CHAPTER FIVE- My dark obsession

ETHAN POV

At night, the ice in my glass had melted down to water, but I hadn’t taken a sip in twenty minutes.

I sat alone in the darkest corner of the bar, the low music fading into background noise. My mind wasn't on the long flight I had taken, nor was it on the family mess waiting for me at home.

It was entirely trapped in the dark room from last night.

Trapped with her.

The plus size girl.

I leaned my head back against the leather seat and let my eyes slide shut. The memory didn't just come back, it pulled me under. The thought of her alone got me hard within seconds.

I had touched plenty of women before. Models with thin waists and plastic smiles who all felt the same. But Chloe? Chloe was a revelation.

My hands still burned with the memory of her body. The heavy weight of her soft hips fitting perfectly into my palms. The way her skin gave beneath my fingers, smooth and warm, like silk pulled over fire. I had never desired a woman with so much soft, full plushness, but the second I pressed my chest against hers, I lost my mind.

I remembered how her hands had gripped my shoulders, nails digging into my skin as if she were drowning. I remembered the arch of her back, the way her breath hitched right before she broke, and the sharp, needy moans she tried—and failed—to muffle against my neck. Every soft shudder of her body under mine had pushed me deeper into a dark, possessive haze. I hadn't just taken her; I had consumed her. And even now, my blood ran hot just thinking about doing it all over again.

I opened my eyes, a dark, heavy smile pulling at my lips.

The sweetest part of the whole twisted night?

She belonged to Julian.

Or at least, she used to.

A quiet laugh escaped my throat, echoing softly in the dim light. My arrogant little brother, the golden captain who thought the world bowed to him, had no idea. He had stood in that courtyard calling her pathetic, completely clueless that just hours earlier, his soft, chubby girl was riding me, shivering at my touch.

The sheer thrill of it settled deep in my chest. Julian was a boy playing with toys he didn't know how to keep. He didn't know what to do with a real woman. He had discarded gold because he was too stupid to see its worth.

But I wasn't stupid.

Chloe thought last night was just a drunken mistake. She thought she could run away, apologize, and slip back into the shadows.

She was dead wrong. I had felt her melt under me, and there was no way in hell I was letting her go now.

I lifted the glass to my lips, taking a slow, burning swallow of bourbon.

Then, the heavy wooden doors at the front of the bar swung open.

The chime above the entrance chimed softly, breaking through the quiet chatter of the room. I casually shifted my gaze toward the doorway, expecting to see another tired businessman or a local regular.

My hand froze halfway to the table. The glass stayed suspended in mid-air.

The smile completely vanished from my face.

My pulse spiked, a cold shock rushing straight through my veins as I stared at the figure stepping out of the shadows and into the dim light of the bar.

No way.

My jaw tightened, my fingers gripping the glass so hard the crystal nearly cracked.

Of all the places. Of all the people.

What the hell were they doing here?