Page 14 of Dare To Fall

He cuts me off, handing the phone to Eli while he talks. “We need to figure out who is doing this. That means acting like we have no idea that you’re being blackmailed.”

Head bent, Eli sits in silence, scrolling through the messages. I watch, my insides twisting into knots as his expression hardens into stone, eyes narrowing, and his gaze turns deadly.

They might finally be aware of what’s been happening, but from the look on my stepbrother’s face, the person blackmailing me might just get what they want. The Monster of Churchill Bradley Academy has woken up, and he’s ready to make someone pay.

Chapter 7

Eli

It isn’t that I didn’t believe her when she said someone was behind the shit she was doing to me, but seeing it in front of me … reading the texts and her attempts to fight against the demands has fury running through my veins like molten lava.

I toss her cell onto the table and pin my gaze onto Kellan. “Lock down her phone. No more easy access.”

He snorts at my choice of words, but I’m in no mood to find it funny.

“I’m not doing it.” Arabella’s soft voice has me turning on my chair.

“Yes, you are.”

“No. I’m done.” The lack of fight in her voice tips my anger over the edge.

I shove to my feet. “So that’s it? You’ve been dealing with this shit for weeks, letting me believe you’re doing it because you hate me—”

“I do hate you.”

I ignore her outburst. She’s full of shit, and we both know it.

“And now you have people around you, ready to support you, fucking fight for you … Now you’re giving up?”

“Eli.” Kellan warns.

I ignore him as well.

“Kitten, you’re not a coward.”

“Don’t call me that!” she screams, lurching to her feet, fingers clenched into fists.

“Why not?” I step up to her. “What’s wrong, Kitten?” I drop my voice to the whisper I used as Sin. “Don’t like the reminder that you spread your legs for me?” I summon up a smirk. “More than once.”

The crack as her hand hits my cheek echoes around the room. It’s followed by an irritable sigh from Kellan.

“When you two are done with the foreplay, can we finish eating and then plan our next move?”

“I fucking hate you.” She spits the words at me.

I press two fingers to her chin and tip her head up, and smile when I see the spark in her eyes.

“There she is.” I brush my thumb over her bottom lip. “You feel that, Ari? That fire in your blood? Hold on to it.” I dip my head and touch her lips with mine, a barely-there touch, gone before she can react to it. “Wrap yourself in it.”

I drop back onto my chair and pull the container of food toward me. After a second, she takes her seat.

“As we were discussing,” Kellan says into the silence. “You should definitely go to the ball tonight. Wear whatever they want you to wear. Do what they want you to do. We’ll be there to—”

“Wait a minute.” My head jerks up. “I never agreed to go to the stupid thing.”

“But she can’t flirt with you if you’re not there, Eli.” He speaks to me as though I’m a child. “So you’ll dust off your sexy formal wear and turn up, like a good little target.” He picks up her cell and taps around on the screen. “I’m pretty sure they’ve cloned your phone. That must be how they knew Miles was talking to you. We have to assume they don’t know about your Sin cell.” He laughs at the name. “Use that to stay in contact with Eli. Do not text anyone from this one.” He waves it at her. “Understand?”

She nods, still pushing the rice around the plate. Dropping my own fork, I reach out and wrap my fingers around the spoon she’s holding and take it from her. Her eyes dart up to meet mine. I scoop up the rice, then lift it to her mouth.

---