"You never gave me a choice," I whispered, trying not to wake my parents sleeping in the room right below mine.
"Jaan, I..," He tried, taking a step forward.
"You don't have to explain. You are drunk and probably will not remember any of this tomorrow." I said as I moved away from him.
"But that doesn't deny the fact that I love you and I need you and I will never-," He pleaded only to be interrupted by me.
"No. You should not make promises you can't keep. Besides, I have decided it best if I moved on, just like you asked. I have also started to believe the accident that brought us to this was just coincidence." I said with confidence.
"Baby, I was wrong. And you know that it more than just a coincidence. I am not going to lose you that easily. You are mine and not his" He said, sobering a bit.
"His? You think this is about him?" I scoffed before I continued."Why does it matter anyway. Because last time I remember you told me to stay away from you. You asked me to marry him. And for the record, I am no one's property and you have lost me already and I am not-," I couldn't finish it.
I was silenced - by very angry lips that came crashing down on mine.
"You are mine, Only mine" He kept chanting in between kisses while I tried my best to push him, all the while praying my parents were too asleep to hear any of this.
But I wasn't losing it. I scolded myself for melting into the kiss and tried to push him more, while all my heart wanted was to pull him closer, if that was even possible.
Soon his lips traveled down, biting and sucking my neck. It hurt like hell at first, slowly being replaced with something unexplainable, something raw and good - Until I realized what was happening.
He was giving me a hickey. He was marking me. Branding me his own.
Only his.
As Claire aims to leave her oppressive stepfamily behind, she befriends Zion. Will he be her ticket to freedom or a distraction in achieving her dreams?
*****
Claire Olsen has had a crush on Zion Petrakis since the first time she laid eyes on him, but he never noticed, instead only having eyes on the school's it girl, Maddie Jennings. Knowing she couldn't compete with Maddie, Claire hid her feelings for Zion, satisfied with admiring him from afar. However, when a series of events led Claire closer to Zion, her feelings for him grew from infatuation to love. And despite fighting hard to keep her feelings contained by distancing herself from Zion, he was determined to show her that he's earned a spot in her life.
[[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]