Shatter-Me-PDF-Shatter-Me-Series-Shatter-Me-Shatter-Me-1-Tahereh-Mafi (1)

“Don’t flatter yourself—”
He closes the last few inches between us and my words
fall to the floor. I can’t breathe. The tension in his entire
body is so intense it’s nearly palpable and I think my
muscles have begun to freeze. “You are naive,” he says to
me, his voice harsh, low, a grating whisper against my skin.
“You don’t realize that you’re a threat to everyone in this
building. They have every reason to harm you. You don’t see
that I am trying to help you—”
“By hurting me!” I explode. “By hurting others!”
His laugh is cold, mirthless. He backs away from me,
suddenly disgusted. The elevator slides open but he doesn’t
step outside. I can see my door from here. “Go back to your
room. Wash up. Change. There are dresses in your armoire.”
“I don’t like dresses.”
“I don’t think you like seeing that, either,” he says with a
tilt of his head. I follow his gaze to see a hulking shadow
across from my door. I turn to him for an explanation but he
says nothing. He’s suddenly composed, his features wiped
clean of emotion. He takes my hand, squeezes my fingers,
says, “I’ll be back for you in exactly one hour,” and closes
the elevator doors before I have a chance to protest. I begin
to wonder if it’s coincidence that the one person most
unafraid to touch me is a monster himself.
I step forward and dare to peer closer at the soldier
standing in the dark.
Adam.
Oh Adam.
Adam who now knows exactly what I’m capable of.
My heart is a water balloon exploding in my chest. My
lungs are swinging from my rib cage. I feel as though every
fist in the world has decided to punch me in the stomach. I
shouldn’t care so much, but I do.
He’ll hate me forever now. He won’t even look at me.
I wait for him to open my door but he doesn’t move.
“Adam?” I venture, tentative. “I need your key card.”