HORNS (BoyXBoy)

Chapter 39

WARNING: Contains potentially triggering content.
Read at your own risk

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Chapter Thirty Nine

My heart was pounding. It wouldn't fucking stop pounding, it just kept going and going and going, and I couldn't make it end. I'd left the room without a word, clutching my mouth to keep from letting out a scream of shock, because I recognized this feeling.

I recognized this spark that had ignited in my chest and it scared me.

I stopped loping once I turned the corner, clutching my chest and leaning against the wall, head thumping back as I fought for air. Disbelief and dismay flooded through me as I stared at the ceiling above me, fighting to keep a level head.

It isn't the same, I told myself, closing my eyes as I beat against my chest with a fist. It's not a crush, it can't be. I barely know him and it took a year for me to start crushing on Erika! Plus, even if it is a crush, I can't... act on it with him. He doesn't understand things yet. He hasn't even had the opportunity to really live--I can't take the opportunity to choose someone better away from him. If I did, I'd be the most selfish and manipulative fucker on the planet...

In my head, it all made so much sense--I'd have to be crazy to feel this way... and yet...

I flinched, heart palpitating as the memory of that smile flashed across my brain, making my gut churn and the veins in my throat and wrists pound incessantly. I let out a soft groan, gritting my teeth with a pained expression.

"Dammit," I hissed out. "I fucking hate this shit."

"And I still hate you," a deep voice sourly rebutted, and I admit it--I was scared so bad by the unexpected statement that I squealed like a girl and all the fur on my legs and tail puffed out. I whirled on my hooves to see Huang Wu Tao leaning against the opposite wall with his razor-sharp blue eyes fixed on my face, glaring daggers. He sneered at me, lip curling. "Pussy."

"Not cool, man!" I shrilled at him, fighting for air. "I nearly peed myself!"

"No you didn't," he lazily drawled, giving me a look up and down. "Tell me, does it make you happy to know that you've developed a crush on the vampire? Hm?"

I froze, ears dropping limply in horror when he glared me down with bladed pupils.

"I... I-I don't have a crush on Echo," I stammered, and he narrowed his eyes. His arms lowered and he came off the wall, swaggering towards me in a predatory way, and I flinched back in alarm when he violently slammed his hands against the wall on either side of my head.

Irises like sharp sapphires and just as cold and pretty glared me down from within narrow, exotic, masculine eyes framed by those heavy eyebrows. His square jaw clenched as he looked at me, and a lock of his normally braided hair fell across his face, startling me.

He'd never let his hair down even once in the five years I'd known him.

"You don't have a crush on him?" he growled, glowering at me. "Not even the slightest stirring?"

"N... no," I whispered, thoroughly intimidated by his behavior, "but... how is that your business?"

"You feel nothing for him," he repeated, harder, making me flinch. "Nothing at all."

"I... does it matter?" I hesitantly questioned, and his brows twitched. "Even if I did, why does it matter? Why are you acting like this? It's worse than an over-possessive alpha werewolf!"