His Doomsday Cage of Ten Years Regret Chapter 03

His Doomsday Cage of Ten Years Regret Chapter 03

I spun on my heel and tried to bolt, only for Peyton Hale to grab me and hold me in place.

Crowds swarmed all around us.

He didn’t seem to care at all how awkward and inappropriate it was to be clinging to me like this in public.

He gripped my hips and forced me into the back of his SUV.

I braced my hands against the door frame, trying to climb back out.

Someone inside wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me in.

The door slammed shut.

Peyton pulled me face-to-face against his frame, pinning me in his embrace.

Only my mouth was still free.

“This is kidnapping!”

“I’m warning you, Peyton Hale—I already turned you down flat!”

“Where are you taking me?”

“This is totally illegal!”

Peyton ignored every bit of my struggling and squirming, not caring that the car was packed with other people.

He buried his face in my neck, nipping and sucking at my skin.

I shuddered again and again.

I slapped him across the face.

“You’re such a creep! Have you any decency left?”

Peyton caught my wrist and bit it lightly.

Goosebumps rose all over my skin.

“You’re all a bunch of criminals! Abducting someone in broad daylight!”

Peyton turned and kissed me on the mouth instead.

The more I cursed, the harder he kissed.

Panic flooded through me.

I stopped fighting and lashing out, going limp in his arms and trying to reason with him gently.

“What’s gotten into you? Can’t we just talk this through? You’re scaring me.”

Peyton still held me pressed tightly against him, his voice rough and strained.

“I missed you so much.”

I shifted uncomfortably in his grip.

“We had pot roast together in the dining hall just two days ago.”

“Calm down. There are other people watching.”

Every pair of curious eyes immediately darted away.

The car pulled up to a private estate on the outskirts of town.

Several men tactfully exited the car, leaving Peyton and me alone in the back.

Peyton’s temper gradually settled.

“Just think of it as me inviting you to stay at my place for one day. If nothing happens by tomorrow morning, I’ll drive you straight back to campus. But if something does happen… I won’t let anything hurt you again.”

Something twisted in my chest, dull and aching.

I decided to confess the truth I’d hidden until the very end in my past life.

“I only strung you along back then because I was vain.”

“I know I was wrong, and I’m sorry.”

“I already bought a ticket out of town. Drop me off at the coach station first.”

“When I get back after break, I’ll make it up to you however you want.”

Whether I would actually come back was a different matter.

I thought I’d covered all my bases with that lie.

But Peyton acted like he hadn’t heard a word.

His fingertips traced the lines of my brows and eyes over and over, finally coming to rest on the side of my neck.

He pressed his fingers against my pulse, feeling the steady beat beneath my skin.

A heavy silence settled inside the car.

Another vehicle pulled into the estate shortly after.

Two unfamiliar men had no idea anyone was still inside Peyton’s SUV. They lit cigarettes and leaned against the car door to chat.

“Why’d Peyton call us all the way out here?”

“Heard Winnie’s here too. You think he’s finally going to confess?”

“Great. It’s high time these two closed-off people finally got together.”

“But I heard from Lewis that Peyton brought some girl back from the bus station, and they looked pretty close.”

“How serious could that be? She’s just a casual fling to him. Anyone he’d get serious with has to be from our inner crowd.”

“He’s probably just using her to make Winnie jealous—get her upset, then confess. Same old trick.”

It all clicked into place for me.

“Just say the word. I can help with that.”