I also wanted to add that I didn’t need his disgusting comments about my appearance, but luckily I still had enough sense to keep at least some caution in my words.
Matteo started walking toward me.
That was enough to make me tense to the limit, but I didn’t move from the spot.
Whatever was happening right now, I had to stay focused, even though my thoughts were swarming frantically inside my head.
First, he had given me an umbrella and his jacket just yesterday.
Because of that nice and caring gesture, I wanted to believe that he wasn’t as terrifying as I had originally imagined.
Second, we were on the street.
He wouldn’t do anything to me here.
There had to be at least a few passers-by roaming around.
I turned to see how many people were on the street right now and froze.
The sidewalks were completely empty.
Where had everyone gone?
Stunned by that, I missed the moment when there was almost no distance left between Matteo and me.
Then my whole body jerked hard when I felt him lean toward my ear.
“And who exactly did you dress up like that for?” It wasn’t just a question.
It felt like a knife was pressed to my neck, and I let out a ragged breath and tried to quickly back away.
But it was as if I’d signed my own death warrant.
I was immediately intercepted.
Pressed against the fence.
“Let go!” I frantically, fearfully tried to break free, but Matteo grabbed my wrists and pinned them to the stone surface above my head with one palm.
His other hand tightened around my waist.
So tightly that a painful groan escaped my lips.
“Tell me.
Who are you so interested in that you want him staring at you?” Matteo’s face was only a few centimeters from mine.
The look in his eyes was such that, for the first time in my life, I felt this terrified.
And in the frantic static of my mind I realized one more thing—he was, goddamn it, completely unhinged.
“No one!
I’m not interested in anyone.
It’s… it’s just a dress.
God, let me go.
Please.
I’ll… I’ll scream!” “Scream,” Matteo slowly tilted his head to the side, so that his lips slid across my cheek.
“I can lift your damn dress and fuck you right here.
And no one will stop me.” I swallowed hard, my blood running colder.
He was clearly exaggerating.
The street might be empty now, but anyone could show up at any moment.
He wouldn’t dare.
He couldn’t.
I repeated it to myself a billion times in my head, but my heart was still pounding like crazy.
“I told you I was your boyfriend now.
I warned you not to fool around behind my back.
Yet, here you are, walking around dressed like this…
For someone else.” Matteo lowered his hand and squeezed my thigh.
Hard.
There would probably be marks there.
“Tell me the name of that fucker you like, and I’ll make sure he won’t have anything to look at you with.” The cold night air, touching my skin, was worse than sharp needles piercing my flesh, and as I stared at Matteo in horror, I realized only one thing—he really was insane.
“I…
I don’t like anyone.
I only wore this dress because I have to go to a restaurant.
It’s…
a fancy place.” An even more terrifying grin appeared on Matteo’s lips.
It was…
Scary.
So fucking scary.
My heart nearly stopped.
I couldn’t breathe, and I couldn’t get enough oxygen.
My thoughts flared up, and, lost in my own feverish fragments of thought, I somehow remembered Lisa’s damn words: “You’re so beautiful…
Take advantage of that.” I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but even in my heels, I tried to push myself up even higher.
Matteo was significantly taller than me, but I managed to bury my face in his neck, and then I whispered brokenly: “I said it wrong.
I don’t like anyone… no one except you.
I mean, it’s hard for me to understand what I feel because sometimes you scare me a lot, but… when you’re near me, my heart beats faster.” Yeah.
Because I’m scared out of my freaking mind.
“And… how was I supposed to wear a dress for you?
You’ve never once invited me to a restaurant or on a date…
If you had… I’d put on a dress a hundred times better than this one.
It would… you’d really like it.
I’d do that for you.” Oh my God, what was I saying?
I wanted to bite my tongue off.
And I really did bite it at those last words, tasting bitter blood.
But…
Suddenly, Matteo’s grip loosened.
I didn’t even immediately understand what had happened.
I only felt him standing motionless for a moment, his hot breath burning at the top of my head.
Only after some time did it finally dawn on me that my wrists no longer hurt.
And in the next moment, something happened that completely shocked me—even though Matteo was still holding me, he was somehow…
gentler now?
His thumb, almost tenderly, traced the back of my hand.
I didn’t move.
I probably wasn’t even breathing, yet my body felt like a single nerve stretched to the breaking point.
So tightly that my back clearly registered every tiny ridge in the stone wall, while my chest pressed against Matteo’s steel-hard torso.
His hot breath still grazed the top of my head, and his hands held my wrists.
Completely different from a couple of minutes ago, yet I still felt like a small animal trapped in a snare.
All of it was terrifying enough to make me tremble.
My heart hammered in uneven bursts, in broken fragments.
“Can you please let me go?” I asked, very quietly, trying to be as careful as possible with every word, though I doubted I was succeeding.
Matteo said nothing.
Instead, his other hand slipped under my chin and forced my head up.
I blinked several times, unsure whether to look away or meet his eyes.