Chapter 273: You’re too cruel

The next second, I didn’t even have time to react before he abruptly closed the distance. His hot palms slid onto my shoulders, gripping me tight. With a sharp yank, Damian hauled me into his space, pressing me against his hard chest—and right then, a terrifying truth slammed into me: whatever was happening between us had nothing to do with friendship.

The kiss could have been innocent, except that my entire chest was fluttering with a wild, feverish tension. The way his strong hands branded my skin. The way his ragged breath scorched my neck. It was all just a pretense to touch me, to draw closer.

Every instinct screamed at me to push him away, to strike his chest, but I was utterly paralyzed, drained of the strength to fight back. It felt as though the wind had been forcefully knocked right out of me, leaving me utterly immobile.

The moment he finally pulled back, I barely fought off the frantic urge to bolt from the car and run as far away as possible—anything to escape his gaze.

Damian’s breathing came in ragged, hunted gasps, his fists clenched so tightly the skin stretched white over his knuckles. He shifted away from me, exhaling a heavy, shuddering breath, and dragged a hand through his hair, raking it backward. Deep inside my own chest, my heart was hammering with a frantic, terrifying speed, violently battering against my ribs.

"Don’t ever do that again," I rasped out, refusing to meet his eyes. "This has gone way too far. We can’t do this."

"Do what?" The guy instantly stiffened.

His features sharpened with predatory intensity, and he lunged toward me again. I practically flattened myself against the passenger door, my fingers clawing frantically for the handle.

"What you just did. That wasn’t a friendly kiss by any stretch of the imagination."

Biting my lip until a sharp pain bloomed, I yanked the handle and spilled out of the car into the cool night air. My cheeks burned so fiercely I felt as though my entire body was radiating feverish heat. Stumbling away from the vehicle, I hurried toward the apartment entrance without even saying goodbye.

"Amelie, stop."

His voice echoed right behind me. The next instant, powerful hands caught me by the waist, blocking my path before I could slip inside. Whirling me around to face him, Damian towered over me, his broad frame completely eclipsing everything else in my field of vision.

"I want to go home. Let me go," I choked out, trying to step back, only to hit the solid barrier of the door. It opened outward, leaving me trapped with nowhere to push. Damn it!

"Why are you suddenly so furious?" he asked, completely ignoring my plea.

He only removed one hand from my waist, just long enough to plant it against the door beside my head, effectively caging me in and cutting off any path of retreat—as if I were ready to bolt right then and there.

Perhaps I was. My heart was hammering against my ribs with such violent force that it felt as though it might shatter the bone, overflowing with adrenaline as if preparing to sprint ahead of me through the courtyard. But in truth, I was mostly furious with myself—at my own abnormal, terrifying physical reaction to his touch.

Furious that he could awaken such wild, uncontrollable feelings inside me.

"Because you lied to me!"

"I didn’t lie."

"You twisted everything to suit your own needs! You... you said you’d kiss my cheek."

"And I kissed your cheek."

"But your hands were all over me!" Swallowing hard, I stubbornly thrust my chin out.

"You didn’t say I couldn’t," Damian smirked.

Looking at that smirk, all I saw was a man who completely disregarded my boundaries. The whole charade of trying to be "just friends" had been a damn trap all along, and he would always bend the rules to whatever served him best.

"Go to hell," I snapped, losing my grip as I shoved him hard in the chest and lunged for the door handle.

The moment I turned my back, his hot hands slid right back onto my waist. He hauled me flush against his frame so tightly that I nearly choked on my own breath.

His nose buried deep into the crown of my head, and the alpha let out a heavy, shuddering groan that sent a violent shiver of goosebumps racing down my spine.

"Let me go!" Driving my elbows back into his solid torso, I began to thrash wildly, desperate to break free. But he only locked his arms around me tighter.

"I’m sorry," he murmured hoarsely, falling silent for a moment as the radiant heat of his body washed over me. "It’s agonizingly hard to hold myself back when I’m this close to you. Especially knowing that friendship is the last thing I want from you. And you..."

"I won’t be yours in the way you want me to be."

Casting my gaze down to my feet, I nervously kicked a tiny pebble with the toe of my shoe. The silence that followed my words was deafening. It felt as though even the stray birds had stopped chirping. The wind died down, and the night air grew thick and stifling, as if the heavy darkness emanated from Damian himself. He stood in tense, suffocating silence.

"You’re too cruel to me," the alpha finally breathed, slowly pulling back from me. "Show me a drop of mercy. For the record, I’m trying very hard. Despite every single feeling I have for you, I’m trying not to force anything. And since you asked to be friends, I agreed to even that. Just... accept the fact that the beginning is going to be hell for me."

There was so much raw anguish in his voice that a sudden wave of guilt washed over me. In truth, this was probably tearing him apart far worse than it was tearing at me.

"Wouldn’t it be easier if we just stopped talking altogether, if you can’t turn off your feelings and I can’t accept them?"

Turning back to face Damian, I instinctively crossed my arms, pulling my cardigan tighter across my chest as a sudden, inexplicable chill swept over me. Lately, I had been plagued by an inner fever, but right now, I felt strangely, bone-chillingly cold.

The moment our eyes locked again, a wave of jagged goosebumps rippled across my skin. A nervous tremor coiled tight behind my ribs, lodging as a suffocating lump in my throat.

"No," the guy cut in harshly.

Leaning forward, he brushed his lips lightly against my cheek, not lingering for even a second.

"Run on home."

As I climbed the stairs, I couldn’t shake the oppressive feeling that I had never heard such a hollow, deadened tone or seen such a vacant look in his eyes before. Normally, no matter what happened, some trace of emotion always flickered within him. But now, it was as if everything inside had died out—burned down completely to ash.

The kiss he pressed to my cheek before I stepped into the building felt utterly nonexistent. It held none of the raw, burning passion or emotion of what had transpired in the car.

It was nothing more than a dry, perfunctory gesture of politeness, and nothing more. Deep inside me, something shrieked in silent hysteria, urging me to turn around, run back down, and undo whatever had just gone so horribly wrong at the door.

Ultimately, shoving all my conflicting urges deep down where they couldn’t hurt, I exhaled a ragged breath and kept moving. Only one flight of stairs remained between me and my apartment door.

"Got a light?"

Turning my head toward the voice, my entire body jerked with sudden shock. Emerging from the dim shadows of the landing was the very same man I had crossed paths with earlier today when I went out to meet Damian. He stood near the trash chute recess, arms crossed over his chest, staring straight at me. I instantly despised that sticky, predatory chill in his gaze.

"Sorry, no," I mumbled.

Quickening my pace, I tried to slip swiftly past him. The man practically radiated a toxic aura of threat, poisoning the air around him. Every fiber of my being recoiled at the thought of brushing past him so closely, but I saw no other way to reach my front door.

The second I turned away and took a step onto the next stair, a sharp, searing pain exploded at the base of my skull. Staggering from the sheer force and suddenness of the blow, I hissed through my teeth, instinctively bringing a hand up to the throbbing spot—only for my fingers to brush against something warm and wet.

My heart hammered against my ribs at a frantic, dizzying tempo. Bringing my trembling hand up to my face and catching sight of the dark blood gleaming in the dim light, I almost screamed. I lunged forward, but my vision instantly blurred with black spots. The last thing I felt before I lost my balance was my body tipping sideways and rough hands catching me mid-air.

"What the hell did you hit her that hard for? What if you killed her, you idiot?"

A distorted, muffled voice reached me just before I finally plunged headfirst into complete darkness.