Kiss The Villain: A Dark MM Enemies to Lovers Romance

What are you doing?

Who are you with?

You haven’t texted me back in two hours, Kayden. You better fucking do that before I stab you.

Pick up the phone.

Seriously, where are you?

Not on campus or at the archery range or in the chess club or shopping for coffee beans.

Not in the house either.

I swear to fuck, if you don’t answer, I’m going to slice your goddamn face open.

Okay, not the face.

Where the fuck are you?!!!

KAYDE!!

The better company is apparently some girl from school. Not Morgan, but another one. Blonde and pretty—another version of Cherry, who I thought we got rid of.

I’m watching him from the corner of the coffee shop as he laughs along with something she says and allows her to put her arm around his shoulders.

Yes, they’re with a group of friends, but she still has her arm around him.

And he’s not removing it.

I slide a hand in my pocket to stop myself from barging in there and somehow breaking that arm.

As the others talk, he flips his phone over, his thick brows drawing into a line.

Probably staring at all the texts I left unanswered. It’s not that I did it on purpose in the beginning. I was in a lengthy offshore meeting at an office in London and had my phone on silent, so I didn’t get the chance to see them.

However, around halfway through, when he was starting to get anxiously obsessive, I left them on unread on purpose.

He needs to stop with the threats when things don’t go his way.

I thought the emotional control training was going well lately. He gets rewarded when he behaves, and he gets put back in his place when he’s being a brat.

However, ever since he told me about his French teacher three days ago, he’s been acting…odd.

He’s more obsessive, somewhat anxious about my absence. He tries to act unaffected when I’m around him, but then he keeps following me everywhere, and the moment I touch him, he releases this tiny sigh of relief.

As if he got a drug hit or something similarly obnoxious.

He’s also sniffing me more than usual lately, even burying his face in my neck and falling asleep like that.

He’s also more vocal during sex, asking me to bite him, to mark him, to leave hickeys all over him. And he loves when I praise him—he demands it now. He’ll say things like, “Was I good? Tell me I was good.” Or, “Tell me how you love being inside me.” Or, “Say it, please, say I’m so beautiful you can’t stop fucking me.”

I love that.

I love that he’s owning up to the submissive streak in him, that he’s accepting his sexuality and leaning into his kinks. But while I like that he’s attached to me, I don’t appreciate the unhealthy behavior. Someone like Gareth will spiral if he keeps going down this path.

It’s a matter of when, not if.

I should probably wait until we’re at home to teach him a goddamn lesson, but then again, I won’t leave him with Blondie.

I watch with curious amazement the way his lips pull in a smile and his eyes brighten as he lifts his head and sees me standing across the street.

Then he quickly hides the smile.

Fire ignites in his eyes.

While I don’t like threatening him, I also have to manage his uneven bursts of impulsiveness.

I catch a glimpse of him standing up, and I turn around to leave.

Well, not really.

I know he’ll follow.

Sure enough, soon after I slip into an alleyway, he rushes in, his shoulders bunched with tension and his eyes shooting lasers.

He grabs me by the collar and slams me against the wall.

It’s amazing how he can look so beautiful even when he’s enraged. Messy blond hair, slick, sharp features. Full pillowy lips.

I could stare at him for hours.

“What the fuck are you playing at, Kayde? You think you can ignore me the whole day and then start talking bullshit?”

“Language,” I speak calmly. “Release me.”

“Like fuck I will. Explain yourself.”

“I said.” I grab his hand and twist—hard—forcing him to let go. “Watch your language and let me go.”

He winces and I drop his hand. I don’t want to hurt him, which might be ironic considering all the punishments, but he enjoys that.

Outside of sex, I truly don’t like causing him pain. He’s not delicate or anything, but to me, he’s someone to be protected at all costs.

“Why didn’t you answer my texts?” he asks in a low tone, then his eyes grow wide, his breathing frantic. “Were you with another woman? Someone like Jessica? I told you, didn’t I? If you betray me, I will rip your heart out.”noveldrama

“Gareth, that’s enough. Control your temper.”

“I’m serious. You don’t know what the fuck I’m capable of, Professor. If you ever leave me or replace me, I will kill you and chop you into tiny goddamn pieces, then stuff you in a box and feed you to the fucking sharks. I’d rather you die than be with someone else.”

“You think I’d let you kill me?”

He reaches a hand to my throat, and I grab his wrist and twist it to the side. “You believe you have power in this relationship just because you’re capable of killing? Your threats don’t work on me, Gareth. You will never hurt me. You’re too obsessed with me to ever do that. And even if you succumb to your impulses, I will tie you the fuck up and punish you. So cut it out and behave.”

“But…”

He trails off when I level him with a look. This time, when I release his wrist, he doesn’t attempt to choke me again.

“I understand you’re hurt, which is why you’re throwing this tantrum, but I’m telling you, Gareth. You bring someone else into this just to be a brat again, and I will forbid you from seeing me for a whole week. Are we clear?”

His eyes widen. “You wouldn’t.”

“Try me. Just try making me watch a display like that again and see the consequences for yourself.”

“It’s not that I want to do that. Just…don’t disappear on me again.”

“I will if needed. You’re a grown adult who can survive a few hours without a text from me.”

“It was a whole day, actually,” he murmurs with a pout, and it’s nearly impossible to keep up the stoic mode.

He looks so goddamn adorable, I want to eat him up.

My tone darkens. “And that was enough to find better company?”

He shrugs. “I thought that might get your attention.”

“You will not do that nonsense again. There will be no girl’s arms around you. Are we clear?”

He nods.

“Use your words.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

“Now…” I run my fingers over his T-shirt. “How would you like to be punished for your insolence?”

His lips part as he looks up at me, and whispers, “Here?”

“Shh. Don’t talk.”

“Kayde…”

I slam him against the opposite wall with my grip on his T-shirt. “Shut the fuck up.”

His fingers clench in my shirt, digging into my waist as he shivers. I’m about to devour him when I feel a third presence.

“Gaz?” The guy watches us with narrowed eyes.

He’s tall, about an inch shorter than me, though, and bulky. Chaotic full-sleeve tattoos peek from beneath his shirt and he has his long, dark hair tied in a messy ponytail.

Gareth stiffens as he looks up at him, his lashes fluttering and his heartbeat quickening beneath my fingers.

Now, I want to maim the intruder just because he’s stressing my little monster.

The newcomer flexes and then tightens his fist as he glares at me. “What’s your name, motherfucker, and what’s your favorite way to die?”

“Niko, it’s not…” Gareth trails off, and I realize I’m tightening my grip, because why the fuck is he calling him by a nickname and sounding…apologetic?

“Step the fuck away from him.” This Niko storms toward us. “Now.”

“Who the fuck are you?” I ask in a low growl, feeling so goddamn territorial.

“My cousin, Nikolai.” Gareth pushes me, forcing me to release him as he gives me a pleading look. “Please leave, Sir.”

Fuck. I love how he calls me that.

“Sir?” Nikolai, the cockblocker but at least a cousin, scoffs. “Why the fuck are you calling him sir?”

“He’s my professor. Kayden Lockwood.” Gareth casts a fleeting glance at me before he trudges to his cousin’s side.

I give Nikolai a look of disdain for ruining my session and pin Gareth with a look. “We are not done, Carson. I expect you in my office tomorrow morning.”

Instead of leaving, I remain by the corner, my arms crossed as I listen in. While I can’t see them, I want to make sure Gareth is okay.

None of his family members know about his sexuality, and I know how freaked out he was about the gay thing. He’s more comfortable now, but I’m not sure if he’s comfortable enough to come out.

“Why the fuck would your professor corner you in an alley?” Nikolai asks the very obvious question.

Gareth, to his credit, answers in that mellow, pliable way he usually communicates in public. “We…had a slight disagreement.”

“And he couldn’t solve it in the classroom like all other professors?” Another good question.

“I…uh, I pulled something outside of law school and he was pissed.”

“That still doesn’t give him the right to attack you. Want me, Jer, and Kill to add him to the MIA list?”

“No, no. That’s not necessary. I can take care of this situation.”

“Didn’t look like you were doing a very good job at it. Kill and I will maim the fucker.”

“Niko, no. Don’t…tell Kill. Don’t tell anyone about what you just saw.”

Hmm. He sounds distraught.

Honestly, I don’t care whether or not he accepts his sexuality as long as he accepts me, but was his apprehension this bad?

“Why not…? Fuck me,” Nikolai says. “Is this that man you told me about that time? The only one you’re attracted to?”

My brows rise.

He talked to his cousin about me? He said I was the only one he’s attracted to?

Am I supposed to feel a twist in my chest at that?

“N-no,” Gareth says in such a cute little voice.

“You just stuttered. You never stutter.”

“Just forget it. Since when are you this perceptive?”

“Since now. It’s him, isn’t it?”

“No,” he says with more force than needed.

“In that case, I guess I can discuss this further with Kill and Jer and see if it’s true or false.”

“Nikolai!”

“Or you can just tell me.”

“Fine! It’s him.”

My chest expands, and I’m grinning like an idiot in the streets.

“A much older professor, huh?” Nikolai says in a teasing voice. “You’re much more adventurous than I thought, cousin. I’m actually impressed.”

“It’s nothing serious, so don’t tell anyone.”

My smile falls.

Not serious? He was on the verge of committing murder just because I didn’t reply to him, and it’s nothing serious.

I know he’s putting up a front, but it’s getting tedious now.

I hear them move, and I walk away so as not to be discovered.

But all I can think about is the pain in my chest because the little monster who’s been carving himself beneath my skin for months said we’re not serious.