Obsession (Dangerous Love #1)

CHAPTER 10

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SWEET JEALOUSY

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Panting, I entered the house and tried to untangle my headphones and walk faster to the kitchen where I could hold my head under cold running water. I was sweaty all over, and my clothes did not match the temperature outside at all, but that wasn’t my main concern.

I splashed my face with cold water while my brain replayed the events at the crosswalk.

If it had been any other car, I would have already forgotten, but it was that one. I hadn’t noticed the license plate back then, so I went by the make and color, but what were the odds? This time I could see the license plate, and now I knew what to look out for next time.

Next time?

God, I was about to lose my mind. Who and why would they be following me?

That reminded me of Harris and what he did after I told him I felt like I was being followed. He called Ty and asked him to find the plates. He didn’t tell me if he had found them, and I forgot about it and considered the whole thing a simple coincidence.

Even now, I wouldn’t have even come close to getting run over if I hadn’t crossed the road carelessly. It wasn’t like he was driving on the sidewalk for me.

I shook my head and tried not to get as paranoid as I had been back then. Range Rover was quite a popular brand; a lot of people drove that car; maybe that was a sign that I should never buy it.

My father entered the kitchen and managed to distract me.

We would be leaving in half an hour, and despite the tension I would experience with his family, I was excited to leave the house. Running was a great idea in so many ways, not just an attempt to regain the body I once had. I felt much better, the sickly dizziness was gone, and I didn’t feel so poisoned anymore. By the time I started using drugs, I had given up exercise completely, and this seemed to be the best medicine. From that day on, I resolved to run every day and find the nearest park.

After a quick shower, I put on the thinnest clothes I could find in my closet because it was scorching hot outside. I didn’t find any shorts, as they were all already in the laundry basket. In the back of the closet, I found a short black denim skirt that I hadn’t worn in about two years. It was either that or a pair of pants. And since we’d be lugging jars of honey and whatnot under the blazing sun, with all the risks that entailed, the skirt was the best choice.

I wore it with a simple white top and tied my hair up in a low ponytail. It was too hot for makeup, but my dark circles were pretty big, so I couldn’t resist at least trying to cover them with a little makeup, even if I only used some concealer, drew an eyeliner wing, and applied some mascara. Then I put on my everlasting sneakers, since I hadn’t brought a pair of sandals.

My father didn’t stop bugging me until I finished the food on my plate, and then we left. The stress I had felt before returned, because I had no idea how the day would go on.

Even though the event was still about two weeks away, preparations were already in full swing. It was going to be bigger than I had imagined; there weren’t just going to be a few food stalls, but a whole fair with lots of entertainment. In the middle of the square was a huge pile of metal, trucks, and dozens of workers who seemed to be assembling a Ferris-Wheel.

Above me were five people on a platform putting up a large poster between two buildings that read “My Ballard – Farmer’s Market”.

My father took my hand and pulled me behind him as I froze and stared at everything around me. It was a hive of activity, the whole place was filled with machinery and people hurrying about, stalls being set up and trees being decorated. I had passed this part of the city every day since I arrived, and now it was completely different.

A group of enthusiastic children ran past us and wrapped colorful ribbons around us.

Once again, I found myself in a place I didn’t belong; the joy around me was tiring, all these people were a community I didn’t belong to, but at least I was glad my father was pulling me towards a friendly face, one I knew.

Iolanda had her hands on her hips, shouting orders left and right and scolding some men twice her size.

When she noticed us, her face lit up and a broad smile appeared on her features.

“Well, that’s a really nice surprise on a bloody day like this.”

My father laughed and leaned down to hug her while I awkwardly stood in place until she pulled me into her arms. She was surprisingly strong for her size and age, and I wondered if it was because of the honey.

“I have waited so long to see this picture,” she spoke nostalgically, cupping her hands under her chin.

I knew she was referring to my father and me, both of us present at such an important event for the town. He smiled, but I couldn’t.

“Iolanda, where do you want me to put these shelves? You have already used up all our space in the warehouse, for crying out loud!”

A man came out of a huge hall. Only now did I realize that we were behind the supermarket. The farmers were probably storing their produce there before the fair.

The man came towards us, and I had trouble recognizing him, unfortunately for me, he was just another stranger. But I wasn’t to him, that was clear, because the look on his face proved that he knew very well who I was.

“Look who finally showed up,” he laughed, pulling my father into a quick, tight hug. “I thought you were going to be here in the morning, Ris.”

Dad looked at his watch. Ris?

“It is morning.”

The guy narrowed his eyes.

“Yeah, we’re certainly not going to make a farmer out of you if you consider 10AM morning.”

It was my fault; he was already active at eight. He had waited for me, but he didn’t tell them that.

The man looked at me and I was sure he was my father’s cousin, Josh, but I didn’t have confirmation yet.

“Katherine, I’m so glad you’re here. We met when you were very young and I’m sure you don’t remember me. I’m Josh.”

He held out his hand to me, and I grabbed it, trying to force a believable smile. He had nothing in common with my father. Even though he was a baker, he looked like a farmer who spent his days in the fields. His skin was excessively tanned from the sun and his hair was blond and reached his shoulders. His eyebrows were blond too, and he was taller than my father and stronger, probably around forty-five years old. I wasn’t even sure by what relation he was my father’s cousin.

“It’s nice to meet you Josh, I’m glad to be here.”

I was not going to call him ‘uncle’, under any circumstances. I wasn’t ready and probably never would be.

Did he notice how funny my voice sounded? Not to mention the stupid poem I had spat out. Still, he smiled kindly at me, and I sensed no tension from him, so I tried to relax.

“Where’s Marta?” my father asked, and I assumed she was Josh’s wife.

“She’s at the bakery, looking after the sales today. We couldn’t afford to close the shop with all the tourists in town. My kids are here somewhere. Katherine, if you see two hyperactive boys trying to destroy everything, they’re Mario and Trent, my sons.”

I laughed.

“Leave my nephews alone, you were worse than those two.”

Josh rolled his eyes, and once again I felt uncomfortable in the middle of the conversation because these were people I was supposed to know, they were family, but I didn’t even know their faces until last week. It was obvious that they had welcomed my father back into their family, his progeny included.

Josh’s phone rang, and he had a short, tense conversation about an order of flour. After he hung up, he cursed over his lips.

“I have to pick up the flour at Michaelson’s. Marta has threatened not to cook anything for the fair if I don’t get her the damn flour.”

My father laughed when Iolanda slapped Josh on the arm for swearing a little too much. She was so small compared to him that he could probably pick her up with one arm.

“Wanna come with me, Ris? It’s only about thirty sacks.”

My father laughed again, then looked at me. Was I going to carry flour? Great.

“Don’t even think about taking the girl with you; Katherine stays with me. The truck with my honey will be here soon, and she’ll be a big help putting the jars on the shelves.”

Josh rubbed his forehead.

“I completely forgot about that. Do you think you can wait until I get back?”

Iolanda crossed her arms.

“And why would I do that?”

“How in God’s name are you going to carry those crates, Iolanda? Or are you planning to take it one jar at a time?”

He was about to get slapped again, this time on the head. I laughed without meaning to.

“I managed my whole life before you showed up and snatched my daughter from under my nose, just so you know.”

Josh looked up at the sky like he was asking a deity for patience. My father burst out laughing.

“I have already taken care of it, I have someone to carry those crates, don’t worry. He should be here any minute,” she looked at her watch, and Josh turned to me.

“Welcome to the family, Katherine. We’re loud, agitated, annoying, I hope you’ll love us for who we are,” he said, and I got surprisingly emotional from his words.

I had no idea what Josh thought about my mom, or if he hated her as much as the others, but I didn’t care now.

I watched them leave and Iolanda grabbed me by the arm like a grandma from bedtime stories. She smelled like gingerbread.

“You have no idea how glad I am that you are here, honey. I even told Marta last night that I’d like you to come to the fair, it seems someone up there has answered my prayers.” too, looked up at the sky, apparently a tradition in her family.

“I’m here and you make the best honey I have ever tasted, by the way.”

She giggled in a cheerful way. She had white hair, but it didn’t make her look old, because it looked more like an elegant silver, cut into a bob. She was over sixty, but she moved effortlessly.

“What exactly are we going to do?”

“Honey isn’t perishable, it stays good even underground, so we’ll get the load into storage as soon as we can. When the fair comes, we’ll be busy with the cookies because we have to bake them the night before and the day of.”

I nodded.

“Exactly how much honey are we talking about?”

She smiled, almost devilishly.

“I can only tell you this: my honey stall is the most prized at the fair. Don’t believe my son-in-law when he tells you his cookies are.”

I laughed as she looked at her watch again. We were outside the warehouse, in the sun, but Iolanda didn’t seem to have a problem with it.

“Where is that boy? If he doesn’t keep his promise, he’ll see what happens…”

“The truck driver?”

“No, the boy I said will help us with the crates. He’s a friend’s son and just what we need for those heavy things,” she seemed to grin again, but I preferred to pretend I hadn’t seen it. “His name is Elay. Let’s go inside until he shows up. Why does it have to be as hot as inside a volcano today?”

Giggling, I wanted to turn around and follow her in, but I felt something that made me pause.

Something familiar.

No !

My brain screamed and rolled around on the floor, my heart nearly fainted, and I spun like a nut looking for the source of those ground-shaking vibrations.

“Oh, there he is! I knew he wouldn’t forget me.”

That damn car was parked a few inches away from me. If I took a ruler and measured the distance, it wouldn’t have read more than four inches between my knees and the hood of his car. He wasn’t going too fast, he wasn’t trying to attract anyone’s attention, but that didn’t mean all the prying eyes weren’t turning to look.

I swallowed down the bile in my throat.

That was the only thing that was missing. As if I didn’t have enough on my plate trying to connect with the family that I’d never met, Harris had to come into the picture.

Suddenly, nothing mattered anymore. Josh’s entire clan could have shown up, and it still wouldn’t have been any worse than putting up with Harris for an entire afternoon. While I carried jars of honey, no less.

I looked up at the sky Iolanda had been watching earlier, convinced that someone up there was making fun of me.

I mustered all my strength not to react when he came out, but, God, it was hard. It was so hard not to react to something like that.

Demon or not, he was feeling the heat too. He had on a pair of boxer shorts and a simple tank top. Still black, but in a different style than what I was used to. He was wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses.

Fuck, he was hot!

So fucking hot, and I hated him so much just because I couldn’t stop myself from looking at him.

He looked like a professional athlete, a world champion in some contact sport who came to visit his grandma.

At least he seemed as shocked by my presence as I was by his. It was easy to read that in his face. He hadn’t expected to find me here, just as I hadn’t expected him to show up.

Elay.

That’s what Iolanda called the boy who was supposed to help her. What the hell was Harris-As-Hard-As-Fucking-Stone doing here?

“You just woke up, didn’t you?” Iolanda scolded him, but in a gentle tone.

I wondered if he was also related to them… to me? I didn’t like that thought at all, and I didn’t want to analyze the reasons why.

He smiled and leaned down – very far - to kiss her cheek. Her head barely reached his elbow.

“I’m sorry I am late, Iolanda. I’m yours all day.”

My eyes widened immediately. His sunglasses were black, completely opaque, and I couldn’t see it, but I could have sworn he was looking at me when he said “yours”. Those familiar shivers came over me, stronger than ever.

I could no longer look at him the way I would look at a stranger, not the way I would look at a boy I wanted to be friends with, not after that kiss.

My body became painfully aware of it. The way I knew him, his touch, his breathing, his moans… his lips.

Finally, he took off his glasses, his gaze focused entirely on me. When Iolanda noticed his curiosity, she spoke and smiled at him.

“This is Katherine, my niece, the daughter of…”

“I know who she is,” Harris interrupted her.

I mentally kicked myself. He knew things about me like I knew things about him, probably even more.

Fuck me sideways, I should have stayed in bed.

“Oh,” Iolanda spoke up, “that’s right, you two go to the same high school.”

She didn’t get a chance to continue; her attention was caught by an approaching truck, and she immediately sprinted towards it. I looked in the same direction, watching her as she gave directions, just so I would not have to look at Harris.

He, on the other hand, looked at me far too much.

After taking just one step, I sensed that he was far too close to me. I took a deep breath as I looked at him, trying not to lose myself.

Suddenly, it got even hotter.

“Now I’m very glad I managed to wake up and come here.”

To hell with his charming smile and all the things I knew his mouth could do.

I bit my lip tensely, and his gaze traveled down to follow the movement.

“She told me your name was Elay. Am I missing something?”

I changed the subject to the first thing that came to mind.

“It’s my middle name, but only Iolanda uses it.”

I wanted to ask why, but I didn’t.

“Mhm, it doesn’t suit you either,” I tried to tease him, but he just smiled, completely unmoved.

“You’re one to talk, Avril!”

My eyes widened in shock. How on earth did he know my middle name?

“You’re starting to scare me with the things you’re not supposed to know about me.”

He waggled his eyebrows.

I scrutinized him through the frighteningly hot rays of the sun, and it was almost shocking that he was also sweating like a human. Every time I looked at him, he seemed to get more and more demonic.

My pulse began to race as his gaze fell on my legs. The devil had tempted me to wear a skirt, and now I had no choice but to suffer the consequences.

“If you’re good, I promise to tell you what I really like to be called.”

Good? Had I understood that correctly? My palm itched to slap him again.

“Demon, I suppose.”

“Not even close. They only call me that on the tracks.”

I let out a theatrical sigh.

“Too bad I’ll never be ’‘good’ for you, and I will never know your other names. I guess I will just have to keep calling you Perverted Asshole.”

His grin was perfect for a perverted con artist. To change the subject, I jerked my head toward Iolanda, who was still talking to the truck driver.

“Is she related to you?”

She said he was a friend’s son, but I wanted to check.

His eyes told me he knew exactly what I was thinking about. He came closer until his voice was just a whisper.

“Are you afraid I might be your cousin and you can’t do all the things in your deviant mind to me?”

At the last second, I clenched my fist and was about to punch him without thinking about it first. His smile told me that he had been expecting it.

I muttered quietly to myself. He brought everything bad inside me to the surface in a split second.

“No, love, we’re not related. She’s just friends with my mother.”

I raised my eyebrows disinterestedly.

“Too bad.”

I left it to him to draw the conclusions from my last answer; he narrowed his eyes, dangerously this time, but Iolanda came back before he had a chance to say anything else. The poor woman was panting from the heat. The truck driver tried to turn, so the doors of the container faced the warehouse.

“Done, I think we can start. God, in this heat it would be better to put it off for another day.”

YES ! I wanted to scream. I would have done anything to escape this place at that moment, because an afternoon with Harris was already shaping up to be pure torture.

But contrary to my expectations, he became very serious when Iolanda returned. He climbed into the container with a leap, and my knees buckled when I saw how full it was.

“Fuck! Iolanda, are you planning on selling honey to the whole state?”

Harris voiced my thoughts. There were crates upon crates of jars of honey.

She giggled proudly.

“It’s been a productive year, and, not to brag about it, but my honey is the star of this fair.”

I’d tasted it, so I couldn’t disagree with her.

We got straight to work. She sent me inside, to the area reserved for her family – ours – where she wanted me to take the jars out of the crates and put them on the shelves. I wanted to ask her why the hell she didn’t just leave them in the crates, but it was none of my business. She probably wanted to display them all like trophies.

The downside of the plan was that these shelves were about twenty feet high. There was a mobile platform with steps attached to it, and even though it looked stable, I was wearing a damn short skirt. Whatever involved me climbing on something that was more than three feet off the ground was a problem.

And Harris wasn’t the problem. Shockingly, it wasn’t him, but the rest of the retailers and workers who were constantly walking around the warehouse.

I didn’t have time to back out, and Harris showed up with the first box.

I mentally admonished myself not to stare like an idiot at how his muscles tensed from the weight he was carrying. He placed them at my feet without comment. After my comment about Iolanda’s friendship with his mother, he changed his behavior completely. My tongue itched to ask him if I had said something inappropriate, but it was better to work in silence.

I grabbed the handles of the wooden box and tried to pull it closer to the shelf. I gasped and almost collapsed on top of it.

“Jesus,” a shocked gasp escaped me, and Harris immediately returned next to me.

I’d expected it to be heavy, but not this heavy.

“Why didn’t you tell me you wanted it in a different place?”

I looked at him in frustration.

“I wanted to pull it closer to the shelf.”

He picked it up completely off the floor and carried it to where I was pointing, then glared at me with a cocky face that annoyed me even more. Fucking pretentious ass! Not all of us had two hundred pounds of muscle, some of us had to make do with skin and bones.

He returned to his work and Iolanda came to help me put the jars on the shelves. I tore open the tape and was shocked to see that there were at least twenty jars inside - glass ones - so I had to be careful too, it wasn’t enough that I had to climb up on a platform with them.

It was easy at first because we started at the bottom of the shelves. Iolanda happily talked about bees, beehives, and other passions of hers while I tried to keep up with Harris, who carried those crates as if they were filled with feathers. It amused and annoyed me that each time he waited for me to tell him exactly where to put the box down. He only put it down when I pointed to the spot. It was a kind gesture, but he somehow managed to turn it irritating.

It was clear that he wanted to finish faster, and I was swallowed up by an avalanche of contradictory feelings. For about an hour, none of his specific remarks slipped out his lips. Here and there he spoke to Iolanda, but he was calmer than I had ever seen him before. I was grateful that he didn’t make an already difficult situation any worse. At the same time, though, I was an idiot who was starting to feel ignored.

Who the fuck could understand anything in my head anymore?!

Iolanda had to leave when we were about to finish, and I promised to take care of the rest, even though the fun was just beginning. I’d been on the platform quite a bit, but not dangerously high yet. Now we were at the last shelf and a knot tightened in my throat, especially when I noticed a group of boys nearby. All this time they were also carrying crates of peanut butter jars.

“I’ll get these up,” I winced when I heard his voice next to my ear.

I turned to him just as he set the box down on the ground and looked at my skirt, then at the top shelf.

“Don’t you dare climb up there.”

He didn’t even wait for my answer and returned to the truck.

Excuse me?

Don’t you dare climb up there?

Who the hell did he think he was, ordering me around like that?

I grabbed two jars and climbed to the top of the platform.

I immediately heard the whistles. I had expected it, so I tried not to react. They had no way of seeing my underwear. I wasn’t that high, and I was careful enough to keep my legs closed, but I still offered some kind of view because I was on that damn scaffolding.

I noticed Harris approaching with another crate, and I went down to get some more jars so I could continue my work. I could hear the angry breath he was exhaling through his nostrils.

“Do you ever listen?”

“Not really, no. Especially when it’s an order, I have already told you that.”

“Stop going on that platform, Katherine. I’m not in the mood to fight anyone today.”

I shot him an angry look.

“Excuse me?!”

“You heard me.”

He jerked his head in the direction of the group of boys I was well aware of.

I pursed my lips and decided to keep my mouth shut because I didn’t want to yell at him, especially not there, even though it was extremely difficult not to. Under the false assumption that I would listen to him, Harris returned to the truck.

I would have loved to throw a jar of honey at his head. I would have, but they weren’t mine.

The part of me that wanted to attract trouble went back to the scaffolding. This time I tried to carry more than two jars so I could finish faster.

I shoved four into my arms and climbed up to where Mr. Elay didn’t want me.

“Need a hand, beautiful?”

Oh, fucking hell!

What was the possibility of something like this not happening? I wanted to keep working without incident.

I turned my head and saw a blond guy taking three glasses and bringing them to me.

“I’m good, thanks.”

I tried to expedite him as quickly as possible, but he just couldn’t take the hint.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Harris approaching.

Completely unhappy.

He dropped the crate, and the sound echoed in the room. I hoped fervently that none of the jars broke. He climbed up the steps two at a time and grabbed him by the collar before he could reach me and pulled him down without saying anything to him.

“What the fuck?!” the boy yelled, and I saw his friends coming towards us.

“Who the fuck asked for your help?” Harris growled, turning the guy around to face him.

The guy dropped the jars and they shattered.

God !

“Harris, please,” I yelled.

The blond guy wasn’t a threat, but his friends were getting closer.

I wanted to go down to them, but I forgot about the four jars in my arms. I dropped one, tried to catch it, and from then on… everything became a series of unfortunate events. Chain disasters. I dropped two more, and they fell onto the metal platform and broke.

I cried out, mostly because of the mess I had made, and instinctively backed away from the broken glass.

Forgetting that I was on a platform twenty feet off the ground with no protective railing, my foot stepped into air.

“Katherine!” I heard Harris’s shout before I realized what was about to happen.

At the last second, I clung to the edge of the platform with my hands, but I wouldn’t last long like this. I hovered above the floor, gritting my teeth and praying that my arms wouldn’t give way until I managed to get back up.

I felt again how bad my physical condition was.

All this time, all I could think about was that I was the only one who could get into a situation like this.

“Hold on, I’m coming up,” I heard Harris’s voice.

“Hurry up,” I shouted back.

“You stay here in case she falls. If you drop her, I’ll kill you.”

I heard his growl before he started climbing up the scaffolding, probably towards the blond guy who was definitely regretting trying to be a hero now.

As soon as his foot stepped onto the platform, I felt his step like a seismic wave. The entire surface shook and one of my hands almost slipped off.

“Harris, slow down! You’re shaking it,” I shouted desperately, and my fingers sank into the metal.

My joints cracked and the pain in my arms began to burn. Tears streamed down my face when that pain began to well up in my nails and fingers.

“I can’t do this anymore,” I whimpered, ready to let go of my left hand.

I tried not to wiggle my feet because I was wearing a damn skirt, and I didn’t have enough strength to pull myself up on my own.

I couldn’t feel Harris’s footsteps on the platform anymore, I hoped he’d slowed down, but when I looked down, he was underneath me.

“Let go, Katherine,” he stretched his arms upward.

“Are you crazy?” I yelled.

I noticed the sea of people that had gathered around us. Iolanda came too and seemed scared to death when she saw me hanging there.

“Katherine, look at me.”

I did as he asked, his face unreasonably calm for what was happening. My heart was pounding hard against my ribcage, and the pain had spread to my shoulders.

“I’m going to catch you. You know I’ll catch you,” his voice was soft, too calm for what I was feeling.

I squeezed my eyes shut. The height was great enough, and there was cement on the floor. At best, I’d break my ankle.

“I’ve done it before. You know it. I would never let you fall, baby.”

My eyes snapped open, and I looked at him.

That word again.

My heart was pounding for a completely different reason now. It didn’t matter if I trusted him or not, I was going to fall either way because I no longer had the strength to hold on.

Someone tried to climb towards me, the platform moved again, and my left hand slipped off.

I released my fingers from the metal and immediately felt the cold air fly past me. The sensation of falling, as if my whole body suddenly deflated. This time I was in my right mind and could feel everything much better than when I had fallen from the pyramid, when I was almost unconscious.

It probably only lasted a second. More screams sounded simultaneously, but I couldn’t scream.

Then I stopped.

The impact was strong, but not painful.

The crash and the broken bones didn’t come, but I felt that grip, that warmth that had become painfully familiar. I had closed my eyes during the fall, and when I opened them again, I saw heaven and hell dancing on a single face.

He held me like that for a while without saying anything. I wasn’t able to speak either because my heart was still pounding in my chest. He was holding me like a bride once more.

“Katherine, honey, are you okay? What happened?”

Harris set me down as Iolanda approached us.

“I’m sorry, Iolanda, I broke some of your jars.”

Despite what had happened, my voice was surprisingly calm; only my breathing was frantic. Harris’s palm remained on my lower back, holding me close, as if he expected me to collapse, anyway.

“To hell with the jars, thank God Elay was here to catch you.”

For the next few minutes, she examined me all over, just to make sure I hadn’t hurt myself, then stroked Harris’s cheeks and kissed him on the forehead, like the hero she said he was.

I couldn’t deny it anymore. He had, once again, been my hero, even if part of the incident was still his fault. I wouldn’t have slipped if he hadn’t gone berserk with a jealousy so inappropriate for what we were.

When the commotion had died down and they concluded that the only damage done was a few broken jars of honey, everyone went back to their activities. The blond guy disappeared, and I didn’t see him again.

Harris picked up a crate and climbed up the platform alone after cleaning up the spilled honey on it. He wouldn’t have allowed me to climb back up, and I didn’t want to. He didn’t allow Iolanda to climb up either. My fingers and arms hurt, and I had broken all my nails because I had clawed at the metal. It was a miracle they didn’t bleed.

After he finished, I was tired, thirsty, and melted from the heat. The warehouse had air conditioning, but with the doors open, it didn’t help much.

As if Iolanda had read my mind, she brought a can of Coke for each of us.

Harris opened his and took a few sips, and I tried to stifle a laugh as the carbonated drink oozed from the corner of his mouth.

“Do you still need me?” he asked her.

She shook her head.

“Thank you very much, dear. Josh would have spent half the day carrying those crates and the other half complaining about it.”

Harris laughed, and I wondered if he knew my uncle too. I wasn’t sure how I should have felt about that.

“Anytime.”

Iolanda turned to me.

“Thank you, honey, and I’m sorry you almost fell off that thing. Thank God it did not turn into a tragedy.”

“It was my pleasure, Iolanda,” I smiled. “You have no reason to apologize, it was my fault. I’ll pay for those jars.”

She waved her hand away like I was crazy.

“Nonsense. With all the help you two have given me today, I’ll give you free honey for the rest of the year.”

Harris smiled.

“Violet will be happy to hear that.”

Iolanda laughed, too.

“Katherine, I’m going to the bakery now, do you want to come with me?”

Fuck! I may have been mean, but I’d had enough of relatives and incidents for today.

“I’d love to, Iolanda, but I’d like to go home. Do you mind?”

“Of course not, I’ll drive you.”

I had a chance to smile at her, then I heard Harris’s voice:

“I’ll drive her.”

He was still holding the cold can of Coke, and I took a sip of mine to refresh myself a little.

This was going to be… interesting.

Iolanda raised an eyebrow at us.

God, Harris had called me ‘baby’ in front of her. In front of everyone. How long would it take for that to get back to my father? I figured pretty quickly, and I didn’t really care if he found out or not.

After that, she had nothing more to add and was convinced she was leaving me in good hands. She hugged us both, then left. I stayed with Harris, amidst the commotion in the warehouse. Everything seemed to be intensifying in my head.

“If you’re busy, you don’t have to take me home, I can wait for my dad.”

He raised an eyebrow and came so close to me that his breath almost brushed my lips.

“Are you just saying that to hear me say that there’s no way I’m leaving you here?”

I lifted my chin.

“I’m not climbing any more platforms; I think I’m safe.”

“I wasn’t thinking about the danger these platforms pose.”

I looked around out of the corner of my eye, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

“Now that you bring it up, what you did was completely inappropriate, not to mention annoying. I don’t care what the guy’s intentions were, you had no right to react that way.”

He came closer, as if he hadn’t even heard what I said.

“Today, of all days, you’re wearing a fucking skirt. A skirt that’s already playing dangerously with my mind,” he spoke in a low voice, almost whispering.

I sighed softly; it didn’t surprise me that he changed the subject like that, otherwise he would have had to admit that he was jealous.

“And that’s exactly why it’s a bad idea for you to drive me.”

He grabbed my hand and pulled me along behind him.

“You’re lucky I am really busy today and don’t have time to play with what’s under your skirt.”

I punched him in the arm, and he laughed.

“I know it’s part of your DNA to be an asshole or whatever, but sometimes you cross the line.”

He just smiled without saying anything else, but that was enough.

He held open the door to his car.

“I’ll just drive you home, I promise.”

“You promised the same thing once before and didn’t keep it,” I narrowed my eyes and he smiled again.

“That was entirely your fault, in case you forgot,” he leaned over me and whispered in my ear. “But if you repeat that move in this skirt, I’m not responsible for what happens next. So, if you keep your legs closed, I’ll be good. My fingers will be good too. I promise.”

His smirk drew a growl from me. Fucking crook! He was forever taunting me with that. Why did I have to mention his damn fingers?

I got into the car and tried to calm my pulse and breathing. Harris threw his empty can in the trash can and got behind the wheel. I made sure my bare legs were as far away from his hands as possible, and my struggle amused him.

With his stupid baseball cap on, he was so hot I couldn’t concentrate. I had no honey jars to set up to divert my attention from him, and now we were alone. I touched the cold can of drink to my neck, though my fingers and arms still ached from the exertion.

Harris turned the car around in the middle of the crowd and sped off down the street. I couldn’t have done that without bumping into someone.

He was being watched the whole time he was there. Not just by me, but by almost everyone who passed him. Even now they were staring at the car, but not because of the make or the color. They were analyzing him as if it was shocking to see him there, to have him participate in such an activity. The more time passed, the more curious I became about him. What I discovered only raised more questions.

He turned on the music, at an appropriate volume, 2Scratch filling the atmosphere with sexual tension as the lyrics of played from the speakers. Harris was relaxed, even though he was still driving at insane speed.

All the work he’d done carrying the crates had toned his arms, and I struggled not to stare at his muscles and protruding veins.

Then the song changed, and with it the atmosphere. Josh Levi triggered a mixture of strange feelings in me, and I glanced at Harris out of the corner of my eye. If the words had caught his attention, he didn’t show it.

“So, you’ve decided to pretend you’ve forgotten what happened in the locker room,” he finally spoke, and I bit my lip as I turned my gaze forward.

“It seems you’ve decided to do the same.”

He looked at me, but I didn’t turn around. “I have been busy the last few days and decided to give you some time. There’s no way I have forgotten what happened.”

I sighed.

“What exactly happened, Harris?”

He preferred to look ahead.

“I’m trying to figure that out too,” he said after a while, so quietly I thought I was imagining it.

The rest of the journey was uncharacteristically calm for us, but also short. With his insane driving, Harris pulled up outside my house in no time at all.

I caught myself smiling bitterly without realizing it.

“What?” he asked after turning off the engine.

“I think that’s it. Whatever happened with us, it happened too fast, and now it’s time for both of us to take a step back.”

He looked at me for what felt like hours until I couldn’t take it anymore. I both wanted and didn’t want him to approve of my words.

“I want to show you something, Katherine,” I waited, curious. “Come with me,” he added and got out of the car.

Confused, I got out too, and he signaled for us to go into the house. I went ahead, and he followed me.

He stepped in behind me and closed the door.

“Harris, what…”

He reached for me, grabbed my hand, and turned me so I faced him, and the next second our lips met.

I whimpered and dropped the can of Coke.

Despite everything that had happened between us, I hadn’t expected it at that moment.

He wasted no more time, pushing me against the wall in the hallway and lifting me up, wrapping my legs around his waist while his palms gripped my bare thighs.

Instantly, I lost control.

My body remembered his touch, his breath passing through my lips, his taste. How addicted I had become to him.

I took off his cap and ran my fingers through his hair, pulling at the strands and we both moaned at the same time, one between the other’s lips. My skirt had ridden up legs, and Harris was very aware of it as he rolled his hips into me, then moaned over my mouth, a sound of ecstasy and pain.

His lips tasted of coke, tobacco, and madness, his kiss a terrifyingly intense drug. Nothing could be heard in the cold hallway except our whimpers and gasps and the sound of our clothes rubbing against each other, which I would have loved to get rid of. My father had left the air conditioning running; it was freezing in the house, and the feelings Harris triggered in me were volcanic. I was on the verge of burning up.

He bit my bottom lip and then pushed away from me. He leaned his forehead against mine and breathed frantically.

“Does it look like that was it for us, Katherine? Do you think what’s happened now is a reason to step back?”

He leaned over my lips and took my lower one between his teeth again, biting into it slowly and erotically, driving me completely insane.

“It’s only just begun.”

I was at a loss for words; I could only struggle to keep my wits about me after what had just happened.

A vibration ran through my thigh, and Harris exhaled through his nostrils, holding me up with one hand to pull out his phone.

He didn’t answer, and I couldn’t see who was calling, but he frowned, and then he looked at me.

“I have to go now, but I don’t want to hear what you said in the car again.”

I bit my lip as I looked at him. I wanted to remind him that he had a girlfriend and this thing between us was getting extremely toxic, but I couldn’t find the strength to open my mouth again.

He lowered me back to my feet, and I lost my balance briefly, whereupon he caught me again, and giggled in my ear.

“You okay, baby?”

I cursed in my head, struggling to stand on my own two feet. He kept calling me that! I hated and loved that word in equal measure, even though it was getting stupider because I wasn’t his only baby, so it had no value.

“I’m fine. I went jogging this morning and I think my muscles are sore.”

I preferred blaming that even though both I and he knew what the truth was. He didn’t say anything, just smiled and took my chin between his fingers.

“Until next time,” he whispered, then pressed his lips to mine.

Gently this time, and he engaged them in a soft kiss unlike the others we’d shared.

By the time I regained my composure, he was gone.

I remained in place for a long time as I heard his car drive away, then I came back to my senses and muttered a long list of curses in my head, many against my stupid lack of control when it came to him, then against the sexual attraction I couldn’t suppress even if I banged my head against the wall.

I decided to put everything to do with Harris Elay Stone out of my mind and went to my room to take a shower. To my surprise, I fell asleep immediately afterwards and only woke up again when my father knocked on my door and it was already dark outside. He only did it to check on me. He either didn’t know anything about what had happened in the warehouse or didn’t want to talk about it.

I was completely shocked to learn that a boy had died that day during the preparations for the fair when he tried to hang a poster over a building.

He didn’t take me with him on Sunday and I was relieved because I was not in a position to meet grieving people. I was sure that many people had lost their enthusiasm as a result.

***

On Monday morning, my father drove me to school again. It didn’t annoy me as much as it used to, considering I was rid of Harris that way. He called, but after I didn’t answer, he stopped insisting. The only strange thing was that he wasn’t at school either. I didn’t see him in the first two classes, none of them, and that made me even more curious about the reason for his call. Maybe it was about something else, not just an offer to drive me.

I didn’t feel like letting everyone watch and analyze me again, so I skipped lunch and grabbed a Lion bar, which I ate in the bleachers next to the empty football field. This high school wasn’t so bad when people weren’t there to bug me. I told Kristen and the others that I wasn’t feeling so well, and I wanted to be alone, which wasn’t even a lie. I was fighting my addiction every second, and I could feel my control slipping away, my temper getting scary at times, and the medication not working as it should. It was getting harder and harder to control the shaking in my hands and some people had already noticed.

I dragged myself to my next class, which was psychology. I was nervous because I hadn’t taken the subject at my last high school.

The class was already almost full because I had enjoyed my moment of solitude in the field a little too long, and now the only empty seats were the ones at the front of the class.

Great.

My breath quickened briefly when I saw him.

He was sitting at the very back, at the last table by the window. Harris looked like he always did, like he was the angry supervisor of every student present in the class who might break their bones if they didn’t listen. He could barely fit behind the desk and all he had with him was a pen that he twirled between his fingers. I could never master that trick; it was a drummer’s signature.

He noticed me as soon as I entered, and not just him.

I cursed in my head, because the class was full of all the people I already knew. My friends, and his.

Violet gave me a cheeky grin when she spotted me. Jay was sitting in front of Harris.

Sitting next to Harris was… Amber.

They sat there methodically, like predators ready to hunt, and I wondered how important grades were in this subject, because I felt tempted to skip it for the rest of the school year.

I let out a soft sigh and sat down in the front row, at the desk by the window because it was the only one unoccupied.

I felt every pair of eyes stabbing into my back like poisoned daggers and I clutched the pencil tighter to block out all thoughts and reactions.

I wasn’t in the mood for these people, I felt sick, and the class began to spin with me. I was getting restless and, fuck my life, my irascibility level increased by the second. I felt able to shout at everyone in the classroom, even though none of them said a word to me.

“Kath, are you okay?”

I turned my head to Zac, who was sitting in the middle row, and forced myself to smile as I nodded.

A worried expression crossed his face, but he didn’t continue the conversation because the teacher entered the class.

She appeared to be no older than thirty, was very slim and wore a summer dress that came down to her knees. Her chestnut brown hair was long and reached the nape of her neck, thin and straight. The look on her face told me that she was perhaps one of the nice ones. If I didn’t get her mixed up, her name would be Ana Ghelager.

She began to call our names in alphabetical order, and I waited my turn before answering “ here ”. At that moment, I heard the first interruption that threatened to detonate the bomb that was ticking inside me.

“It would have been better if you weren’t…” Amber commented right after I spoke.

I clutched the pencil tighter to hold myself back: If I had blown up, I didn’t know what would have happened.

“Shut up, Amber,” I heard Violet’s voice.

“Why? It was so quiet before this freak showed up and acted like she belonged here.”

The pencil cracked in my hand.

The sound of the wood breaking caught everyone’s attention more than her words. I thought I heard our teacher reprimanding her for her lack of shame, but my hearing was unreliable because the blood was pulsing so loudly in my ears.

Before I could think, I stood up, determined not to stop until I had all her hair in my hands, but someone else moved faster than I did.

Harris was already standing in front of me when I turned around. He’d been on his feet since I’d broken the pencil.

He looked at my face, and I knew exactly what he saw.

I was shaking so much that he covered my body with his so the others couldn’t see that I was acting like a rabid dog. Unlike the others, he knew exactly what was happening to me.

“Get out of my sight,” I growled more devilishly than I ever thought I was capable of.

He grabbed my arms and held me tightly as I tried to walk past him.

“Miss Ghelager, Katherine needs some fresh air. We’ll be back in no time,” his voice was sweet and deceptive as he smiled at the teacher above my head, while his grip didn’t match that tone.

My eyes were locked on Amber; I wanted to rip her to shreds, sink my nails into her neck. Her scowl had no effect on me, and it faded shortly after. A sign that whatever she saw on my face frightened her.

“Of course. Katherine, are you all right?” I barely had time to shake my head before Harris dragged me out of the classroom.

“Let go of me! I’ll kill her,” I growled as I realized he was pulling me away from Amber.

He didn’t answer, and I would have become even angrier if my strength had allowed it.

“Harris, let go of me. Where are you taking me?”

No answer as he dragged me down the empty hallway behind him, but I stumbled as my vision clouded and my brain seemed to implode inside my skull. A pained groan escaped me, and I stopped and pressed my fingers to my forehead.

“Hang on, it’ll be over soon.”

As if from a dream, I heard his voice, then my body lost its stability. For a moment I thought I was going to collapse, but Harris took me in his arms.

I was no longer able to fight him, no longer able to say a word. He kicked in a door and sat me down on a cold surface, because I couldn’t see anything clearly anymore; he was just a huge black silhouette that seemed to lean over me.

I gritted my teeth and tried to regain my composure, and I could see Harris tearing a small packet with his teeth, then pouring the white dust in thin lines over his wrist.

I didn’t say anything, I didn’t resist, I just waited for the drug like a hungry wild animal, and as soon as Harris thrust his hand forward, I grabbed it and buried my nose in the holy cursed dust. I pressed one nostril with my finger and snorted the fine powder through the other.

I inhaled it faster than ever and pulled Harris closer to me. He wrapped his other arm around my waist and whispered something in my ear, but I wasn’t able to hear him. A bomb exploded inside me, affecting my nervous system from head to toe. I felt like a rusty car that had just been filled up with the strongest fuel in the world.

My airways were burning, my throat, my lungs, my veins. A fucking burn that was insanely pleasurable, like a fire in the middle of a frozen ocean.

When I finished and pulled my head back, I closed my eyes and let out a sound of satisfaction mixed with pain, calm and anger. It only took a few seconds before I felt it really kick in and my heart began to pump faster, my blood rushing through my veins at lightning speed. My hands, which were so frozen, began to warm up and my headache slowly subsided.

I wiped my nose and took a deep breath.

I opened my eyes as the drug took over me completely, and what I saw sparked something else in me.

Harris was watching me intently with curious eyes, a little scared…. so insanely sexy. God, had he always been this mesmerizing?

My blood went crazy, and I couldn’t hold back as the new sensations completely overtook me.

“Are you…”

That was all I allowed him to say. I grabbed him by the neck and pulled him to me, pressing my mouth to his as my legs locked around his hips.

I had no idea how I was capable of doing that, or what I was sitting on exactly, but I didn’t care.

He didn’t even hesitate for a second as he returned my kiss wildly, and I moaned against his lips.

I wanted him naked; I wanted him on top of me. Inside me.

I had lost all control, worse than ever before. And although I had no idea what kind of drug he had given me, it triggered pure madness in my head.

I grabbed his t-shirt and pulled it over his chest while Harris lifted his arms and allowed me to take it off him, then he grabbed my tank top and pulled it off in a flash. That was all I needed, I blinked, and I was in my bra. My hair fluffed around my face, and Harris took the back of my neck in his huge palm and crushed his lips to mine once more.

The volcano inside me threatened to erupt as the pressure gathered in my womb, in the most sensitive and wildest part of my body, where I wanted Harris so badly at that moment. I sank my nails into his neck and ran them over his strong, taut chest, an action that elicited a moan from me because touching him brought me so much pleasure.

It was stronger than the drug I’d snorted earlier.

“Harris,” I moaned his name as his lips traveled to my neck where he sucked and kissed the skin that seemed on the verge of bursting.

His groan was stronger than mine, and I knew exactly what had caused it: his name on my lips.

I fumbled with his belt and tried to pull it off while my blood pressure exploded; I wanted more. I wanted it all! This ordeal between us had gone on long enough.

Harris suddenly exhaled over my skin and sank his teeth into it, placing his palm over my mouth to stifle the scream that escaped my lips. I gripped his shoulders with all my strength and pushed myself into him, which brought a groan from the back of my neck, and he cursed.

He pulled back and looked at me. His demonic eyes were more dangerous than I’d ever seen them, a primitive savagery lurking in them.

“We have to stop.”

I could not believe my ears.

I grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him close again, then whispered sensually across his lips.

“I don’t want to stop anymore. We know we’ll end up here eventually.”

His mouth formed an exhausted smile as he leaned his forehead against mine, and he winced as I sank my nails into his pecs again, then swallowed audibly.

“Yeah, we’ll get to it, but not in a fucking high school restroom. Not if I have to cover your mouth so your moans and screams can’t be heard. That’s not how this is going to go down.”

Still dazed and with an out-of-control state of mind, I didn’t listen to him and continued to bait him with my touch. He grabbed my hand as I stroked his jeans button. His erection almost broke through the fabric.

“Not now.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re high and have lost all control,” he grinned devilishly, pulling my hand to his lips.

“I love your challenges,” I growled.

I’d had enough talk; I wanted action, I wanted sex, fucking hell! Never in my life had I taken any drugs that triggered such feelings. They had never manifested themselves in this way, not until I met Harris.

“Since when do you have such self-control?”

“I’m holding on by a fucking thread right now. All I can think about is how much you’re going to hate me afterward and how you’re going to think I took advantage of you,” he put his thumb to my lips to stop my protest. “We have to… fuck,” his words turned into a desperate moan as I wrapped my mouth around his finger.

I swirled my tongue around it and sucked gently as Harris watched my mouth with furious eyes, his body shaking. I felt his cock getting harder, more massive, and he gritted his teeth. He leaned over me, so close to giving in again, then he pulled away from me.

I was about to fall off as he stepped back, turned his back to me and ran his fingers through his hair while he growled through his teeth.

He was tense, sexy, and I wanted to lick every inch of his skin.

Somewhere deep in a corner of my mind, I knew I was completely off the rails, and would be in trouble if I didn’t stop. But like I said… that corner was buried deep.

Harris was muttering obscene curses, and I noticed that his back was free of tattoos, while his stomach, chest and arms were full of them.

He didn’t turn to face me. He just went to the sink, filled his palms with water and splashed it over his face. At that moment, I realized that I was also sitting on the counter that connected the sinks.

His desperation made me giggle. I leaned back against the mirror and felt how cold it was on my bare skin, but I was too heated anyway.

Harris scowled at me.

“Am I funny?”

“You’re hot.”

His tongue darted out as he licked his lips and looked at me in a way that made me moan. His arousing smile was enough to make me come. He was fully aware of his looks, of what he was doing to me, and now he was just satisfied that I was finally admitting it.

I’d probably slap myself for it later.

He straightened his spine and exhaled heavily.

I bit my lip and analyzed his perfection.

He approached me and gripped my hips.

“I knew you’d torture me, but I didn’t expect it to be this agonizing.”

I giggled as he pulled me off the counter and propped my palms on his chest.

“It’s only just begun, baby,” I repeated the words he’d said just the day before.

He looked at me with crazy eyes, then exhaled through his nostrils.

“Yeah, you’re definitely going to torture me worse than I imagined.”

I could barely contain my hysterical laughter as Harris came out of the bathroom with me on his shoulder.

He’d struggled to dress me, and when he saw that I wasn’t really in the mood to submit to his abstinence, he hoisted me onto his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and walked out, muttering that I was going to send him straight to hell. He gave me a slap on the ass as I started to move in his grip.

“Behave yourself, you devil!”

I grinned. My hormones calmed down a little, but I was still determined to jump his bones, even if I was already on top of him.

“Or what?”

“Or I’ll sink my teeth into your ass and the whole school will hear you,” he lowered me to my feet again and looked at me with those cursed eyes of his.

He almost laughed, but he held back.

“What?” I whispered.

Was there something on my face?

“It’s going to be impossible to hide what happened,” he said before opening the door and letting me go first while he was right behind me.