Page 119 of Cruel Dominion

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

It stung like hell. Blood bloomed on my pale skin and Josh’s eyes lit with grim satisfaction. He made quick work after that, slicing through the fabric until my chest was bared to him.

“Just as pretty as I remembered,” he whispered. He pressed two dirty fingers hard against the fresh wound in my forearm. Bitter tears flooded from my eyes, and I gritted my teeth, willing myself to be silent.

Maybe if I could get the joined manacles around his neck, I could?—

He traced his bloody fingers up my stomach and all thoughts ceased to exist in my panicked mind.

Josh circled my breasts, outlining them in red as I tried to cave in on myself, trying to absorb myself into the wall at my back, anything to put space back between us.

“Josh, please…”

He pinched my nipple, watching with satisfaction as my body responded. It didn’t matter that it was cold and fear that made my skin prickle and my nipples tighten. I could see Josh’s cock hardening under his dirty sweatpants, and my stomach roiled.

He dragged two skeletal fingers along the side of my face.

I jerked away from his touch and he frowned.

When his hand cupped my pussy through the borrowed panties covering it, I let out a gasping sob.

He wouldn’t, I told myself, needing the lie. Josh had done a lot of things to me, but he’d never raped me. He wouldn’t.

He couldn’t.

“We’re going to have so much fun, Annie.”

27

CARTER

Inormally wouldn’t pick up a call from a number I didn’t recognize. But anything was better than sitting at my desk, just staring at Anna’s photo and obsessing over everything I could have done differently.

She’d asked me for space but I hadn’t expected this. It’d been days since I heard from her.

A week ago, I would’ve come for her, no matter how much she pleaded for me to leave her alone. But after my last night with her, everything changed.

Now, I understood that if I wanted Anna, I had to let her take control. She’d had enough with Josh manipulating her, living in her father’s cage, and it was my job to prove that I was different. That her freedom was important to me.

So I was stuck waiting, and all too happy to pick up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Carter?” said a familiar female voice. Summer.

About the last person I ever expected to call me, but I knew Anna was staying with her. Maybe she was going to ream me out on behalf of her friend. I’d take anything she wanted to sling at me and then some if she’d put in a good word. Make Anna return my calls.

“Is Anna with you?”

I sat up straight, tapping the speakerphone button as I flipped through to the app to track Anna’s phone. I’d just looked at the damn thing fifteen minutes before.

“No. Why are you asking?”

I ignored the stab of fear in my stomach as I opened the map, zooming in on the little red dot that blinked with her location.

“Well, she’s not here, but she left her phone. I told her she should go for a walk earlier, but I thought she’d be back by now. It’s almost nine and I’m getting worried. If she’s not with you, then where would she be?”

The dot hadn’t moved. It was still firmly over Summer’s townhouse.

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