The music was pulsing. The air was humid. The voices were humming, low and urgent while drinks flew from the bar in every direction. Unfortunately, the whole scenario was only playing out vividly all in her head.

“Ugh!” Cassidy eyed the phone in her hands hesitantly. Could she do this? Call 911 and report Linc holding her prisoner? Technically, that is what he’s doing at the moment. Refusing to let her go. Incarcerating her against her will.

“Hey princess.” Linc’s unexpected voice interrupted suddenly, “Phone call.”

Snatching her iPhone out of his hands eagerly, she hummed out a happy greeting only to come to a grinding halt as Kiki’s voice urged her to hurry up.

“It’s alright,” Jenna’s voice came on halfway through her hastily assembled excuse, “I’ll understand if you’ll be too busy with your new lover.”

“What?”

“You’re all over the news darling,” Jenna’s sneer vibrated of jealousy, “All speculating and clamouring about your taste in men. How you’ve gone for the rugged, sexy masculine type oozing raw sex appeal over the polished, glamorous look of picture-perfect pretty boys.”

Feeling sick, Cassidy hung up barely after Kiki took over from Jenna and turned on the E channel, turning grey as a cheerful old hag with too much makeup on wearing a dress too sizes too small talked of her afternoon.

“I’m not trying to hide him from the world! You dumbass! I don’t want him!” She shrieked at the TV as two women discussed her possessiveness and applauded her audacity to openly ‘protect her man’ from ‘hungry vultures and ready claws’.

“I agree, Johnson’s unknown new lover seems –”

“– he’s not my fucking lover!” Cassidy bellowed at the TV again. “And obviously, the whole world needs glasses, he’s the furthest thing from sexy next to Michael Jack –”

A soft laugh broke her from her tirade before red clouded her vision.

“You think this is funny?” She hissed, pummelling Linc with her already sore fists.

After ten minutes, Linc finally calmed down only to take one glance at her flushed face alight with anger and crack up again.

“Who the hell yells at TV screens? Honestly!” He finally uttered before a final laugh rumbled through his chest.

“So different from her usual type, don’t you think so, Clarice? Maybe he’s The One. After all, someone like Cassidy is fully appreciative of personality over looks and is setting a fine example for the rest of –”

“– These people need serious help,” Linc remarked while Cassidy blanched at the mention of Linc and The One in the same sentence on TV.

“Don’t worry, I won’t marry you even if you begged me.”

Of all the nerve…! Cassidy bristled before deflating like a popped balloon. An epiphany had just smacked her bullseye in the ovaries.

Thankfully, Linc turned off the TV and for once, Cassidy didn’t mind the silence, however strained as she sorted out her jumbled thoughts.

“I would rather shave my head than even kiss you.” Cassidy finally muttered to appease the speculative looks Linc kept shooting her. She missed his retort and continued brewing. They were going nowhere.

It was action, reaction, a classic scenario that bickered back and forth. A fact. A depressing one.

“Truce.” Cassidy announced, surprising Linc into a gasping fit.

“Giving up already?” Linc taunted.

Shrugging, Cassidy bit an anxious lip. Maybe this was part of growing up. Accepting defeat. Taking time to pause and think rationally before sticking your foot in your mouth.

“I’m going to bed,” Cassidy said again, surprising Linc for the second time in a space of five minutes.

I miss my old life, she thought, as she scrubbed her teeth on autopilot. Washing her face, she stripped and tossed her clothes into the laundry hamper before raiding for a comfortable old t-shirt to wear.

“For someone so scrawny, you have a nice rack,” Linc remarked, “But your legs are twigs and you have absolutely no ass.”

“What the hell are you doing in my room?” Cassidy shrank as she scrambled to cover herself.

“Modest all of a sudden? Tut, tut,” Linc mocked, “I seem to recall during my briefing that you flashed an entire crowd of over two thousand people when you were seventeen.”

“I was drunk,” Cassidy defended.

“Well, there you go, a lesson well learnt why you should never drink underage.”

“I’m of age now!” Cassidy snapped.

“The ramblings of an enraged alcoholic in denial,” Linc mocked again, tipping an invisible hat to her.

“Get out of my room, you pervert!” Cassidy squeaked as Linc took a predatory step in her direction.

“So, implants?” Linc continued conversationally as Cassidy’s embarrassment and ire spiked higher and higher.

“Damn you! Get out! I won’t tolerate this… this…” Her voice broke.

“When did you get them done?” Linc asked, ignoring all her protests and mounting tension.

“I didn’t get any implants! They’re natural!” Cassidy shrieked, giving up and flying at him in blind rage.

“You know, I don’t think anyone will believe you if you cry rape now,” Linc smirked up at her as Cassidy found herself straddling him, wonderfully exposed from head to toe.

“Oh my God,” she moaned.

“Yes, right there, harder,” Linc ridiculed from underneath her. Cassidy flushed as alien sensual awareness trickled through her.

No, not him! She screamed at herself. Are you stupid, insane or suicidal? He’s got the face of a smacked donkey! And you hate him!

Against her will, a small sigh escaped her. At the sound, Linc hardened and suddenly, he was all business.

“Everyone you’ve ever dated probably let you get away with murder, figuratively speaking because you’re so damn cute. Guess what? I’m not.”

“I can’t return the compliment.”

“When you’re with me, what you want doesn’t matter. You listen to me, no questions asked. I won’t stand for your disobedience. It will be dealt with. Harshly.”

“What, you ambushed the cadets you trained as well? Were they also naked? Gee, I feel so much better now.”

She knew she was pissing him off, she was trembling from the close proximity and the fear of retaliation, not of the verbal kind suppose he snapped but Linc remained a passive-aggressive volcano, threatening, never safe but outwardly calm.

Wyes glittering with suppressed violence, Linc swooped down and kissed her, leaving her lightheaded for a while before desperation kicked in.

Need oxygen! Her body twitched and twisted but he remained immovable, mouth clamped over hers in punishment.

Oxygen! Her body cried as she tried to thrash her head to free her mouth.

A burning sensation began tickling her lungs as fear accelerated her rapidly drumming heartbeat.

Just as she felt on the edge of implosion, he released her and Cassidy sucked in a lungful of oxygen gratefully.

Weak and dizzy, she swayed in his arms, overcome by a series of conflicting emotions.

‘Looks like you’ll have to go shave your head now.” Linc smiled a cruel smile before pushing her off and walking out the room without a backward glance.