“You’ll be the helpless little kitty cat,” she coos, grinning wider when I give her a dark look.
“Will you still think so when you’re trapped between my teeth?” I grab her by the throat and bring her in close, her caramel eyes dilating with lust. I brush my lips across the side of her mouth, drawing out a shuddered exhale.
“I was only ever helpless when I fell in love with you. And you may hold all the power over me, little mouse, but I’ve never been defenseless. Don’t mistake my lack of control for weakness. All the ways I’ve hurt you have always been intentional.”
She bites back a smile right before her fist rears back and lands directly in the side of my cheek. My vision blackens for a brief moment, and then my equilibrium teeters as she spins me around and pushes me back into the metal chair.
My weight nearly sends it crashing backward, but her foot catches on the chair between my legs, stopping me from falling but coming very fucking close to crushing my dick.
It feels like my bones are cracking from the monster inside me, fighting to get out, and a growl works past my lips. Just as I go to charge back at her, she’s grabbing me by the throat, pushing me back down, and climbing on top of me, straddling my waist with her thick thighs.
My hands land on her hips and squeeze while she leans forward.
“Don’t mistake my submission for weakness, baby,” she breathes into my ear, voice husky with desire. “All the ways I’m going to hurt you will be intentional.”
Before I can begin to form the threats rising up my throat, her lips are crashing into mine, not only silencing my dark promises, but completely ripping them to pieces.
Her mouth moves over mine savagely, and I’m lost to the way she commands me. I could flip her so effortlessly, but I fucking love bowing to the dark little goddess.
Grabbing my hands, she forces them behind the chair, clamping them together.
A sharp pain pierces my bottom lip, her teeth sinking into the tender flesh and drawing blood. Before I can snap back, she pulls away and looks over my face with pride.
It’s only then I notice the rope is tightly secured around my wrists. If I wasn’t seconds away from ripping her throat out and fucking her blind, I’d be impressed.
“Black eye and a bloody lip. I think that’s enough kicking your ass for now.” She firmly slaps my cheek in a good job, sport type of way before lifting off of me and settling in the chair beside me.
All I can do is stare at her and fantasize about the ways I’m going to punish her for that later. But just as well, my cock is harder than granite because that was probably one of the hottest things I’ve ever experienced in my life. Every time I think I’ve never been harder, she goes and proves me wrong.
Sensing my insidious thoughts, she rolls her shoulders, feigning boredom.
Addie has always been a runner-especially from the truth.
“If you’re done with your foreplay, let’s finish this, yeah?” Michael says, standing next to a red-faced Jeff with his arms crossed and a bored look on his face as well. The punk is also a liar and probably adjusted himself while I was distracted.
Gary is still groaning on the floor, and Jeff shifts uncomfortably next to him, eyes bouncing everywhere else, avoiding my stare.
Taking a deep breath, I try to focus back on the situation. “Doesn’t look like we hit the femoral arteries, so he’s going to have a very slow death. We’ll let him suffer there in the corner for now.”
Michael nods and grabs Jeff by the arm and hauls him in front of us.
“Tie me up, Baron,” Addie says to my mercenary, who’s been leaning against the wall to my right. She’s smirking because she knows damn well how suggestive that sounded.
“Are you trying to get me killed?” Baron asks, his deep baritone voice pitching higher.
Addie rolls her eyes. “I won’t let him kill you.”
She shouldn’t be so sure about that. But I keep my mouth shut and my stare sharp when he gives in, knowing that him or Michael are the only options to tie her up, considering she already bound my hands.
Baron makes quick work of the rope, stepping away before I can find a reason to cut his hands off. Who am I kidding? I don’t need a reason.
Michael turns to Jeff. “Give me your phone,” he demands, then rudely snatches the device from the old man’s hand the second he pulls it from his pocket.
“All right, kids, look like your asses just got kicked by two old men that throw their backs out just from lifting their small dicks to piss.”
He could’ve just said, say cheese and had the same outcome.
I glare at him, and Addie turns her head away, squeezing her eyes shut like she’s too ashamed to have her picture taken.
“Make it a little shaky with a shitty angle, and voila, a typical picture taken by a degenerate,” Michael says, smiling in victory after he snaps the photo. Then he turns the phone to Jeff.
“What would you typically say if you took a picture like that?”
Jeff glances at the image. “That we wasted money on all the other stupid fucks and should’ve done it ourselves from the start,” he spits. Once he realizes that he helped Michael’s message appear authentic by literally taking the words out of his mouth, his eyes darken with rage.
Michael’s fingers fly over the keyboard, mouthing the words aloud as he types them just to piss Jeff off. Then he pauses and looks to the old man with a shit-eating grin.
“Hey, how do you spell ‘stupid’?”
A vein pulses on Jeff’s forehead, giving Michael an, are you fucking kidding me? look. Michael just stares, intent on making him spell the word. Snarling, he spits each letter through gritted teeth.
When finished typing, Michael slaps him on the back of the shoulder roughly and says, “Thanks, man. Would be lost without you.”
Addie snickers, and now I’m going to have to cut Michael, too, just for making my girl laugh.
“Z has officially been captured,” he announces, clicking the Send button with triumph. “And now… we wait.”
“I hope you’re not stupid enough to tell Claire they kicked our asses,” I tell Michael, nodding towards Jeff.
He waves a hand. “Don’t worry, princess, she’ll know it took the entire military to bring down the big bad wolf. Your reputation won’t be tarnished.”
“I’m not worried about my rep. It’s simply just not believable.”
Chapter 42
The Diamond
My equilibrium teeters as my feet dangle over the cliff. I’m sitting on the very edge and I’m just waiting for the earth to give beneath me and send me crashing into the rocks below.
I’m balancing on the edge of life and death, and the thrill it gives me is undeniable. My heart is in my stomach, and even though it’d take putting my head between my legs for me to fall over the ledge, it feels like one inch forward, and my life is done for.
I love it.
The sun begins to dip in the cotton candy sky, a beautiful array of colors stretching toward me. I’m not sure if it’s the beauty before me or my precarious game with death that makes me feel alive.
Though both have the power to make me feel insignificant.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.