Playing His Own Games | ✔︎

chapter nine | shadows of hurricanes

*•*•*•*
"He put me through hell
And I called it love."
*•*•*•*

Carrie

WITH HIS DARK BROWN hair pushed to the side of his scalp, tanned skin glowing underneath my bedroom light, muscles bludging from his workout this morning and a wide smile that reaches hazel eyes, Kane Atkinson could be front page on a model magazine.

The only issue is that he has attachment issues and is unbearably obsessive to the extent that when he arrived a week ago he hailed the first taxi he saw at the airport and tore straight towards my house, without even checking out his new apartment first.

Kane rises from my desk chair where he was sitting, dusting his hands off. "Lord, look at the time. We should head off."

I nod, clasping my bracelet around my wrist, wincing slightly as it pinches the skin. "Yeah."

"Your mum is allowing you to come over to my apartment after Church," he says, taking his blazer off the back of the chair and pulling it over his shoulders.

I raise an eyebrow, flattening the creases of my dress. "Did we plan this?"

He shoots me a glance underneath a sea of long eyelashes. "Is there a problem? Do you not want to go?"

I roll my eyes and exit my bedroom, making my way downstairs, Kane right on my heels like an anxious puppy. "I do want to go, I just wish you'd have asked me first."

"So how is it a problem if you do wanna go?" he pushes and I wonder if he is deliberately trying to crawl under my skin and make me pissed.

"It's called consideration, Kane," I snap, locking the front door as we head outside, greeted with an icy wind and a lingering fog that presses up against the window panes.

"It's called consideration, Kane," he mocks me, rolling his eyes as we make our way towards my Mustang parked at the end of the driveway.

Our shoes crunch against the half-frozen ground, our breathes frosting in the air; the grey, foggy sky that hangs overhead mirroring my darkening mood.

"I'll drive," he tells me, holding his hand out, palm facing upwards, expecting me to hand my keys over.

I swat his hand away, yanking open the drivers door and climbing in. "It's my car, you prick." I stuff really keys into the ignition and the engine grunts, battling against the cold. "And its also my life, so stop bossing me around, okay?"

I blast the heater on and almost immediately the frost begins to recede from the edges of the windscreen. I turn my attention back to my pissed off boyfriend. His muscular arms are braced against the frame of the car door, his lips tight, his eyes practically smoking with anger.

"Do you think I'm crazy or something, Carrie? Is that it? Am I crazy to have fallen in love with you? How can you be this selfish?" His rage melts into pain and I can't help but feel guilty. I don't want to hurt him when his sacrificed so much for me. I don't want this to be a one sided relationship; for me to give him nothing in return of his undying loyalty.

"I'm sorry, Kane." The words tumble out from my mouth before I can stop myself. Some part of me knows that this is wrong, that he shouldn't be playing the victim, but I can't help it. "I'm sorry I'm being so selfish. Can we just skip Church today and maybe go down to the beach? I know it's a bit of a drive but..." I trail off, unsure how to elaborate.