Song- Renegade by Aaryan Shah
JAY JAY POV
By the time the car finally pulled through the massive security gates of his private estate, I was completely over it.
I looked out the window as the Rolls-Royce rolled up the winding driveway.
The estate was massive, built like a concrete and limestone fortress shielded behind high iron barriers and thick hedges.
Security lights cast sharp, geometric angles across the courtyard.
The car stopped.
Keifer killed the engine and pushed his door open into the cool night air.
Before I could even reach for the handle, he was already at my side, pulling the door open and extending an expectant hand.
I ignored his hand, stepped out onto the driveway in my bare feet, and grabbed the heavy hem of my wedding dress.
The cold stones nipped at my feet, but I walked past him toward the double doors with my chin tilted high.
The grand entryway was bathed in soft, recessed lighting.
Marble floors, towering ceilings, absolute silence.
Not a single maid or guard was in sight.
He had cleared the house.
“Upstairs,” Keifer said quietly from behind me, his voice smooth and steady.
“Second door on the right.”
I gathered the dress in my arms and took the curved marble staircase, my heart picking up a frantic, uneven beat.
Every step felt like a countdown.
I pushed open the double doors of his room and walked inside.
The room was enormous, dominated by a king-sized bed covered in dark charcoal linens and flanked by a floor-to-ceiling glass wall that overlooked the darkened gardens.
The door clicked shut behind me with a solid, echoing thud.
The lock turned.
Panic surged straight into my chest, wiping out the exhaustion.
I whirled around instantly, backing away from him until the backs of my bare legs bumped against the edge of the low dresser.
“Do not look at me like that,” I snapped, crossing my arms over the front of my dress.
Keifer leaned his back against the closed door, casually crossing his ankles.
The tuxedo jacket was already gone, and the dark cuffs of his shirt were still rolled up to his forearms.
A lazy, dangerous smirk touched the corners of his lips as his dark eyes slowly dragged from my bare feet all the way up to my face.
“Like what, mi reina?” he murmured, tilting his head.
(My queen.)
“Like you’ve won,” I shot back, my voice trembling with fury despite my best efforts to sound composed.
“Just because we went through with that ridiculous ceremony doesn’t mean a single thing changes between us. You might have my signature on a piece of paper, Watson, but you don’t own me. You never will.”
Keifer let out a low, amused hum that vibrated deep in his chest.
He pushed off the door and took two slow, unhurried steps into the center of the room.
His hands rose to the collar of his shirt, his fingers working the top button free.
“You speak so loudly when you’re terrified, Jay,” he said softly, popping the second button open.
My breath hitched.
“What are you doing? Stop.”
“I am in my own bedroom,” he answered smoothly, undoing the third button, revealing the hard cut of his chest and the dark ink tracing along his collarbone.
“I take off my clothes when I go to sleep.”
“Go sleep in another room!”
“In my own house? On my wedding night?” Another button gave way.
“No seas ridícula, cariño.” (Don’t be ridiculous, darling.)
“Stop speaking Spanish to me!” I yelled, taking a step to the side, looking frantically around the bedroom for anything resembling a weapon, a shield, or an exit.
“And put your damn shirt back on!”
Keifer completely ignored me.
He shrugged the black fabric off his shoulders, letting the expensive shirt fall carelessly onto the floor.
The sight of him made the room shrink.
He was broad, lean, and corded with muscle, his skin marked with the faint, faded remnants of knife wounds and bullet grazes that told the ugly history of his rise through the underground.
He looked entirely like the ruthless killer he was, and he was walking straight toward me with the predatory patience of a wolf cornering prey.
“Dime la verdad,”(Tell me the truth) he whispered, his voice dropping into that smoky, hypnotic register as he stopped barely two feet away.
“Are you really this angry with me… or are you just terrified of how badly you want to give in?”
“I hate you,” I snarled.
Before he could answer, I snapped.
I pulled my right arm back and threw a vicious, closed-fist punch straight at his jaw with everything I had.
Keifer didn’t flinch.
His left hand shot out like lightning, his fingers locking around my wrist out of thin air, catching the blow before it could touch his skin.
I immediately swung with my left, aiming a palm strike at his throat, but he caught that one too
“Let go of me!” I screamed, thrashing violently, trying to pull my arms down and twist free.
He didn’t budge.
Instead, Keifer stepped directly into my space, using his height and sheer muscle mass to shove me backward until my spine hit the cold, reinforced glass of the balcony window with a dull thud.
Before I could catch my balance, he raised his arms, slamming both of my hands flat against the glass above my head and pinning them there with his own palms.
A gasp tore out of my throat
“Let me go, Keifer!” I gasped, squirming, kicking my bare legs out to drive a knee into his thigh.
He anticipated the strike with effortless, practiced precision.
He shifted his hips, sliding his right leg between mine and pressing forward, locking my lower body so tightly against the glass that I couldn’t move an inch.
Every single breath I took forced my chest to rise flush against his bare ribs.
His heartbeat was heavy, fast, and unyielding.
“Buen intento, fiera,”( Good try, wildcat.) he whispered against my temple, his breath hot and uneven against my heated skin.
“Still fighting like a cornered animal.”
“Get off me!” I hissed, glaring murder directly into his dark eyes.
“I swear to God, Keifer, get your hands off me right now or I will tear your throat out!”
Keifer tilted his head, his lips grazing the curve of my ear, down the tense line of my jaw, until his mouth hovered barely a millimeter from my trembling lips.
His dark eyes were completely blown, pupils dilated, drinking in my flushed face.
A dark, suffocating triumph that made my stomach twist into knots.
“Try it,” he murmured, his thumb stroking over the pulse point hammering wildly in my pinned wrist.
“Fight as hard as you want, Jay. Scream, kick, break my ribs. You can fight me all night long… but when the morning comes, you are still going to be in my bed, wearing my ring, and sleeping in my arms.”
The cold glass at my back did nothing to cool the fire tearing through my veins.
Pinned beneath Keifer’s weight, every ragged breath I took dragged the scent of him straight into my lungs: cedar, smoke, and the unmistakable, raw heat of his bare skin.
My wrists were still trapped flat against the window above my head, his fingers locked around them with the steady, unbreakable force of a vice.
“Look at you,” he murmured, his voice dropping into a dark, gravelly hum.
“Trembling like a leaf, yet staring at me like you want to draw blood.”
“Let me go, Keifer,” I ground out, my voice thick and breathless.
Instead of answering, his lips parted against the side of my neck.
He didn’t bite.
He dragged his mouth slowly along the sensitive cord beneath my jaw, up to the hollow behind my ear, letting the rough scrape of his evening stubble send violent, traitorous shivers down my spine.
“Tan hermosa cuando estás furiosa,”(So beautiful when you are furious.) he whispered against my skin “Do you have any idea how many years I spent dreaming of having you right here? Trapped in my room. Breathing my air.”
“I am not yours to trap,” I gasped, squirming, trying to find leverage against the slick floor.
He shifted his weight, pressing his hips firmer against mine, effectively killing any chance of escape.
His dark eyes locked onto my mouth, burning with a hunger so unhinged it made the room feel starved of oxygen.
“Keep telling yourself that, mi reina,” he mocked softly.(MY QUEEN)
Then his mouth crashed down on mine.
It wasn’t gentle.
It was demanding, and fiercely hungry.
His tongue parted my lips before I could lock my jaw, sweeping inside to reclaim every taste, every breath, every secret I had tried so hard to bury.
A whimper caught in the back of my throat, muffled entirely by his kiss.
My heart was pounding like a war drum.
For three terrifying seconds, the fight drained straight out of my muscles.
My body, entirely traitorous, arched into the heat of his bare chest.
The silk of my dress rubbed against his skin, and the urge to loosen my hands, to wrap my arms around his neck and pull him closer, nearly won.
I wanted to drown in him.
I wanted to forget the blood, the mafia, the years of silence, and just let him take the ache away.
No.
The memory of the dark underground, of what he had become, flashed behind my eyes like cold lightning.
I bit his lower lip hard enough to draw the sharp, metallic tang of blood onto my tongue.
Keifer flinched, pulling back by an inch, a low, guttural growl rumbling in his chest.
A thin smear of crimson stained his lip, but instead of anger, his eyes flared with pure, wicked delight.
He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, staring down at me with a lethal smirk.
“Fiera salvaje,” he chuckled, completely unbothered by the pain.
(Wild beast.)
He dipped his head lower, ignoring my furious glares, and dragged his open mouth down the exposed line of my throat.
When his hot lips hit the sharp edge of my collarbone, right beside the necklace, he pressed a slow, bruising kiss into the hollow.
The sheer contrast of his burning mouth against the icy metal made my knees buckle.
Before I could slip down the glass, Keifer released my wrists, caught me beneath my thighs, and swept me effortlessly into his arms.
“Keifer, put me down!” I gasped, batting weakly at his broad shoulders.
In two long steps, he crossed the room and dropped me onto the massive bed.
The mattress swallowed the heavy silk of my gown, but before I could scramble to the other side, Keifer hovered over me, his knees bracketing my hips, caging me beneath the broad shadow of his torso.
My instincts panicked.
Expecting the worst, expecting the ruthless, unyielding force he ruled his empire with, I squeezed my eyes shut tight.
I braced myself, turning my face toward the pillows, my hands curling into tight fists against the dark charcoal sheets, waiting for him to take what the underworld said belonged to him.
The heavy silence stretched between us.
Nothing happened.
Slowly, carefully, a set of warm fingers brushed against my cheek, tracing the line of my jaw with agonizing gentleness.
Then, his soft, warm lips pressed against my closed eyelids.
First the right, then the left, kissing the tight tension out of my lashes.
He kissed the bridge of my nose, the high curve of my flushed cheekbones, and the trembling corner of my mouth, his touch so unbelievably tender it felt like a silent unraveling.
“Abre los ojos, amor,” he whispered against my forehead, his deep voice carrying a husky, teasing rasp.
(Open your eyes, love)
I slowly opened my eyes, looking up into the pitch-black depths of his gaze.
The feral predator from the hallway had receded, replaced by the dangerously confident, smirking boy who had spent half his life learning every layer of my soul.
“Did you really think I would force you, Jay?” he asked, a slow, flirtatious grin curling the corner of his bleeding lip.
He leaned in, letting his breath ghost across my mouth, his tone dripping with dark, intoxicating arrogance.
“No soy un monstruo contigo. Jamás te tocaría sin que tú me lo pidas a gritos.” (I am not a monster with you. I would never touch you without you screaming for me to do it.)
My breath hitched at the sheer audacity of his words.
“Mi vida,” (my life) he said smoothly, his knuckles trailing down the side of my neck, lingering over my racing pulse without crossing a single boundary.
“You can fight me all you want. You can sleep on your side of the bed and pretend you feel nothing. Pero cuando te toque de verdad… vas a ser tú quien me ruegue que no pare.” (But when I truly touch you… you will be the one begging me not to stop.)
He chuckled softly at the furious, flustered blush spreading across my face, then pressed one final, lingering kiss to the center of my forehead before rolling onto his back beside me, claiming the dark pillows with complete, terrifying satisfaction.