Frozen. I bet he didn’t know you have an icy heart when he was giving you foreplay and taking it easy on you. Did you bleed all over his dick or on the sheets? Did he get you off or did you have to fake it? Or maybe —”
“Shut up!” My face burns at the crudeness of his explicit words.
What type of person has so many questions about how someone lost their virginity?
Worse. Why did his expression darken with every question as if he’s… pissed off?
Aiden’s hand plunges inside my skirt and he slaps my thighs apart.
I cry out, my heart shrivels into a black hole. “A-Aiden, what are you doing?”
“For the last time, it’s King.” His face is completely blank except for the slight smirk. “You said you’ll report me for sexual harassment.”
“W-what… ?”
“It’s your lucky day. I’m making the report come true.”
“You… can’t be serious?” My voice cracks.
“Have I ever joked with you, Frozen?”
I struggle against him, my heartbeat increases with every second that I can’t budge away. “Aiden! Stop it.”
“Wrong name.” He hums, his finger teasing the hem of my boy shorts.
My throat closes the more his fingers invade the inner part of my thighs. The more I try to close my legs, the harder he slaps my thighs apart.
My walls crumble and I can feel myself losing and crashing to pieces by him.
I suck a breath into my lungs and try to level my tone. Uncle Jaxon always told me that the best negotiating method is to be confident. Even if it’s only the fake type. If I show weakness, Aiden will only lunge towards it like a shark to blood.
My best bet is to be calm — no matter how hard that is.
“King!” I blurt. “Are you happy now?”
He smiles with approval. “Not really, but you’re learning.”
“So?”
“So what?”
“I called you by your stupid last name, what else are you waiting for? Hail to the king?”
He chuckles. “Let’s save that for another day.”
As if there will ever be another day with this bastard. However, I smile. “Fine. Now, screw off.”
“You know…” he trails off. “You really play stupid moves.”
“What?”
“When your opponent charges for the attack, you’re supposed to stay low, not crash with him head first. You’re the only one who’ll get hurt.”
Whatever the hell that means.
“I was ready to let you go, but you pissed me off, so I changed my mind.”
I watch his poker face closely. Aside from the slight twitching in his left eye, he looks peaceful to me.
Not pissed off at all.
But then again, what the hell did I know about Aiden’s body language? He’s like a fort.
Impossible to climb, to peer over, or to destroy.
“Then change it back,” I mumble.
“That’s not how it works.”
“Let me go and I won’t tell anyone,” I say in my most neutral tone.
“Is that so?” His fingers draw small circles inside my thighs, and I clench my fists against the sensation.
I bite back the discomfort and the freaking tingling. “Yes. I only want to finish this year in peace.”
“What makes you think I want you to have any peace, Frozen?” He grips my sex harshly. “You were born to suffer.”
I cry out at the intrusive gesture. A zap bolts straight from where he’s gripping me to my entire body.
Aiden is watching me with those sadistic eyes. Only now, the glint is becoming darker. Hazier. Stronger.
He loves having this effect on me. He’s getting high on it.
Like a drug addict who can’t get enough, he seems ready for more.
The harder I refuse, the more drastic his methods become.
It started with demanding my phone then he wanted me to call him by his last name then he wanted me to apologise.
Whenever I say ‘no’, his assault becomes relentless.
Ruthless.
Remorseless.
I’m provoking a monster.
A full-blown monster.
During my years of struggle against bullies, I learnt to never give them what they want. If I acknowledge their bullying or show them I give a damn about what they did, it’d give them the incentive to push harder.
Aiden is darker than the usual bully, but he’s still a bully all the same.
Only he doesn’t want those apologies or for me to beg or even the damn phone. He wants my struggle.
He wants my helplessness.
My weakness.
“I’m sorry,” I blurt and try to mean it.
He pauses his ministrations for a second, but he doesn’t release my sex. His gaze meets mine and his left eye twitches before he presses his thumb on my clitoris above the cloth.
My legs shake and I briefly close my eyes, willing the feeling to go the fuck away. I shouldn’t be affected by whatever this monster is doing.
“Why did you say that?” he asks.
“You told me to apologise.”
“You don’t mean it.” He leans closer and whispers in hot breaths against my ear, his voice amused. “Did you seriously think I’d fall for that, sweetheart?”
Sweetheart?
Sweet-fucking-heart?
It takes everything in me not to let my anger seethe to the surface. I want to push him so badly, but I know it’ll only give him the upper hand.
Aiden’s type gets off on hysterics. It’s their driving force.
I level my tone. “I apologised as you asked.”
“Apology denied.” He muses. “You of all people don’t get to play games with me.”
You of all people?What the hell is that supposed to mean?
“You said you’d let me go. This isn’t fair.”
“Who said anything about fair, hmm?”
How am I supposed to win if he keeps changing the rules?
An idea flashes in my head. It’s something I learnt from old Chinese war books.
When cornered, use your opponent’s attack mechanism.
“What do you want, Aiden?” I soften my tone. “Tell me.”
There must be something he wants. If he asked me the question then he must already have an answer of his own.
“Let me guess.” He smiles without humour. “You’ll make it happen?”
“If you let me go.” It’s a dangerous game and he might decide to not play fair again.
“You never cry.” He observes me, sliding his thumb back and forth over my clit.
I clamp my lips against the sound trying to claw its way through. I want him to stop, but I also want something else.
What, I don’t know.