CHAPTER 70: HIS CONFESSION

Chapter Seventy

**OLIVER WEST**

HUSBAND??!

I choked on spit, coughing uncontrollably as I met his dead set expression.

The bastard even had the nerve to rub my back like the fact that I was turning blue wasn’t because of him.

"We’re not together— and you are not my HUSBAND!!!"

"Aren’t I?" He leaned even closer, now, his lips moved from the corners of mine, straight to my ears "You let me kiss you. You respond when I touch you. You get jealous when other people get too close to me. You are like a little wife,"

"I don’t get jealous—"

"Amanda at the party. You dumped a drink on her head because you were jealous."

My face flamed. "I was drunk!"

"So you remember everything now?" Kieran moved back an inch to meet my gaze again, and there was something undecipherable burning in his eyes. "Tell me what you recalled, Ollie,"

The words felt stuck in my throat, but his expectant stare forced them out.

"I remember what I did at the party," I whispered, my voice barely audible. "And the... the Captain Cuddles song."

For a moment, Kieran just stared at me. Then he threw his head back and laughed - a rich, genuine sound that made my stomach flip for all the wrong reasons.

"Is that all?" he asked, still chuckling.

My eyebrows scrunched together. There was something distinctly evil about his laughter, like he found my mortification absolutely delightful.

"That’s not funny!" I protested. "I made a complete fool of myself!"

Instead of answering, Kieran pulled me into a tight hug. I stiffened in surprise, not used to this overly gentle side of him.

No.

This was giving bipolar!!

I should be running.

Well, I’d tried that, but as you know, it didn’t exactly work out.

His arms were warm and solid around me, never letting go, and slowly, I found myself relaxing in his arms.

"You’ll first be my Captain Cuddles, before being my wife," He murmured against my hair, his lips brushing my temple.

My cheeks exploded with heat. "Don’t call me that!"

I pushed away from him in embarrassment.

Our initial argument was forgotten as he observed me, from head to toes.

"Why aren’t you wearing any of the clothes I bought you?" he asked, his gaze still travelling over my old jeans and basic t-shirt.

"I want you wearing something that’s mine."

The possessiveness in his voice should have scared me. It did scare me. But it also sent something fluttering in my stomach.

Wait.

WAS THIS PSYCHOPATH GIVING ME BUTTERFLIES?!

"I can’t wear something like that, it would be too obvious," I mumbled, fidgeting with the end of my shirt. "Even my little sister already thinks I’m taking advantage of you. The whole school would think that I..."

"I don’t care what anyone thinks, besides, I want you to take advantage of me. As much as you want to,"

No.

He shouldn’t say things like this so casually.

My heart was beating too fast, they might just escape my chest cavity.

Stand up!

Oliver, stand up!!

My brain was screaming at me, but I could see myself falling... And falling.

The air between us seemed to crackle with electricity. Kieran was leaning in again, and this time I couldn’t think of any excuses to stop him as his eyes made contact with my lips.

But at the last second, I pressed my hands against his chest. "Don’t do that."

He paused, confusion flickering across his features. "Why not?"

"You haven’t even told me you like me, or asked me to really be..."

I said in a rush, letting out the burden of the words that had occupied my thoughts since I first confessed to him.

To officially be his boyfriend, these were the words I couldn’t complete, but I knew Kieran understood.

His eyes seemed even deeper now as his hands moved to rest on my waist.

"Kier..."

"Oliver West" he said, and perhaps it was the use of my full name, but I suddenly forgot how to breathe.

"I like you. I’m obsessed, you don’t know how much. Will you be my boyfriend?"

My heart hammered against my ribs. This was it.

The moment I’d been dreaming about and dreading in equal measure.

My brain was frozen with shock, maybe it was because a part of me hadn’t expected Kieran to actually tell me he likes me.

Wait. A. MINUTE.

KIERAN LIKES ME FOR REAL?!!!

"No."

The word slipped out before I could stop it.

Kieran’s eyebrows shot up. His hand moved to the back of my neck, not threatening but firm, and he leaned down until we were eye to eye.

"No?" His voice was dangerously quiet.

"I mean, I don’t know. Can’t I think about it?"

What the hell compelled me to say no? Then, should I have said yes? Oh God! I didn’t know what to think or what to do.

How complicated could it be Ollie? You like him, and he likes you, it should be a fucking YES!

Could I change my response now?

Kieran’s grip on my neck tightened slightly, his thumb brushing over my pulse point. "It doesn’t matter if you agree or not. You’ve always been mine."

The possessive edge in his voice sent shivers down my spine. "I’m my own person, Kieran. You can’t just—"

My protest was cut short when his hand grabbed my butt and yanked me against him. Before I could yelp, his lips crashed against mine in a harsh, hungry kiss that snatched the breath from my lungs.

Kieran’s mouth was hungry and desperate and... almost punishing. The way his tongue moved against mine made me feel as though he was dominating and claiming every inch of my mouth.

His mouth tasted like mint and something uniquely him.

I should push him away. The next period had already started, but here I was being ravished by my ex-enemy turned lover.

I placed my hand on his chest, with the intention of breaking the kiss, but my fingers had their own idea as they fisted his shirt instead, pulling him closer.

My lips seemed to follow whatever affected my hand, because they were moving with Kieran’s. And all of a sudden, I couldn’t get enough.

My body responded despite my brain’s protests, melting into him like I was made for this.

The classroom door burst open.

The sudden intrusion broke us apart. We were both breathing hard as we turned toward the interruption.

Xander stood in the doorway, and I felt the rush of epinephrine from Kieran’s kiss give way to anxiety.

That feeling where you know something was about to go wrong. You didn’t know how, but just know it would.

The air in the room went thick with tension. I could feel Kieran’s entire body go rigid beside me, and could practically taste the hostility radiating off him in waves.

"Well, I was just looking for you Oliver. We didn’t get to talk in class, hope I did not interrupt anything important?"

Kieran stepped slightly in front of me, a protective gesture that was probably unconscious. But the way his shoulders were set, the tension in his jaw - he looked ready for a fight.

"You are," Kieran said, his voice flat and dangerous. "Get out."