The Rejected Luna (Avery and Kaden) novel Chapter 203

**Between the Wings of Twilight Lies the Memory of You**
by Liren Ava Roen

As I yanked the shower curtain away from my face, my heart raced in disbelief. There he stood—Steven.

His striking features were flushed, a telltale sign of the alcohol coursing through his veins, yet his expression was anything but friendly. His eyes were sharp, piercing through the steamy air with a hostility that sent a chill down my spine.

“What are you doing here?” I exclaimed, my voice barely above a whisper, a mixture of surprise and confusion flooding my mind. “I thought you went to my room to rest.”

“Took a wrong turn. Lucky for me, I did,” he replied, his voice low and dangerously smooth. He stepped closer, effectively trapping me against the wall, his body looming over mine. One hand pressed firmly beside my head, while the other gripped my wrist with a possessiveness that made my pulse quicken. He leaned in, his icy gaze boring into mine. “Planning on making a fool out of me, were you?”

It struck me that, of course, Steven wouldn’t know his way around my house; he had never ventured into my personal space before. I quickly accepted his explanation, but my unease only deepened with his next words.

“No, I’m here to take care of some business,” he declared, his tone darkening, as if shadows had gathered around him.

“And what kind of ‘business’ requires you to be in this room, about to get into bed with that man?”

My frown deepened, confusion and irritation swirling within me. There was still a creep lurking just outside the bathroom door, and now was the moment he chose to confront me?

“It’s none of your business. I have things to do, so you need to leave,” I asserted, my voice firmer than I felt.

Steven loosened his tie, rolling up his sleeves with a deliberate slowness that made my stomach churn. Despite the flush on his cheeks, a cold smirk twisted his lips, a stark contrast to the warmth of his earlier demeanor.

“Leave? So you and your lover can have the room to yourselves? Do I look that stupid to you?”

It was clear that he wasn’t thinking straight, the alcohol clouding his judgment. Just as I opened my mouth to respond, a knock echoed from the other side of the door, jolting me.

“Ms. Jones, what are you doing in there? I thought I heard you talking to someone,” the man outside called, his voice dripping with curiosity.

This was my domain. I knew every hidden corner and secret passage. My mother and I had spent countless weekends cleaning this house, and I had explored every inch of it during our childhood games of hide-and-seek.

That had been my plan all along—escape and grab a tool to handle the situation.

His expression darkened, the shadows deepening around him, yet a thin smile lingered on his lips as he cupped my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze.

“I’m the one catching you in the act, and you want me to crawl through a doggy door?”

“It’s not really a doggy door,” I protested, my voice rising slightly. “It’s just a hole we made a while back. We’re not allowed to have dogs. Right now, it’s the only way out of this room without being seen. You can’t be discovered, so get going—mmph!”

Before I could finish my sentence, his lips crashed against mine, silencing me completely. My eyes widened in shock, and my heart raced as I pressed my hands against his chest, desperate to push him away. But he was relentless, his grip on my wrists unyielding, like iron. I couldn’t cry out without alerting the man outside, so I was left with no choice but to tilt my head back and endure the kiss, my fingers digging into his waist, caught in a storm of conflicting emotions.