Eleanor was stood in a combative posture on the stone cold floor of the dark basement area breathing hard. No matter how much she subjected herself to hardcore martial arts, she still felt herself entangled in the memories of that night with him....

Anger and self hate stormed her insides like venom. Eleanor lifted her leg off the floor and drilled some powerful roundhouse kicks in the air in frustration.

She abhorred herself for letting him touch her. She abhorred herself for kissing him. How could she after how he'd treated her? How could she make herself so available to a guy who mocked her trust and had misled her?

She didn't gain self respect to lose it all in front of him in one go.

Eleanor's orbs alighted in fury as she practiced some fierce hand moves.

Mistakes are not made to be repeated. She will not let him exploit her again like he had done in the past.

***

Devon was sat on the edge of his bed in the dark, brooding silence of the room with his jaws tightly clenched. There was pain in his smoldering intense gazes. Emptiness gushed through his veins. Just like his reckless blood.

Taking the glass of strong liquor in his hand, he gulped it in one go. His throat was on fire as soon as the red fluid went crashing down it. The alcohol burned his vision too but it was her memories that intoxicated his senses...

Images of that night clouded his mind causing every inch of his skin to burn in passion There was no way he could tame his violent urges. He wanted her so bad that every breath he inhaled hurt him. She had gone back to being painfully indifferent towards him after that night. Infact he felt as though the weekend had pushed her further away from him.

Devon poured himself more and more glasses of drinks and finished all of it in a few chugs in a bid to tend to the dark wounds that crippled his heart...

She is mine, only mine!

I love her. And she has to love me back, his eyes darkened with a fiery obsession....

After dinner that night, it was Nathan's turn to do the dishes. With Eleanor.

Nathan felt his heart thudding loudly in his chest as if there was no tomorrow. Although he was nervous as hell standing alongside her at the kitchen slab with no one around in the partially dark area, yet he couldn't help but steal glances at her through his spectacles.

His life had taken an unexpected course from the time he first saw her. He now spent his days happily lost in her thoughts. Unfortunately, Preston had caught him day dreaming with a stupid grin on his face so many times that it was getting harder to make excuses for it. Nonetheless, Nathan always felt dazed whenever he saw Eleanor around. He admired her from afar since he didn't have the guts to talk to her. Yet he ended up each day with a wish to spend time alone with her even though the very thought mortified him to bits.

It was funny actually. He thought about her all the time which made him wonder if she would ever spend even a moment to think about him. Would she ever want to hold hands with him like he wanted to with her...?

Eleanor, who was completely unaware that the bespectacled boy was wholly smitten by her, was dealing with her own inner conflicts that revolved around Devon.

She finally happened to notice how Nathan's hands trembled as he was putting away the dishes into the dishwasher. "Are you okay?" she asked, startled.

"Huh...?" He was about to drop the plate that was in his hand but somehow didn't. "Y-Yeah, yeah...I'm fine," he mumbled.

Nathan got so clumsy that he was on the verge of knocking down all the plates and bowls off the dishwasher.

"Careful," cautioned Eleanor.

"Yeah. E-Everything's under control," he smiled weakly after he pathetically managed to steady his hands.

Silence followed. Nathan wanted to continue talking to her so much that he somehow stepped out of his shy self and willed himself to ask, "How was your weekend?"

"Oh, it was great!" An instant smile spread across her lips at the fond memories of Jackson. "I visited a seven year old kid who used to be my neighbor. He told me all about his school, we played video games, ate ice creams, and went to a beach fair. And the best of all, we read a Roald Dahl book just like the good old days!"

Ofcourse, Eleanor had made sure that Devon wasn't around for any of these.

"Which book did you read?" Nathan asked, mesmerized by the soft smile on her face.

"There's this book named 'Esio Trot'," said Eleanor. "He had wanted to read it when he was in Grade 1 but back then, I told him he was quite young for it, that he needs to be in Grade 3. So we read the book this time. We didn't manage to finish it though," she chuckled, remembering the cute pout on Jackson's face.

"What's the story of 'Esio Trot'?" asked Nathan who had spent his childhood reading the 'Secret Seven' and 'Famous Five' series.

"'Esio Trot' is about a Mr. Hoppy who secretly likes a woman named Mrs. Silver but is extremely shy to let her know about his feelings. Mrs. Silver's pet tortoise comes his rescue."

Nathan grows wide eyed hearing that. "So...um, is it a happy ending for Mr. Hoppy?" he asked uncomfortably.

"Ofcourse! He is happily married to Mrs. Silver. All thanks to the tortoise."

"I need that tortoise," Nathan muttered under his breath.

"Did you say something?" Eleanor inquired, noticing his lips move soundlessly.

"N-No, nothing," he denied, feeling embarrassed.

Around that time, Devon came downstairs from his room to fetch ice cubes from the freezer to put in his drink. For the first couple of seconds, he was left completely dumbfounded seeing Eleanor with Nathan. Pain, in its crudest form, groped his heart and ripped it apart seeing her laugh and smile with the nerd. Devon flew into a towering rage as the storm of insecurities brutally wounded every pore of his being.

He couldn't see her with anybody else. Devon clutched the glass in his hand so hard with his cold merciless fingers that it was on the verge of breaking bad...

***

It was quite late in the night. Eleanor got back indoors and took to the stairs to head to her room. She had been sitting in solitude on the patio for a while after doing the dishes. As she was climbing the staircase, Eleanor happened to randomly look across the hall and she saw Devon stood at the railings of the first floor landing of the West Wing.

She saw him gulp down a glass of drink in one go. She could tell from his heavy dilated eyes that he was totally sloshed. He looked dark and threatening as his sharp orbs drilled into hers. She'd hate to admit but a quiver ran down her spine seeing the intense wild thirst he had for her in his smouldering eyes. She knew what he wanted but she steeled herself to not be affected a bit.

Eleanor looked away from him and continued to move up the stairs. She was walking along the corridors on the first floor when suddenly her wrists were grabbed tightly from behind and she was pulled back and pinned to the wall.

"Leave me, Devon!" she screeched in protest, struggling to free herself from his hold. But she knew very well she wasn't trying hard at all 'cause if she were, she would have easily pushed him away.

And that made her hate herself more than anything.

"Is this the only bit you can do to defend yourself?" Devon breathed passionately on her face, pinning her wrists to the wall on either side of her head. "I thought you were strong."

Eleanor's furious gazes clashed with his intense ones. "I am stronger than you'd ever know," she said bitterly.

The edges of his sexy lips curled into a smirk. "I know you are. There ain't any doubt in that," he said meaning it. "But you've a choice to not be for now."

Saying that, Devon crashed his lips onto hers for a scorching hot kiss. He explored her mouth with such passion and aggression that it left her squirming breathlessly against his body.

Devon gave her time to regain her breaths after he left her bruised lips, his flaming irises never leaving her even for a split second.

"About that night," Devon began in an intense voice.

"That night meant nothing," she interrupted him sharply. "It was one of those few times wherein I felt helplessly lonely. I hate that feeling. I was in desperate need for a diversion. And, unfortunately, only you were around. That's why I did what I did that night."

Her impassive words smothered his soul. "What if there had been another guy that night instead of me?"

The cold fury in his harsh breaths hit her face making her body shiver. But she wasn't the one to crumple down in fear.

"I seriously wish it had been another guy and not you that night," she retorted snidely, jerking her wrists free from his hold.

Eleanor was about to walk off but he didn't allow her to.

"Have you been with anyone after me?" Devon asked with such severity in his eyes that his voice cracked. "Answer me Eleanor! Did you feel something more for a guy than you had ever felt for me? Did you...Did you have sex with someone else?"

Devon couldn't bear the thought of her having feelings for another guy. It scarred his existence beyond redemption. And the thought of her being in bed with someone else maddened him.

Eleanor clenched her fists at her sides in deep grudge. "What I do in my personal life is none of your concerns," she said fiercely. He needn't know that she didn't allow any guy to touch her after him. That she was still a virgin.

"I take that for a 'No' as your answer to my questions," Devon said calmly with a blaze of passion in his eyes.

"You are wrong," she glared at him defensively.

"Liar liar Sanchez on fire," he said with a lopsided smile.

Eleanor was leaving in a huff but he slammed his palms on the wall on either side of her and caged her completely. She stifled a gasp as her breaths intertwined with his rugged hot ones. The smell of alcohol and mint in his breaths was like a pleasurable drug to her senses.

"I want to do what we did that night. Rather, I want to go further than that," whispered Devon, his tone laced with sin and desire.

"Absolutely not!" She hated the way she felt so tempted with his words.

"I promise I won't do a lot if you don't want me to," he said darkly, slowly tracing her lips with the back of his index finger. "But I want to touch you in a way I never did before..."

Eleanor looked at him with hatred in her eyes but then she suddenly felt herself wet down there.

To be continued

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