Page 117 of Dare To Take

“What are you doing here?” Her fingers lift to her lips. “Oh god, is Miles okay?”

“I don’t give a fuck about Miles.” I take a step toward her. “I thought you learned your lesson. What the fuck is it going to take to get through to you that I’m not interested in playing these fucking games?”

“What games?”

“Stop it!” My roar echoes around the chapel, bounces off the walls, and repeats itself until it fades. “Just fucking stop it. Stop with the bullshit and lies. Are you so fucking desperate for attention that you’ll do anything?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Of course, you don’t. Answer me one question. What the fuck do you want from me?”

“Nothing!”

“Nothing?” I reach out and curl my fingers into the front of her top. “Are you sure? Because for someone who doesn’t fucking want anything from me, you’re constantly putting yourself directly into my path.”

I drag her toward me. She digs her heels in, and there’s a slow scrape of shoe against stone as I pull her closer.

“Did losing your virginity unlock something? Is it like a high that you need to keep repeating? Is that it? Did it make you so fucking desperate that you’ll resort to anything to get fucked?”

“No!” Her hands slam against my chest. “No.”

“If that’s what you want, Hellcat, you don’t need to go to these lengths to get my dick.” With one hand tangled into the front of her shirt, I wrap the other around her throat and tilt her head up with my thumb.

Her lips are trembling, eyes full of tears.

“Tell me you want me.”

“No.”

I flex my fingers. “Wrong answer. We both know the second my hand is in your pants, you’ll soak my fingers. Tell me.”

“No.”

“Why do you fucking need to do it like this? Why do we have to fucking fight all the time?” I pull her closer, the hand in her shirt loosening to slide down over her stomach. “Is that what gets you off? Do you need to make me angry before it turns you on? Is that it?”

“No.” A tear spills over her lashes and down her cheek. I release my grip on her throat to brush it away with one finger.

“Why do you keep doing this? Why do you fucking do this to me?” My lips drift over her cheek.

“I’m sorry.” The words are a choked whisper.

“Sorry for what?” I find the hem of her shirt and slide my fingers beneath them, the contact of her warm skin against my fingertips zapping like electricity through me. “Sorry for being caught again?” I kiss the corner of her mouth, lick a path along her jaw to her ear, and nip the lobe. “Tell me why. Do you hate me that much?”

“I don’t hate you.”

“Then why? Did you know the amount of GHB you put in my coffee could have killed me? Is that what you want? Me dead?”

A sob escapes her lips, and her fingers curl into the front of my hoodie.

“It’s an easy question. Answer me, and I’ll let you go. I’ll walk away and leave you alone.”

Her cell chimes somewhere behind her, and she stiffens.

“Just fuck me, if that’s what you’re here to do.”

“Is that what you want?”

“Does it matter?” The emptiness in her voice rocks me backward.

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