Chapter 20: your body wants it
Enzo’s POV
Why is everything like this?
Why does the world always feel like it’s pressing down on me, suffocating the joy out of even the smallest, simplest moments? Laughter, peace, a soft sunrise all things others take for granted feel like luxuries I can’t afford. There’s always a weight, always something lurking. And tonight, it was worse.
I didn’t hear him enter, but I felt him. A pair of strong, steady arms wrapped around me from behind. He pulled me in with an urgency that almost felt like desperation a need to soothe, to fix, to protect. The warmth of his chest against my back, his breath brushing against my ear, was somehow both comforting and suffocating.
"I’ll make sure he pays for hurting you," he murmured, voice low, rough with promise. "No one has the right to touch you except me."
I stiffened. The words weren’t comforting they were possessive. And yet, my chest ached with a strange mix of anger and longing.
"Can you just leave me alone?" My voice cracked as I pulled away. I stood from the floor, hugging my arms to myself. He rose too, shadowing me. "I want to be alone."
I pushed at him weakly, trying to force him toward the door. "You should leave," I said, again and again, but he didn’t budge. Not even an inch. His body might as well have been made of stone.
Then, without warning, he lifted me like I weighed nothing. My breath caught as he placed me on the bed with infuriating gentleness, like I was something precious, breakable.
"I said you should leave," I repeated, more firmly. "I want to be alone."
His expression shifted half amused, half unbothered. "Little human," he said, the words laced with condescension and something else fondness? "You’re still not used to how I am. I don’t take orders. I only do what I want." His smirk deepened as he climbed onto the bed, shedding his shirt as though this entire situation was his to command.