Riley violently shoved him away, stumbling back to lean against the doorframe as she tried to calm her violently heaving chest. Her reddened eyes glared at him with pure hatred. "You disgust me, Pierce!"
Disgust?
The word hit Pierce like a sledgehammer. "You're throwing up because I repulse you?"
"Yes." Riley scrubbed furiously at her bloodied mouth, acting as if she had been contaminated by something vile.
Pierce suddenly remembered what had happened at the St. John estate. He had tried to kiss her, she had dodged, and he had only managed to kiss her cheek. She had dry heaved that time, too.
So it was all because he made her sick?
It was a devastating blow to his ego.
She didn't love him anymore. She truly, deeply didn't love him.
She loathed him to the core!
The realization made Pierce physically sway.
Just then, his phone rang in his pocket. He pulled it out; it was Arthur. Suddenly, the air in the apartment felt too thick to breathe. He needed to escape. He answered the call as he practically bolted for the door, looking like a man fleeing for his life.
Riley ran into the bathroom and dry heaved over the sink for another minute. Then, she squeezed an aggressive amount of toothpaste onto her brush and scrubbed her mouth. She scoured every corner of her teeth and tongue, over and over, until her gums bled, turning the white foam pink.
**
At the Landon estate.
"Are you even listening to me?" Arthur slammed his cane against the floor, furious that Pierce was staring blankly into space, entirely unresponsive.
Pierce snapped out of his daze, looking at his grandfather in confusion. "What did you say?"


VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABEL
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: The Coldest Man in the Room Melted Only for Me