Disguise

Crocodiles that Bite

"Shit." I swore to myself but I had no doubt that he heard me.

Reece's eyes narrowed in the slightest before moving towards me again, but this time my senses kicked in.

I knew I couldn't outrun him, so I tried the next best thing.

"Stop! D-Don't come any closer!" Dammit stupid break in my voice!

Miraculously, he listened. He was two steps away from me, standing just at the rear view mirror of the red car, but he held his position.

I could tell that it was taking a great amount of restraint on his part. His eyes were indecisive, wavering.

"Flora-"

"You can't fix this." My voice was filled with as much hatred as I could muster (which at that point wasn't much.)

"Flora-"

"I said no!"

He clenched his fists, and I was positive that any second now he'd be on me. Reece knew that his touch was my Kryptonite, and he wasn't afraid to use it.

"You don't understand-"

"Well, I don't want to." I replied instantly. "I am not getting into this again."

He looked like he wanted to say something, but then he stopped. For some utterly stupid reason I waited for his response. Reece took a deep breath, his well defined chest rising and falling heavily, distracting me.

"You're lying." He spoke with no malice. Just a fact.

My cheeks reddened at the accurate accusation. A large part of me wanted to jump into his arms and forgive him right there. It was impossible to resist Reece, he just owned me. And for a while it felt like I owned him too.

But that illusion shattered along with the trust on my instincts.

That's why I had decided, this part of me took decisions no longer. I repeated, "I'm not getting into this again." Firmly, like a mantra. But why did it feel like I said it more for my benefit than his?

"But you want to." Why was he so spot on?

No. I have to stop caring.

"You can't stop caring, can you?" My head whipped up to him at his words.

Did he just read my mind?!

"I know how confusing this must have been for you. I was supposed to make it clearer, easier and look at what I've done." I didn't think he was speaking to me anymore.

Maybe I could leave him contemplating his life decisions and sneak out.

Hah. Fat chance of that happening.

"You're angry, I know that. But I know that deep down you still care."

Ex boyfriend say what?

"Shut the fuck up!"

"Flora it's not safe for you anywhere now! I need to protect you!" He was losing control, I knew that. His eyes were getting darker again like they had been last night.

Over the one year we had dated I'd figured out such little things about him - hints that his body could give me about his mind.

"I'm safe exactly where I am, thank you very much." I yelled back even though he was just a few feet away.

I knew I shouldn't bait him. If I threw him over the edge I didn't know what could happen.

"You're lying, you care. If you didn't then you wouldn't have cried. It wouldn't matter to you at all whether you're in the clear or not."