Viktor(40)

“For the first time? What? You mean like you’d never seen the outside before that?”

I rub my lips together and nod.

“Wow …”

“Yeah … So I’ve told you my story. What’s yours?”

He licks his lips and falls back down onto the bed again. “I did something. I’m not sure if it was right or not. All I know is that it made me look like this.” He points at his face.

“Someone was very angry with you, I guess.”

He nods. “I ruined him. Betrayed his trust. He said it was the ultimate payback, what he did to me. Revenge.” He looks me in the eye with the most sincere, painful look I’ve seen in a long while.

“If I’d known this would happen … I’m not sure I would’ve done what I did.”

“So you regret it?”

“I don’t know.” He frowns and sighs. “Part of me does. Then another part doesn’t.”

“What did you do then?”

His face suddenly turns dark. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Why not?”

He sits up and slides his legs off the side of the bed. “Maybe another time.”

“Hey, that’s not fair. I talked about my past too.”

“I said I don’t want to talk about it.” His voice is suddenly so booming that it’s almost as if he wants me to shut up.

“Fine.” I turn around and stare at the wall. Anything but him right now.

He walks to his closet and grabs a few clothes, putting them on along the way. After a long silence, he sits back down on the edge of the bed, still not looking at me. “Believe me when I say you don’t wanna know.”

“I do. Why else would I ask?” I snap.

“You see the chair? That’s what I do when I get angry. And I get very, very angry when I’m reminded of that day, Lexi.”

He stands up, his body suddenly much taller and muscular than I remember it being when he was still on top of me.

“I get so fucking angry, I just lash out.”

Out of nowhere, he grabs the lamp and throws it at the wall, breaking it.

I swallow a shriek, my eyes widening at him as I freeze in place.

His head hangs down, and as I look at his scars, I can’t help but think they control him. It’s sad. Not because he’s sad or pathetic. It’s sad because he shouldn’t feel that way; they don’t control him, despite him probably thinking they do.

He marches toward the door, but before he can leave, I say, “For what it’s worth, I don’t see the scars. I see you.”

He pauses.

His head briefly turns, and he glances at me over his shoulder. “You can stay here … if you want.”

And then he walks out and shuts the door, leaving a cold draft behind him.





Chapter 13





Viktor





I’m obsessed with her to the point that it could mean my death.

She’s beyond dangerous … She just doesn’t know it.

She doesn’t know where she really came from. What it was like there. Her mind has twisted it into something she wants to miss, instead of something horrible and wrong with society.

And shit, I don’t blame her because I lived the same goddamn lie for years.

Always believing that what we did was okay as long as it benefitted someone. As long as we were satisfied, we didn’t care who we used. But living that life for so long does something to a person … it poisons them until they see the truth.

Which is where I’m at right now.

The horrifying truth of what I’ve done all those years.

What still goes on until this very day.

And she doesn’t know a thing about it.

I smash the door shut behind me and sit down behind my workbench. I can’t be anywhere near her right now. I’d only hurt her, mentally … physically … and that’s the last thing I want.

I don’t ever want to hurt her.

So I lock myself away in my workshop, hoping I can find some peace here, even if I don’t deserve it.

After popping a pill for the pain, I grab the ring I was working on and hover over the magnifying glass with my good eye. The crystal is looking good, but it needs a little more shaving off at the edges, so I flip it out of the ring and start sanding it down.

As I rub the small crystal vigorously, my mind can’t help but wander off.

It’s still stuck in that room with her, admiring her naked body, wanting more of it now that I’ve finally had a taste. I lick my lips from the thought and then smile from her sassy reply to my stares. I think it’s cute, except the part where she scolds me.

Specifically, when we talk about the past.

Fuck. She had to bring it up again … her history … mine.

If only she knew who I really was and what I’d done.