“You stole Damyr’s car?” Wilder gasped, his jaw dropping in horror.
“Borrowed,” I replied. “I have every intention of returning it. Besides, he’s got so many he probably won’t even notice it’s gone.”
“You’ve got a death wish.”
I shrugged and accelerated harder, ignoring the speed limit and cutting off other road users. “I don’t have a death wish. I just tend to take what I want and today I wanted to take you out in style. I thought you’d enjoy this car.”
Wilder hit me with a look I couldn’t decipher. His violet eyes were intense and determined and something else I couldn’t place but I couldn’t keep my eyes off the road long enough to figure it out.
“Why me?” He asked sharply, his arms folded across his chest.
“What?”
“You heard me. Why me, Byron? Why not some other schmuck off the street? What have I done to earn this level of attention from you? I thought your obsession ran to your twin, not other people.”
I gripped my hands tighter on the steering wheel. “I don’t know.”
“The fuck?” He snapped, dragging his hands through his hair. “What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I’m not wired like you, Wilder—”
“I know that much, psycho,” he huffed, interrupting me with all the attitude of a bratty teenager. It made me want to spank it out of him.
“When I see something that I want, I take it. Regardless of anyone else’s feelings.”
He turned away and looked out of the window at the passing scenery. “That must be nice. To just not care at all.”
I placed my hand on his thigh and squeezed gently. “I care, Wilder. Just only about the things that matter to me.”
He didn’t reply, and I took my hand back. He just continued to stare out of the window and watched the scenery as it passed by.
The rest of the journey passed like that. With me worrying about how to get his attention and him completely ignoring me.
For the first time, I felt unsure of myself. Some part of me knew Wilder was going to be mine the moment I saw him—even if I didn’t realise it until recently—and yet, I didn’t know how to help him. He felt unreachable, like he was tucked safely behind all those walls he’d erected to protect himself. I understood that, but maybe that was why he interested me. He didn’t need someone gentle. He needed someone who’d be brutal.
And I definitely excelled at that.
“We’re here,” I said as I pulled up outside a luxurious apartment block. I slipped out of the low car and went around to open Wilder’s door for him.
“I can do that myself, you know,” he said with a scowl as I held my hand out to him. He batted it away and climbed out on his own. I tried not to be disappointed, but I couldn’t help it. I wanted him to take my hand. I wanted him to need me.
I chucked the keys at the valet and smiled at him. “Don’t scratch her or I’ll skin you alive and turn you into a lamp.”
The valet paled a little but managed to stammer out a “Very good, sir.”
When I turned to look at Wilder he was watching me with a cocked brow and his hands buried deep in his hoodie pocket.
“What?” I asked as I strode past him into the building.
“You could try to be nicer to people.”
I scoffed. “I’ve never been nice. Where’s the fun in that?”
Wilder trudged behind me, dragging his feet all the way to the penthouse and his sister’s front door.
I waited for him to ring the doorbell, but he’d buried himself in his hoodie. I rolled my eyes at him and jabbed my finger against the doorbell. “This is only going to help.”
“We’ll see,” he huffed and then walked past me into the penthouse, leaving me watching his ass walk away.