His Steel Princess (His Broken Princess #2)

6. Shadow and Stalk

I wish I knew how to forgive him and at the same time hate him without hurting myself. ~ A. Gupta

COLE

Fuck. She’s beautiful.

Yesterday was too rushed with too many repressed emotions but now with a clear head and aching muscles of my back I could take her in more properly and it still amazed me to realise how beautiful she was. Her blue eyes were wide in shock as they regarded me, her lips covered in a pink sheen were parted and the top she was wearing was doing nothing to hide her curves.

For a moment I wondered what she’ll do if I slip my arm around her, pull her against my chest and kiss that mouth that was quickly turning into a frown after seeing me. The slam of the door in my face broke me out of my reverie and the not so appropriate thoughts when she was so angry with me. I sighed and tightened my fingers around the bouquet of flowers I was holding before knocking on the door again.

The door didn’t open.

And neither did she give me anything in return.

“Violet. Open the door, please.”

Silence.

“Please, princess.”

More silence.

“You know I can see your shadow under the door.” I said softly. And to that, she quickly walked away.

My phone rang as I stood there wondering what to do next and I picked it up when I saw who it was. “What?” I snapped into the phone.

“Shouldn't you be thanking me?” Mad responded, his tone dry and a bit offended.

“And, why should I thank you?” I took a deep breath so I wouldn't lose my cool but it obviously didn't do me any good as I said, “For not so accidentally blaring my car alarm in the middle of the night when I had barely fallen asleep.”

“For letting Brenna coheres me into letting her send you the address, obviously.” He replied, sounding half amused.

“Fine. Thankyou. Now, f**k off.” I hung up on him and knocked again. I was about to threaten her to open up or I’ll break the door down when I heard a whistling coming from the stairwell and then out came the fûcking bane of my existence.

Alex didn't appear at all surprised when his eyes met mine. He smiled, the bastard, when he saw me standing there with the flowers and an unopened door. Without pausing for a second, he knocked on the door and called out, “Hey, beautiful. Open up, I brought coffee.”

Three seconds. I f*****g counted and that’s how long it took her to open the door for Alex. And she didn’t even glance at me once as she smiled at him, signed her thanks to Alex and took the coffee from him. I watched their interaction and realised how regular it looked. Familiar. And everything that I wasn’t to her now. It f*****g hurt right in my chest.

Taking a deep breath, I cleared my throat, still standing on the threshold. “Violet, can you look at me?” She didn’t. But Alex had no such problem. “I brought you flowers. At least, have them.”

This time Alex was the one who nudged her and said, “Take the flowers, beautiful. They didn’t hurt you.”

I watched as she paused and then slowly turned toward me. Without meeting my gaze once, she walked up to me, took the flowers and then I watched as she went around the small counter and then dumped the bouquet in the waste-bin under the sink.

I closed my eyes and swallowed the rise of helpless anger that filled me. For a moment there I saw the pity in Alex’s eyes before he blinked it away and then she signed to Alex to leave. ‘I am getting late. Let’s go.’ Alex nodded, finished his coffee. He was about to throw the empty cup in the dustbin when Violet took it from him and placed it on the counter besides hers and grabbed his hand. ‘Let’s go.’

When she passed by me while Alex locked the door for her, I grabbed her wrist and pulled her to a stop. “Is this how you’re going to treat me? For how long?”

She tried to pull away, her eyes glaring at my fingers on her wrist. I pulled her with a jerk and slammed her against the wall beside her door as I growled into her face, done with her silence, “f*****g answer me!”

Her blue eyes finally met mine and she glared at me like she wanted to punch me in the face. “I told you not to touch me.”

“You didn’t have that problem before I left.”

“But you left. And everything changed.”

I swallowed at the quiver that entered her voice and my voice gentled as I said, “But I am back now. Just give me a chance to explain myself, you’ll understand everything.”

“I don’t want to.” With that, she slipped past me and ran after Alex who was already at the stairs.

“It wasn’t like I didn’t warn you.” She froze. And I continued, “I warned you not to fall for me, not to love me and even after that I told you that I will have to leave for my family. You knew all along what was going to happen so don’t try to act like I betrayed you. The only thing I did wrong was not to say goodbye to you that night, which I had my own reasons for. And, if you’ll just listen then you’ll understand those reasons.”

She didn’t turn around to reply to me, she just flipped me a finger and disappeared out of sight.

VIOLET

“Do you want to come stay with us?” I looked up from the ice-cream I was staring at for the last ten minutes and which had melted all over my plate. Bree said, “You know you can come over anytime you want. And Ivan will be so happy to have you.”

'Maybe. I’ll think about it.’

Her eyes flicked to the side and I tried to not follow her gaze. After that interaction in the hallway outside my studio, Cole hadn’t left me alone. He had been following us around the town like I was his, to shadow and stalk. Arsehole. And that might be the only reason why I texted Kevin to pick me up from the ice cream parlor we were at for me to go to his daughter to babysit her. But Cole doesn’t know that and I doubted anyone in the family would share that tidbit with him. Let him think the worst and let him stew on the hurt— I hope it hurts.

“He hasn’t taken his eyes off you.” Bree whispered, a giddy smile curving her lips.

I looked at her. ‘You gave him my address, didn’t you?’ She pursed her lips and shrugged. I sighed. ‘Why?’

She met my eyes with her brown ones as she said, “Don’t tell me you weren’t secretly happy to see him there. I know that he hurt you, and I’m totally on your side that’s why I also know that you’ll need to forgive him one day to be happy even if that day is not today or tomorrow.”

From the corner of my eyes, I watched him sitting there with his arms crossed across his wide chest and his eyes trained on me. He had been sitting like that since last twenty minutes and I couldn't help but feel the weight of his presence deep inside my chest, just like I used to feel his absence.

All of a sudden, he stiffened and glared at someone behind me. I slowly turned around and found Kevin striding toward me. He was smiling that charming smile that I had seen girls fawning over for at his diner and the one he always gives me when he wanted to get his way despite my reluctance.

I smiled at him and when he drew closer, I let him take my hand and kiss the back of it. “Aww... Such a gentleman...” Bree murmured loud enough to be heard over the dim of our surroundings if someone wanted to hear.

“Are you ready to leave?” Kevin asked.

I nodded. ‘Let me just freshen up.’

“Do you want me to come with you?” Bree asked, already standing up.

I shook my head. ‘No. You don’t need to. I’ll be back in a few.’

Thankfully the washroom was empty so it didn’t take me much time. When I exited the stall and washed my hands, my phone pinged with an incoming text. I slipped it out of my pocket and found a text from Daisy. “I am waiting at Kevin’s. Hurry up, we are having a fashion show!” There were a few pictures of Hayley in different outfits and one of Daisy with her looking like a racoon and Hayley standing beside her with a proud expression as she held make-up brushes in her hand.

I was slipping my phone back in my pocket and smiling when I stepped out of the washroom and froze to find him standing there, leaning against the wall. He was wearing a black t-shirt over a faded grey jeans and despite the hard look on his face, he still looked so handsome and like the man I had fallen for. Also like the man who broke my heart, never forget that.

I started to walk away which was what I was doing since he came back. And this time, my shoulders slumped when he didn’t say anything or call my name. I was so attuned to him that I didn’t see a man coming toward me and slammed face first into him.

“What the f**k, are you blind?” The man snapped.

I sidestepped him and ducked my head down to move around him, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop as he barked, “Apologize.”

I swallowed, feeling my skin crawl under his unwanted touch and signed an apology with one hand. He narrowed his eyes on me and then his lips twisted in a cruel smirk. “What? Don’t tell me you're a dumb f*****g mutebit—”

I gasped when he was flung away from me and slammed down on the tiled floor in a blink of an eye. I watched as Cole straddled him and with a snarl, he punched him in the face again and again and again.

“Stop.” I called. But he wasn’t listening. “Oh shit.” My eyes widened when blood covered his knuckles and the man’s face. I ran toward them, grabbed his tshirt and pulled with all my might but it didn’t do anything. Not until I screamed, “Cole!”

People had started to come into the dimly lit corridor where the washrooms were after hearing the commotion. Cole slowly stood up as Bree and Kevin came running toward me. “What happened?” Bree asked. Just as Kevin grabbed me by the shoulders and asked the same question, but I didn't get a chance to answer him as Cole shoved Kevin aside and dragged the man in front of me on his knees.

And he demanded of the man, shaking his head with a fistful of his hair in his fist, “Apologize.” I swallowed, my eyes on Cole instead of the man on his knees in front of me, bleeding and bruised. The man glared up at Cole, who only shook his head more viciously. “Now.”

“I am sorry.” The man bit out.

The murmur of the crowd was getting louder and Bree whispered, “s**t, the staff is calling the authorities.”

I looked at Cole as I murmured, “You need to leave.” His eyes met mine, golden swirls in them making my throat dry as the hurt flashed in them, and I realised he didn’t hear what Bree said. “Go.”

He nodded, looked at Kevin as he said, “You’ll get them home safe.” When Kevin nodded, he turned away and without a glance in my direction, he left.

.

A. Gupta