His Trouble Maker

Chapter 99

38

JESSICA

There’s a part of me that thinks this is just a nightmare. That if I dig my nails deep enough into my palm, I’ll wake up in my bed. Back home. Whole. Before the cell. Before Riot. Before any of this.

I keep thinking if I stand still long enough, maybe I’ll feel like myself again. Maybe the wind will scrape off whatever Riot did. Maybe I’ll stop flinching at nothing. Maybe Grayson will stop looking at me like I’m breakable.

Or worse–like I’m not.

I crossed a line. Or someone did. Or maybe we all did and now no one wants to say it first. My heat broke. The fever’s gone. But everything else–my instincts, my body, the part of me that still wants to crawl out of my skin–it’s still here.

Riot touched me like I belonged to him.

And some part of me let him.

That’s what I can’t say out loud.

It wasn’t choice. Not really. But it wasn’t exactly resistance either. It was survival. It was instinct. It was need warped into something feral and ugly.

“Grayson…“I said, turning around so I could face him. We decided to watch the sunrise earlier after our fight last night. It was something we should’ve done and I am so pathetic for saying all of those words to him.

When I look up, he looks so tired. His eyes are red and puffy and he looks like he really hasn’t gotten any sleep ever since he rescued me. There’s also a fine line on his forehead now and I wonder how much thinking he does to keep us alive.

“You look like shit,” I murmur, softer than I mean to.

He huffs out a breath through his nose–half–laugh, half–exhale. “Thanks.”

I step closer, even though my chest tightens when I do. There’s still this horrible thing inside me that wants to run the second he gets too close.

“I didn’t mean it,” I say. My voice cracks a little. “What I said last night.”

Grayson frowns as if the fight still bothers him. “Which part?”

admit. “Some of it. I don’t know.” I rub my arms. “I’m still

already knew

my sides, and I hate how I am hesitating now, touching his face. “I keep trying to shake it off. Wash it out. But it’s still there,” L whisper. “I still feel him sometimes. On my skin. In my head. Like I forgot

on the inside of my cheek. I shouldn’t be saying this to Grayson. I shouldn’t be dumping my broken

want him to know. I need him to know. Because if anyone’s

Carefully. Like he’s afraid ‘ flinch. And maybe i do a little. But I don’t pull away when

part of you

My breath catches.

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Tue, 26 Aug

Chapter 99

$ ཊཱི63%

jaw, not rough, not demanding–just… there. Anchoring. Thumb brushing my cheek like I might disappear if

Then-

of my nose, warm and featherlight. A barely–there kiss,

breath is warm. His

The slope of my cheek.

“Here?”

full and too empty at the same time.

slide up to my hairline, brushing a few loose strands back, and he kisses just above my eyebrow

My senses go sharp.

my back, cooler now, slipping between the trees. I hear water lapping quietly behind us, the lake soft and dark and watching.

of my eyes before I can stop them. My throat tightens, and I

pulls back just enough

touched you, baby. I will still love

my cheeks. He just kisses one. Then another. Then my jaw, just under my ear. His breath fans over my

moves to the small of my back. His touch never strays, never shifts into something

graze the corner of my mouth, not quite a kiss.

words break

in. Just a little. Just enough that my forehead brushes

says, and this time he kisses

lips move over mine like he’s relearning every ridge and curve–soft at first, then rougher as his intention sharpens. I taste myself–salt and fear and something foreign under his tongue–then I taste him: woodsmoke, pine, and