"Well, that's me," I say as we approach Daemon's car.
Jay seems disappointed, reaching out to grasp my hand to stop me from leaving. "Hey, could we hang out sometime? Like outside of school?" he asks.
I smile breaks out on my face. "Sure! My friends would love to meet you!" Lylah and Wren will be so excited.
Jay scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. "Actually, I meant just us-"
"Omega. Do I have to wait here all day?" the familiar deep voice rings out behind me and I turn to see Daemon has rolled down the window. I stick my tongue out at him before looking back to Jay.
"Sorry about that. What were you saying?"
"Uh-it's nothing," Jay says quickly, the words kind of jumbling. "See you tomorrow, Ash,"
"See you!" I wave at him before getting in the car.
I don't spare Daemon a second glance as I pull out my phone to text my friends. I've decided to give him a taste of his own medicine. He doesn't speak either, but I can feel his gaze on me. There's this weird tension in the air and it makes me apprehensive. He seems annoyed, but when is he not?
When we get to the house I'm about to go up to my room but Daemon's asks me something that makes me stop. "Was that your boyfriend?"
I'm already not in the best mood and I'm about to go through the trouble of explaining Jay is just a friend when an idea pops into my head. "What if he is?" I say, crossing my arms as I lean against the wall.
"Is he or is he not?"
There he goes again, demanding answers. "What's it to you, Daemon?"
"I don't like him," he says, lips pressed in a hard line. I want to roll my eyes at that. Why is he acting like he's jealous or something?
"Oh and why not? He treats me so well, unlike someone. He's such a gentleman. In fact, he saved me at school today,"
The anger on his face fades a bit, and he almost looks worried but I know that can't be. "Saved you? What happened?"
"Wouldn't you like to know? Well, stop pretending you care." I glare at him before going up the stairs. I keep up my arrogant facade up until I reach my room, my teeth gritted and my fists clenched. But my eyes are already starting to well up with tears and I bite my lip to keep them in. As soon as the door closes though, I crumple, letting my tears fall. I rush to my bed, burying my face into a pillow, trying to cry as silently as I can into it.
Everything's become too much. Fighting with Daemon. Trent being shitty to me. A sandbag falling and almost killing me. I'm just so sick of it all. I thought everything would be better once I got away from my stepfather but right now it doesn't feel like that at all. It's just painful and it makes me want to scream but I don't want to make noise so I settle for holding my breath against my pillow until my lungs are practically burning.
It hurts a lot but it kind of makes me feel better so I do it again, but for longer this time. It's a strange sensation, my vision dark as I'm unable to breathe. Once it becomes unbearable, I gasp for breath as I finally let myself take in air, holding my chest as my heart beats erratically. As my lungs ache in recovery, I feel a kind of rush but I also feel a little guilty for what I just did. But I kind of want to do it again.
I shake my head with a sniffle. I feel pretty dirty right now, especially after taking a dive on the dirty stage floor today, so I decide to take a shower. Showers always make me feel better.
*
A little later I'm chilling at my desk finishing up my homework when I hear a knock on my door. Assuming it's Lucien I chirp out an inviting "Come in!" My smile drops when I see it's Daemon. I'm still upset with him.
I don't want to see him. But a small part of me tells me that's a lie. "You're still here?"
"Not by choice," Daemon narrows his eyes at me. "Lucien needs me for something. And, I came to warn you my brother's coming over tonight,"
"Why would you need to warn me about that?"
"Let's just say he's the suspicious type and he's not too fond of Dark Moon. Not to mention he has a bad temper. So just keep your head down and let Lucien or I do the talking, okay?"
"Sounds like you and your brother have many things in common," I tease, perching up on the desk so my feet dangle, my legs not long enough to reach the ground.
Daemon lets out a huff of annoyance. "You're lucky you're an omega,"
"I'm not scared of you," I challenge. Because I know Daemon won't harm me. He's never made me feel like he's going to harm me, despite all the brawn he carries.
What I don't expect is for Daemon is to cross the room toward me to stand against the desk, trapping me by settling his muscled arms on either side of me, hands flat against the surface.
"Is that so?" he says quietly, his face a few inches from mine. His dark orbs bore into my light ones, daring me to challenge him further.
My face flushes at how close we are, surprising even myself when a pang of arousal courses through me at the scent of him. Why does he smell so freaking good?
"Y-you won't hurt me,"
"I won't," he whispers huskily, leaning in. "But I can do other things to you,"
My stomach flips in excitement. "What kinds of t-things?" I ask breathlessly.
"Bad, dirty things," his breath tickles my ear and a shiver goes up my spine.
I suck in a breath, sure my face is flaming by now. And the thing is, the most troubling thing to me right now isn't that he's so close to me, it's that he's so close and not touching me. And oh how I want him to touch me. I want his big hands on my thighs and his--
Oh, god, I need to snap out of it! What am I even thinking right now? Why am liking this? I don't want to admit how much this is turning me on, it's so embarrassing. And weren't we just fighting? Is this just my anger toward him that's conflicting my hormones and making me react like this? That has to be it. Daemon's just trying to intimidate me, to make the omega in me submit to his alpha in response to my challenge. It's probably all a game to him.
But one look at his full, mouthwatering lips has me dying to squeeze my thighs together, for any type of friction, but I just end up hooking his torso between my legs. The heat of his skin I can feel through his pants on my bare legs causes me to let out a small whimper to which Daemon responds with a growl.
"Ash-"
"Daemon? Are you up there?" Lucien's voice calls from downstairs.
Startled, I abruptly push Daemon away from me, making him take a few steps back. We stare at each other, me in shock from what just occurred, him still with that dark, hungry look in his eyes. My body is still tingling from the thrill, even though I can't say anything really happened. I mean, does this mean something? If it does...I don't know what.