EXILE | TOM RIDDLE

16. Callous Confessions

content warning: sexual content

"Why were you embraced with him?" Is the first thing I hear as I exit the room, to find Tom hovering outside, resting against the wall with his arms folded across his chest. "Why do you love Black? Don't deny it, Little Bird. I heard you — you said you love him."

"As a friend," I frown, gulping. If he heard me say I love Alphard, what else could he have overheard? What if he knew about Alphard and Finn, and the romance they shared? "If you heard everything, you would know it was as a friend."

"I did not hear everything," he admits, and I let out a breath of relief. "Just the word love."

"It is a friendly love," I insist, mimicking his stance as I fold my arms over my chest and glare at him. "What does it matter to you?"

"What does it matter to me?" He tilts his head to the side, eyebrows lifted. "I think you can answer that for yourself, Little Bird."

My throat goes dry, my heart stopping in my chest. Did he just...did he...does he...

I shake my head, banishing away any thoughts on what he could possibly mean, and how I feel about it. "You...you tried to kill me! You held a knife to my throat, Tom. You have not a single right to say you care for me!"

"I didn't want to kill you," he claims with a step towards me. "I thought you were going to turn me in."

"If you cared for me at all, you would have trusted me when I said I would never turn you in — if not just because I did not wish to wind up at the end of your wand. But clearly, my word means nothing to you."

His lips press together, eyeing me up and down, as though he is planning on how he wishes to consume me. "How can I make it up to you?"

"By leaving me alone," I hiss. "You nearly killed me, you cannot expect me to just forgive you! There is no coming back from what you did, Tom."

I had not realized he was stepping towards me until his body is nearly pressed against mine, his breath brushing against my ear as he whispers, so softly I can barely hear it, "I'll do anything, Little Bird. Anything."

"Leave me alone," I respond, though the tone in my voice lacks the desired affect. In fact, I can tell the way I come across implies that I wish for him to stay, wish for him to kiss me again.

I wonder if he can feel the pounding of my heart as he presses against me completely, chest to chest. I wonder if he can sense the way my knees go weak just at the way he looks at me, as though I will collapse at any given moment.

"You want me to kiss you," he breathes against me, voice just above a whisper. "I can tell. You want me just as badly as I want you."

"What I want is for you to leave me alone," I insist, my voice cracking as desperation floods me. "What I want is..."

My voice trails off, a sharp gasp emitting from my lips as I feel a sensation against my neck unlike anything I have ever experienced before. "Tom...what are you doing?" I breathe the moment I realize what is happening — that Tom's lips have found their place in the crook of my neck, slowly moving upwards towards my chin.

"Tell me to stop and I will," he says breathlessly, as though what he is doing has an equal affect on him as it does to me. "Tell me to stop, Little Bird."

I open my mouth, ready to do as he requests, but I find I cannot. My voice has been ripped out from me, only gentle gasps able to escape me as his lips move closer and closer to mine, until they are pressed together. The two times we have kissed before, they had been rough, forceful, demanding, but this time is different. It is almost as though Tom is restraining himself from me, keeping himself from the rough treatment he had given me before.