Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 46619 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 233(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46619 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 233(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I ask, pushing away from the door. “What’s this push and pull? Who do you think you are to toy with my feelings? One minute you’re hot, the next you’re running cold. Make up your damn mind. Didn’t you want me to find myself a younger man who’d treat me better? What the hell are you doing at my door, then? What do you want from me, dammit!
“You know what? You need to leave!”
“I can’t,” Abram insists. “Please, let me explain. Can I come in?
“No,” I reply curtly.
“Melody...please.”
I start to close the door, but I catch sight of Jack in the distance, looking in our direction.
He has a lazy smile on his face as he watches our exchange with detached interest.
Our eyes meet, and his thin mouth pulls up in a mocking smirk.
My stomach curls up with a sickening combination of disgust and fear. I clear my throat awkwardly and step aside for Abram.
“Okay. Five minutes.”
A relieved expression instantly settles on Abram’s face. “Thank you, Melody,” he says, stepping into the tiny apartment.
I bolt the door behind me and clear my throat nervously.
The room feels impossibly smaller with Abram’s dominating presence.
I suddenly realize my mistake.
How can I breathe properly with only the two of us in this confined space?
I can already feel my anger rapidly melting away like ice on heat, and in its place is that thrumming lust that always accompanies Abram’s presence.
“Please sit,” I say, gesturing to the only chair in the room.
Abram doesn’t comply, instead, he comes to stand in front of me.
“I’m so sorry about last night, Melody. I really am. I don’t know what came over me.”
It’s the same thing that he said last night after he turned me on and left me hanging.
I couldn’t for the life of me look at him in the eyes lest I burst into angry tears of humiliation. I’ve embarrassed myself enough in front of him.
“I don’t need your apology,” I say truthfully. “I get it... You don’t want to be with a fat, ugly woman with nothing to offer but her stale virginity. It’s understandable.”
“Are you kidding me?” Abram asks with an incredulous scoff. “I’ve wanted you since the first night I found you in my bed. I’ve had to take cold showers at odd times during the days just to tamper the urge to... Fuck! How could you say something like that about yourself?”
I blink at him in stunned surprise.
If that’s true then, why….
“Is this some mind game?” I ask, searching his eyes.
Abram sighs and shakes his head.
“No, Melody,” Abram says, taking my hands in his. This time, I let him. “I’ve never wanted any woman more...I crave you so much that it hurts physically.”
“Then, why did you do that to me?” I ask him, forcing the words past the painful constriction in my throat. “Why did you make me feel so undesirable after I offered myself to you?”
Abram lets go of my hands and turns away from me, running a hand through his hair.
“I’m trying to protect you, dammit,” he says after a few seconds of tense silence. “I was trying not to be selfish for once in my life.”
I move to stand in front of him, desperate to understand his complicated way of reasoning.
“What were you trying to protect me from, Abram?” I ask, wishing for the first time he’d look into my eyes and open the windows to his soul so I can see every little thing he’s feeling at the moment.
“Myself, dammit,” Abram replies as if that response should make sense to me.
He must have seen my confusion deepening because he runs his hand through his hair and mutters a curse.
“You...You don’t understand, Melody. I’m jaded. It’s complicated. I don’t know how to care for anyone or anything other than myself. I’m selfish and sometimes conceited. I...I don’t want to hurt you.”
“But you won’t,” I say to him with a surprising conviction.
Abram lets out a self-deprecating snort. “You don’t know that, Melody. I’ve only caused heartbreak to those who love me. I’m more of an asshole than you’d ever imagine.”
How can he call himself jaded when he’s this worried about hurting me?
It was like he was finding reasons for me to give up on him and not the other way round.
He looks so agonized that my heart breaks for him.
I suddenly don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
We’re both more damaged than the other though. Knowing this about him attracts me even more.
I raise my eyes to Abram’s, and I don’t know whether to comfort him or give in to the urge to kiss the stuffing out of him.
Heck, how on earth did we get to this point?
I walk closer to him and wrap my arms around his waist in a gentle embrace. I rest my head on his chest and sigh heavily.