Page 34 of Dare To Break

Easier? You think what you’re planning is easy?

Maybe not. Maybe easy was the wrong word. More entertaining, then. More interesting. More daring.

I want to take her down to her base parts, and strip everything away until only the core reality remains. I want to see how long it takes to break her.

My hand moves over the sheet of paper without thought, my concentration on the girl and not the image taking shape in front of me. When she stops to reach back and rub the small of her back, my eyes follow the movement of her shirt as it strains against her breasts, giving me a glimpse of their shape before she drops her hand.

I wonder what she’s drawing, whether she has any talent at all. An idea comes to me, and the sheer beauty of it pulls a low laugh from me.

“Did you say something?”

I stiffen at the sound of her voice. Is she talking to me?

I glance around. There’s no one else in here. I ignore her.

“Eli?”

My name on her lips is unexpected, and I still, my head tilting. I want her to say it again. I like the hesitancy in her tone. It licks along my skin and wakes up my dick.

“What?”

“Did you say something to me?”

I set down my brush and step out from behind the easel. “Why the fuck would I say something to you?”

“I thought I heard—”

I’m across the room and in front of her before she finishes speaking. Her words break off with a gasp as I close the distance until my face is inches from hers.

“Thinking isn’t your strong point. Like your mother. I bet your talents match hers, though.” My eyes dip to her breasts before returning to meet hers, and my lip curls up on one side when pink fills her cheeks. “Why are you even in here? Shouldn’t you be on your knees for Jace? Why don’t you fuck off out of here and go suck his dick? Get practice in for when you follow in your mom’s steps and hook yourself a rich sugar daddy.”

Heat radiates out from my jaw, and it takes a second for my brain to catch up with what my skin is telling me. She’s slapped me, hard, across the cheek.

“Struck a nerve, did I?” I reach out and tap her cheek gently with my fingers.

She flinches, even though I barely touched her.

My smile is a baring of teeth. “That’s your only freebie. The next one will cost you … and I think you’ll find the price is too high for you, Princess.”

Chapter 23

Arabella

“Why can’t you leave me alone, you freak?” My hand aches from slapping him so hard. “You don’t know anything about me. Just what you’ve made up in your twisted head.”

“I know everything about you. I’ve seen your type plenty of times before.” Something cold flickers in Eli’s eyes, his teeth snapping together.

The voice of reason is screaming at me to back away. Instead, I hold my ground. “I’m nothing like Elena.”

“You’re weak and pathetic.”

My chin trembles at the sneer in his tone. “I’m not weak.”

Eli smiles, baring his teeth at me. “You’re just unwanted baggage waiting to be cut loose. Your mom doesn’t give a fuck about you unless it suits her. You know that, right? It’s one thing we have in common. We’ll both take great pleasure in getting rid of you.”

“Does scaring people get you off?”

“More than you can ever imagine. Do I scare you, Princess?”

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