The night air clung to my skin, thick and damp from the rain that had battered Edinburgh’s streets all day. I was halfway out of the club when a firm hand wrapped around my wrist, halting me mid-step.
I spun around, already knowing who it was. Aarav’s touch burned hotter than it should’ve, like a live wire shooting sparks up my arm.
“What are you doing?” I hissed, yanking my hand away.
He was too close—closer than he’d ever been. The scent of rain and leather surrounded me, as intoxicating as the man himself. A slow, wicked grin curved his lips, one that promised trouble.
“You were leaving without saying goodbye, Rainbow?” His voice was low, husky, with a teasing edge that sent a shiver down my spine.
I took a step back, but the narrow hallway behind the club didn’t offer much room to escape. Aarav moved with me, closing the distance with maddening ease.
“You need to stop calling me that,” I said, my voice unsteady.
“Why?” he murmured, his breath warm against my temple. “Because you like it a little too much?”
Before I could respond, Aarav’s hand came up, brushing a stray lock of hair from my face. His fingertips lingered on my skin for a moment longer than necessary, trailing down to the curve of my jaw.
Every nerve in my body hummed with awareness. I should’ve stepped away, shoved him, anything. But the weight of his presence pinned me in place, leaving me caught between fury and something far more dangerous.
“Aarav...” I whispered, but it didn’t sound like a warning.
His gaze dipped to my lips for the briefest second, dark and unreadable. The world around us—the pounding music, the distant voices—faded to a dull hum, as if the night had conspired to trap us in this moment.
My breath hitched as he leaned in, his hand sliding from my jaw to the back of my neck. It wasn’t forceful, but it wasn’t gentle either. It was the kind of touch that made my pulse race, that made me forget I was supposed to hate him.
“You keep running, Rainbow,” he whispered, his lips hovering just out of reach. “But you keep ending up right here.”
I could feel the heat radiating from him, the space between us vanishing into something dangerous and electric. My heart hammered in my chest, loud enough that I was certain he could hear it.
“Don’t,” I said, but even I wasn’t sure what I was asking him to stop.
Aarav’s thumb traced a slow line across my collarbone, sending goosebumps skittering down my arms. His eyes never left mine, locked in that unspoken dance between defiance and surrender.
For one agonizing second, it felt like we might both fall over the edge—like he might close that last inch between us and set the world on fire.
But then, with a sly grin, he pulled away. The absence of his touch left my skin cold, as if the air itself mourned the loss.
“Not yet,” Aarav said softly, as if promising that this was only the beginning.
I swallowed hard, forcing myself to stand my ground even though every part of me wanted to crumble. “You’re impossible,” I muttered, shoving past him.
He chuckled, low and satisfied, like a man who knew exactly how much chaos he’d caused.
I barely made it out of the alley when my phone buzzed in my pocket. My hands were still trembling from the encounter, but I fumbled to answer it without checking the caller ID.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then, a voice I hadn’t heard in what felt like a lifetime slipped through the line. Smooth, familiar, and coated with the kind of sweetness that only ever left bruises.
“Missed me, flower?”
My heart stopped.
The world around me tilted, the damp streets of Edinburgh spinning beneath my feet. That voice... It couldn’t be.
I gripped the phone tighter, as if squeezing it could stop the flood of memories threatening to drown me. This wasn’t happening. Not here. Not now.
“Who is this?” I whispered, even though I already knew the answer.
The chuckle on the other end was soft, sinister, a ghost from my past resurrected to haunt me.
“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten me already.”
I stumbled against the wall, the cold stone biting into my back as the rain drizzled down. My pulse hammered in my ears, drowning out the sounds of the city.
“No,” I whispered, more to myself than to him. “It can’t be you...”
But it was.
And just like that, the shadows I thought I’d left behind slithered back into my life, bringing with them the weight of old scars and unfinished nightmares.
The line went dead, leaving only the faint buzz of static in its wake. I stood there, clutching my phone as if it were my last lifeline, the night pressing in from all sides.
Aarav had unsettled me—but this? This was something else entirely.
Something darker. Something I wasn’t ready to face.
Not again.
YOU ARE READING
Infatuated Hate (18+)
Romansa"Cloaked in the shadows of his ruthless world, he finds her - a burst of color in his monochrome existence. She is his rainbow, the one he despises with a fervor as intense as his desire. In the delicate balance between love and loathing, their tumu...
