Sweet Hatred
Chapter 199: "I’ll always come crawling back..."

Chapter 199: "I’ll always come crawling back..."

The door slammed shut behind us.

That’s when I felt it, beneath the still water of his perfectly controlled face, there was something boiling. He didn’t yell. Didn’t pace. He just stood there, blocking out the rest of the world like he was the goddamn building.

His eyes locked on mine.

"Why weren’t you picking up your calls?"

My mouth dried. "My phone... it was on silent. I was watching a movie."

I couldn’t even say it properly. It came out too fast, too fake.

His gaze narrowed, like he was cutting through every inch of that lie with surgical precision. I bristled immediately.

"If you don’t believe me, that’s your problem," I snapped. "I’m too tired for this."

But then, he blinked, and something softened.

He stepped closer. Not fast. Just enough to shift the air around me.

"I was worried about you," he said, voice low, softer now. "I kept calling."

I stared at his collar. At the slow rise and fall of his chest. Anything but his eyes.

"I’m sorry," I muttered, suddenly aware of how much of an asshole I was being. But it was too late. He was already closing the distance.

His hand slid to my back, firm and steady, anchoring me like he always did, without asking, without warning. His breath warmed my cheek. His eyes never left mine.

"I hate this," he murmured. "I hate the distance."

My heart did another one of those traitorous stunts, like it didn’t get the memo that we were supposed to be done with him.

I swallowed.

Then I ruined it.

"Are you sure it’s not just the sex?" I said, a weak attempt at a joke.

His expression didn’t move.

Not at first.

But then I saw it.

That flicker.

Like I’d thrown a dagger at something fragile and hit the mark dead center.

Shit.

"It was a joke," I added quickly. "I didn’t mean—"

But it was already gone. That closeness. That softness. He stepped back, cold slipping over him like armor.

"I’m glad you’re fine," he said flatly.

And then he left. Just like that.

The door clicked behind him, and I stood there like a dumbass, still catching my breath, still hating myself.

Nice job, Aria. You did it again. I didn’t know how long I stood there trying to convince myself it was better like this. If he got sick of me, maybe I’d have a better chance of getting over him.

Still I didn’t want him to leave just like that...

I was barely halfway to the door, just an inch from grabbing the handle and dragging my sorry self out to go scream into the stacks of paperwork sitting on my desk, when it swung open so suddenly, I stumbled back.

Kael.

He didn’t give me a second. Not a breath. Not even a blink.

His lips crashed into mine, raw and desperate, kissing me like he was starving and I was the first meal after a war.

My gasp got swallowed between our mouths as he slammed the door shut behind him, one hand already on my ass, gripping hard, lifting me off the goddamn floor as if I weighed less than a pencil, like I was his to move, to place, to devour.

And he did.

He set me down hard on the edge of the table, still not breaking the kiss. Still punishing my lips with his teeth and tongue like he was angry at them, angry at me.

I tried... tried... to pull back. Just to breathe. Just to ask what the fuck he was doing.

But he tugged me closer instead, yanking my thighs around his waist and fitting himself against me like he belonged there.

His hand slid up my back into my hair, dragging it back with a firm tug, exposing my face. My throat. Everything.

Then he kissed me properly.

Deep, slow, and infuriating.

Like he was reclaiming me.

Like I’d ever stopped being his.

His hand cupped my jaw, fingers spread, holding me steady, grounding me as I started to melt, lips swollen and gasping beneath his.

And just when I thought I could breathe, he bit my lower lip. Not too hard. Just enough to make me whimper into his mouth.

He moved to my neck next, hot, hungry kisses dragging down to the softest part of my throat. I moaned before I could stop myself, hands gripping his suit jacket, fingers twitching in the fabric like I was holding on for dear life.

"Kael..." I gasped, barely coherent. "W-wait."

He froze.

For a heartbeat.

Then his hand slid up, wrapped around my whole face like I was his fucking teddy bear, Like something fragile and beloved and a little stupid.

He squished my cheeks gently together, forcing me to look straight at him.

His eyes burned.

"Are you doing this on purpose?" he asked, voice low, dangerous in its softness.

I blinked, breathless. "What?"

But he didn’t wait for a response. Our lips met again. And again. And again. Hard. Soft. Messy. Beautiful. My heart was no longer in my chest; it was in his mouth.

He pulled back again, still holding my face like it was the only thing keeping him grounded.

"Are you trying to confuse me?" he asked. "Push me away?"

I opened my mouth. I think I said something. Or tried to. It didn’t matter. Because he was right and his mouth was back on mine before a sound could leave.

Then he kissed me slower this time, deeper, like he wanted to taste the yes and no tangled in my throat.

And when he finally—finally—pulled back, he didn’t go far. He buried his face in my neck again, breathing me in like I was oxygen.

"If that’s what you’re doing Aria," he murmured into my skin, "it won’t work."

His voice was so quiet, so heartbreakingly certain, it almost made me cry. He lifted his gaze, eyes locking on mine. No walls. Just Kael. Stripped and raw and ruinous.

"No matter how cruel you are to me... no matter how much you push me away... I’ll always come back to you."

My heart broke somewhere in the middle of my ribs. Softly. Without warning.

"I’ll always come crawling back," he whispered, "for more."

And I, Aria, the dumb, tired, angry mess that I was, Just stared at him like a girl who’d been struck by lightning and forgot how to be alive.

How the hell was I supposed to get over him? When he said things like that? When he meant them?

And suddenly I remembered. What kind of person Kael was and why we were together in the first place. This was like a game to him.

I took a good look at him.

Kael Roman.

Disheveled hair. Kiss-bitten lips. Eyelashes still trembling from the storm he dragged us both through.

His chest rising and falling like he just fought a war and I was the battlefield.

God.

How was it fair? That someone could look that hot while emotionally destroying me?

He looked ruined. For me.

And I hated it. Hated the way my heart pounded so hard, it felt like it was trying to claw its way out of my throat. Like it was trying to throw itself into his hands.

My hands shook where they clung to his chest.

I had to move.

Had to stop this before I did something even dumber, like cry into his neck and beg him not to let me go. Or worse told him he ended up being right and I fell in love first.

So I shoved him.

Not hard. But hard enough for him to stumble half a step back in surprise, hands slipping off my thighs as I scooted off the table.

His brows pulled together in slow, confused hurt. He looked at me like I’d just slapped him. Like I’d left him mid-sentence.

"Aria—"

"I’m sorry," I blurted, chest heaving, eyes stinging. "For... trying to escape."

He went completely still.

I swallowed thickly. "When you still own me. Remember?"

That word—own—hung there like a guillotine.

’Remind me how this contract ends again?’

He said nothing. Only those eyes looked like they wanted to burn the building to the ground.

And then....

A knock. It sounded Sharp, clinical, businesslike.

It sliced through the air like a blade, and I jumped like I’d been electrocuted.

I didn’t even wait to see his reaction.

Didn’t wait to breathe.

Didn’t wait to hear the what the hell are we doing in his voice.

I bolted.

Shoes clicking, heart screaming, throat closed, I wrenched the door open, brushing past whoever the hell it was on the other side. Maybe Rose. Maybe a ghost. I didn’t care.

I had to get away.

I had to remember how to breathe without Kael.

Even if every part of me still burned with the shape of his mouth.

By the time I slammed the door to my office shut, my fingers were already trembling.

I didn’t cry. I didn’t scream.

I just stood there for a second, staring at nothing, trying to remember how to be a functional human being.

Kael had kissed me like I belonged to him. Like I’d always belong to him. And stupid, broken, traitorous me? I liked it.

No. I loved it.