Page 123 of Overcast

“No—” I point at him. “You shut up. You don’t know me or the things I’ve had to endure. You obviously don’t know anything because I’m still here paying for a crime I didn’t commit. And you think letting my dad go makes you able to speak to me like I have to listen to you. Well, guess what, I don’t.”

His hard chest bumps into mine, warning me to watch myself and keep my mouth shut, but I don’t believe he has it in him. Not when I can see all the guilt that consumes his eyes and the way he attempts to keep the edge out of his tone when speaking to me.

Except for now.

“You do have to listen to me,” he leers. “Because I’m keeping you safe and—”

“I’ll take my chances outside of here, thanks. Now that Dad is back, I’m going to pack up my stuff and—”

“And fucking what? What do you think you’re going to do in the outside world with no money or—”

“I guess I’ll just whore around on the couch since I’m so freaking good at—” His hand seizes my throat and backs me up until I’m against the wooden logs that make up his house.

He sandwiches me in between them and his hard body. His frame pressing into mine, the smell of his cologne permeating my nostrils and his mood, it’s suffocating the air around me, not his weight.

I’m pushing the buttons on a ticking time bomb. I’m challenging a man who doesn’t get questioned from the likes of how he acts.

Emric lowers his head to my face, quickening the blood rushing through my veins. He fastens his hazels to my blues and my lips part, ready to scream, yell, or counter anything he has to say.

However, I’m not sure how successful I’ll be. Emric has a weird way of compelling my body to suspend. It’s different now, not so much in fear, as it is the way he feels. His hard muscles and the touch of his rough fingertips send waves of something throughout my body that I can’t explain, but I don’t cower from it.

I want it.

He makes me focus, listen, react. Creates a new sense of life blossoming within my soul to go out and conquer the world. A reminder that I only have this one life to hold and make my own.

“If you were a whore, sweetheart,” Emric asserts, his tone dripping with peril. “I would’ve fucked you long and hard already. But since you’re not—” He releases my throat and uses a crooked finger to lift my chin higher. “—I’m going to make sure that no one, not even you, is going to get fucked under my roof.” His finger brushes off my chin. “Now, take it back.”

I hold onto his stare.

“Now.”

He can’t hurt you anymore.

“Or what?” I press, letting my eyelashes fan my face once but keeping the defiance in my voice.

I might fall under the category of “innocent”, but my game plan is to score a one-way ticket out of here.

“Don’t taunt me, sweetheart,” he drones. “I’m not Mills. I won’t fawn over you or cuddle with you afterward, and I sure as hell won’t check in when this shit is all done.”

I dig my fingernails into the palms of my hands to keep them from landing in his ribs.

I am brave, I’m learning to be. He’s just a man who made a mistake and...kills people.

I swallow, soaking in his anger and letting it fuel my own. “Then it sounds like Mills would be the perfect candidate if I wanted someone to keep me warm at night.”

“Watch your next words—” Emric brushes a piece of my hair away from my face. “—there are consequences for everything you say or do.”

This gentle-pissed approach is more than likely the reason why this man can only screw his neighbor and not keep a relationship.

“And what will you do? Get another bucket out?”

“I have something else in mind.”

Okay, I’m not that courageous.

“Would you like to know what that is?” I mindlessly shake my head. “That’s what I thought.” He gives a piece of my hair a nice little tug before withdrawing away from me. “You’ll do what you have to do when you get out of here, sweetheart, but it won’t be with your legs open. And it sure as fuck won’t be with Mills, Hollis, or any other fucking scumbag. Because while you’re here, you’re mine.”

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