But most of all, I fight the part inside me that craves surrendering to Aiden’s touch.

That’s the hardest thing to fight. How can I fight myself and not lose?

How the hell did I let Aiden engrave himself into me this deep?

“If you scream.” He licks the water off my ear as he murmurs in a chilling low range, “You won’t like what they see when they come to find us.”

I gulp against his hand, my heartbeat skyrocketing.

“Be smart, sweetheart. You’ve been stupid enough this past week.”

He slowly removes his hand, but he doesn’t step back. If anything, he pushes me further into the wall so my back and arse are glued to the tiles.

I gasp for air, breathing through my nose and then my mouth.

I stare at his punishing dark eyes.

At the cruelty.

At the determination.

At the water forming rivulets down the hard lines of his face.

A wave of sadness and injustice flares through me. Soon, all those emotions turn into boiling rage.

How dare he?

How fucking dare he?

“What part of ‘we’re over’ do you not understand?” I ask with the calmest tone I can manage.

If I scream then I’ll start crying and I promised to never show this dickhead my tears again.

He narrows his eyes. “What did I just say about being smart?”

“We’re over.” I breathe so hard, it’s almost like I’m choking on air. “We’re fucking over, Aiden.”

“I never agreed to that.”

“You never agreed to that?” I repeat, incredulous. “So in your mind, we’re still together?”

“We are.” He doesn’t even miss a beat.

“If we’re still together and you took Silver to your pool, do you know what that means?” I hit his chest with a closed fist, feeling my walls cracking. “It means you cheated on me. I told you it’s over when you cheat on me.”

“But you said we aren’t together.” His infuriating poker face is on. “It’s not cheating when you dumped me in front of the entire school.”

“Fuck you, Aiden!” I pound both my palms on his chest. “Fuck. You!”

He grabs both my wrists in his strong hand and slams them on the tiles atop my head.

His shoulders strain with tension even as his face remains a calm façade. “Nothing happened with Queens.”

“Don’t lie to me! I saw —”

His mouth slams to mine, cutting off my outburst.

He sucks my lower lip into his mouth and then plunges his tongue inside, taking claim of mine. His hard muscles mould to my softer curves as he ravages my mouth.

It’s one of his animalistic, out-of-control kisses. I can only stand there in full stupefaction as he sucks the life out of me.

A part of me wants to let go.

A part of me wants that pleasure he always wrenches out of my body.

A part of me yearns for the intensity. The freedom of letting go.

But that part is a fucking idiot.

That part forgot that Aiden has a revenge plot against me. That he took Silver to his pool when it should’ve been our place.

That part needs to be eradicated.

I bite down on his lower lip so hard, a metallic taste explodes on my tongue.

I thought that would stop him. Just like at the party.

I thought wrong.

After all, the same trick doesn’t work twice. At least not on someone like Aiden.

If I’ve taken him by surprise once, he’ll make sure it never happens again.

He grinds his hips against mine and continues kissing me savagely. His hand cradles my face to pin me in place as he smears his blood all over my lips and tongue.

He makes me taste him. Taste what I did to him. This time, he doesn’t let me go. He makes me feel it over and over again as he twirls his tongue against mine.

The water washes away the blood, but not the lingering taste he leaves behind.

When he pulls away, I forget to breathe as I stare at his cut lower lip. At his rogue, exotic features.

“I never lie to you.”

I stare, not sure what he means.

“I don’t lie to you, so when I say nothing happened with Queens. It means nothing fucking happened with Queens.” He drags his thumb down my lower lip as if he’s still kissing me. “But if you continue acting this way, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

My lips tremble. “I told you. If you touch Silver, I swear to God, we’re fucking over no matter what you do.”

“No matter what I do, huh?” His fingers wrap around my throat as he pushes his hard cock against the bottom of my stomach. “Do you think you’ll ever get rid of me?”

“If you touch Silver or anyone else, you better be ready to rape me, then.” I deadpan.

The corner of his lip tilts in a cruel smirk. “Are you sure you want to throw that word around when you know I have no boundaries when it comes to you, sweetheart?”

I meet his gaze through blurry eyes. “I’m curious if you’ll still want the shell I’ll become.”

His left eye twitches.

“Do you know what a shell means, Aiden?” My voice raises with confidence. “It means that I’ll be your fucktoy. I’ll do everything you want without thinking about it. I’ll have no thoughts of my own and I’ll fade into nothing.”

“Shut up.”

“I’ll be good. I’ll be so good to you, Aiden. You’ll find no resistance,” I taunt. “I’ll be yours and you won’t even have to remind me of it anymore.”

“Shut the fuck up, Elsa.” He pulls my hands from the wall and slams them against it again.

“Why?” I breathe harshly. “Isn’t that what you want? Isn’t that what you’ve been trying to do since the beginning? Destroy me? So do it. Rape doesn’t scare you, right? So do it now and ruin me once and for all.”

He watches me intently with his left eye twitching like crazy.

I just hit a button.

Aiden loves the challenge I bring to his life. He said it himself that I break the endless vicious cycle. I figured he’d be pissed off if I threaten to take all the challenge away, but I didn’t think it’d hit his buttons this hard.

It takes him longer than usual to strap his reaction behind the infuriating poker face.

His mouth hovers inches away from mine. His intoxicating scent is all I can smell. His harsh breathing mingles with mine, almost muting the water beating down on us.

“Nice try, sweetheart.” He tilts his head, a smirk tugging on his lips. “You almost got me there.”

Shit. Fuck.

Still, I jut my chin. “You think I’m bluffing?”

“No. But I figured out your angle.”

“My angle?”

“You want me to rape you so that you can hate me.”

My breathing hitches. Is that what I really wanted?

Nope. He’s not dragging me into another one of his mind games.

“But guess what, sweetheart?” He licks the shell of my ear, causing a shiver to crackle down my spine. “When I fuck you, you’ll only be screaming in pleasure. With every thrust into your pussy, you’ll be chanting my name and begging for more.”

My chest heaves causing my throbbing, sensitive nipples to brush against his hard muscles.