“You just can’t leave me alone, can you?” I moaned.
Jacob smirked, as predicted. “Not when orders say otherwise I’m afraid.”
I groaned loudly, although the sound was muffled by the pillow I’d buried my head in. This morning had been torture enough without having to suffer him all day. I felt his hands close over mine as he pulled me backwards to my feet.
“Get off me!”
“See,” he laughed. “That’s why I love this room. It’s probably the only soundproof place in the whole building – you can shriek and shout all you want, but no-one will hear you.”
“Get your hands off of me!” I shouted, saying each word separately. “Cool it, Jacob – I am not in the mood!”
He laughed. “The mood? When are you ever?” He paused for a moment, switching both of my hands into one of his own, still behind my back, and I felt his fingers trace the chain around my neck. “What’s this? I never pictured you as one for jewellery.”
“Hands off!” I spat. He moved his hand away and back to my wrists, but I could tell he was still smiling.
I jerked violently away from him, straining my recently-recovered shoulder in the process. I gritted my teeth together to stop myself from shouting out and tried to twist away again. I could almost feel an actual growl mounting inside me, if only because I was sure I wouldn’t be in this position if I’d been watching him beforehand. So much for trying to block out my surroundings.
“I’m gonna give you a tip,” Jacob smirked. “Don’t do that.”
“What?”
“Once someone’s got you like this – you won’t get out by pulling away, unless they’re really weak – something that I’m not.”
I pulled a face, trying to channel some of the anger beating in me. I wasn’t doing very well. Anger was something that I hadn’t had to pay attention to in a while. Sure, I got annoyed with Calix, but the pure fury surging through me wasn’t something I was used to. “Thanks a bunch – I already worked that one out.”
“Well then, you ignore it. Don’t.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Yeah? Thanks, but I don’t need your tips. I know what I’m doing.”
I started to step away again, but his words stopped me. “Do you? Really? I’m not sure you do.”
His question froze me.
I knew what I was doing – I did. Things may not always work out exactly as I planned them, but they always worked out. End of – no questions asked. Nothing ever went wrong – I never walked away injured, I always won. When things hadn’t happened as I wanted... it wasn’t my fault – I could never control them. I did what I could with what I had, and that took skill – a skill I’d learnt slowly and painfully over the years. And that wasn’t something to slight.
That was years and years of hard, hateful, spiteful work he was doubting – and even if I didn’t have things planned to detail that was just an unfair claim. I could feel the anger at it bubbling inside me, I was almost shaking from it. My eyes squeezed shut in an automatic attempt to calm down.
But – just for that moment – I didn’t want to have to stay calm. I’d controlled it and hidden it and buried it for far too long. Every time it happened I stopped, bit my tongue, stepped back, looked at it again and just didn’t fight. Everyone here thought they’d seen me angry. They’d seen me mad, but they’d never seen me full on furious. It was like my own private battle that I was winning – just to have something I’d never shown them.
