CHAPTER 16
ANNA’S POV
+25 BONUS
If embarrassment was a human being, then I was the living, breathing proof of it. I’d never in my life felt that humiliated, that stupid, that used. The moment I slammed my door shut, the tears just come, as if they’d been waiting behind my eyes all day, and now they had full permission to drown me, I didn’t even bother to turn on the light, didn’t even take off the blanket I’d stolen in panic while he kicked me out. I just collapsed on my bed and cried into my pillow, my arms wrapped around it so tightly it felt as if I was trying to hold myself together with it.
I cried hard, letting every single sob out. My chest was tight, my head pounding, my heart broken in a way I didn’t even know was possible. How could I let this happen? How could I give so much of myself to someone who didn’t
Want me?
I was done.
I was so done trying to win the heart of someone who clearly didn’t give a fuck about mine. I had opened up to him. Let him see every vulnerable, scared, messy part of me. I’d given myself to him completely. And he… he threw me out. Like I was some disgusting thing he couldn’t stand to look at.
“Oh G
God,” I whispered into the blanket, the tears coming again, harder this time.
I cried until I couldn’t even feel my face anymore. Until my chest felt hollow and my body was just lying there, waiting for sleep to take over. But just as I was drifting into that fragile space between crying and unconsciousness
I heard it a knock on the door. Followed by a voice.
“Anna”
My breath cought.
It was his voice. But not the one I was used to. This one was deeper, softer, darker somehow. Like he was trying to hold back something.
“Open the door.”
I stayed frozen. Every part of me wanted to run to the door, to open it, to throw myself into his arms. But I didn’t. I couldn’t. Not after what just happened.
Another knock. Then another.
“Anna.. fuck… open the door, baby.”
He sounded like he was in pain. Like he was struggling to even say those words. But I couldn’t move. I wasn’t ready. Not when my body was still trembling from the shame of how he’d thrown me out. I clutched the blonket tighter around me, buried my face into the wet pillow, and prayed he’d go away.
“Baby… open the door. I’m–fuck, I’m really sorry for how I spoke earlier. Please, fucking open the door. I need to see you. I need you. I’m fucking dying here…”
That broke something in me. But still, I didn’t move.
Then he started banging.
Not knocking, Banging
“Baby, please answer me! I know you’re not sleeping! I can feel you’re awake so open the damn door!”
1/3
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His voice was raised now, frustrated and desperate.
“Ryan, just go,” I said, trying to sound firm even as my voice cracked. “I don’t want to see you or have anything to do with you anymore.”
“Well, I want to!” he shouted back. “I need to see you or I might lose my fucking mind, Anna, so do both of us the fucking favor and open this damn door before I break in.”
“You dare not, Ryan!” I yelled, sitting up, the blanket falling off my shoulders. “Don’t you get it? I don’t want anything with you anymore!”
There was a beat of silence. Then his voice came again, deep and guttural.
“Anna. Open this fucking door. Now. Or I will break in.”
My heart dropped.
I stayed quiet. Maybe if I didn’t say anything, he’d give up. Maybe he’d p
But then I heard it, the sound of a key turning in the lock.
The door swung open.
- go.
Ryan stood there, breathing hard, his jaw tight, his eyes… his eyes weren’t the same. They were darker. Shadowed. Like a storm was inside them.
“Anna.”
“Get out!” I snapped. “I said I don’t want to see you or talk to you. Why don’t you fucking get it? Just leave me alone!”
He flinched but stepped inside anyway, shutting the door behind him.
“You wanted me to leave before, right?” I said, my voice rising as I stood from the bed, trying to stay strong even though my knees were weak. “You said it yourself this morning. And again tonight. So I will! I’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning. I’ll get the fuck out of your life. Now can you please do me the favor of leaving me the hell alone?! Just go! Leave this room! I know it’s yours, this whole house is yours and I’m just a fucking guest, so let me enjoy my last few hours here in peace!”
My whole body was shaking. With anger. With humiliation. With everything.
Especially want.
Even while I was screaming at him, even while my voice was full of rage and hurt, my body was reacting to the way he was looking at me. The way he stepped closer, his dark eyes locked on me like he could see through my soul.
“What are you doing?” I asked, stepping back as he stalked closer.
He didn’t answer.
He just kept coming.
Something about him looked different. Off. His fingers were clenched, as if he was holding himself back. His eyes looked like ink, like they could swallow me whole. His face was set, jaw tight, chest rising and falling like he was
fighting some internal war.
He didn’t look like Ryan.
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Not the Ryan I knew. This man… this man standing in front of me wasn’t Ryan.
He was something else.
I gasped and tried to jump off the bed, but he grabbed my leg and dragged me back to him, his grip firm but not painful. As he pulled me closer, the blanket slipped off completely, falling open and exposing my bare skin. I wasn’t wearing anything except my panties–I hadn’t expected anyone to barge in. Certainly not him.
I tried to cover myself but he grabbed my wrists and pinned them above my head with one hand. I struggled, but his grip was strong, his body hovering over mine as if he was claiming every inch of me with just his presence.
Then he did something that made my whole world spin.
He dropped to his knees in front of the bed.
And he placed his face between my thighs.
