Page 29 of Brutal Prince

No. “Wha…” his fingers crawled to my throat, whisking my air away, “is it you need?”

Under the weight of the security guards prying eyes, Dom tightened his squeeze on my throat. His breathing hastened, getting off on it. My heart rate increased, hammering against my ribs towards a state of panic.

“You,” he finally answered.

“To…” gasping for air, as his gripped tightened once more, “do what?”

He dropped his face into the arch of my neck, running his warm tongue along the curve. “Come to me. I need you to come to me.”

My body shuddered as I struggled for breath, while trying to keep calm. I opened my mouth to speak, but my voice was restricted and only a croak emerged.

In my peripheral vision, the security guard flicked his finger up and Dom immediately loosened his grip.

“Will you come to me?” he asked again. “Like when we were children.”

Before you killed my father, you mean. Asshole.

I had nothing left, so I replied with a nod.

He dotted kisses all over the nape of my neck and bare shoulder. “Let me hear you say it.”

I hesitated as several faces fluttered though my mind like a pack of playing cards being shuffled. He hurt so many people. The last face was my mother’s. The moment the police came to our house to inform us that my dad was found dead on the university grounds. Shot point blank in the heart on the Southside sports field, the same place many hazing rituals took place. That was no coincidence.

I placed a small pair of nail scissors in my jean pocket to use as a weapon. I envisioned plunging the blades into his eyeball and dancing to the sound of his screams.

Play the game, Gretta. Play the fucking game.

“I will come to you.”

“Good girl.”

I felt him pulling away from me, and my body lurched hungry for his touch again. The man who stole my youth was the same man I yearned for. He was only two years older and barely an adult himself. Yet the moment seemed so natural even to my young soul. Looking back with a rational mind, I knew it was nothing but a stupid, childhood fascination.

I was too young.

And he always takes what he wants. Today was no different.

I listened to his footsteps becoming distant, until a whoosh of air followed by a solid thud of the doors indicated that he’d left. I looked up to the security guard who was standing over me to make sure I didn’t turn around. I was on the verge of saying, “He knows that I know who he is,” but I stopped myself.

An encroaching anger stormed through my body. Dom was so sure that I’d never tell a soul. I’d kept his secret for so long now, why would I spill? He thought he had a hold over me and in some ways he did.

“Rise,” the security guard ordered, several moments after Dom left. “I’ll escort you out.”

“So how much are you paid for this job?”

“Three times more than security are paid at some department store downtown.”

“Are you a student here?” I was merely making small talk, but he wasn’t stupid enough to fall for it. Pity.

I kept my composure until I was outside, desperate for cool fresh air to caress my burning skin. It wasn’t cool fresh air that I got, but cutting rays of the summer sun that intensified the heat in my cheeks. I checked the back of my neck where he’d drawn a line, expecting to find a cord of swollen skin.

It wasn’t.

I found my phone in my bag and messaged: The bait’s set - and went on my way to work.

FIFTEEN

Gretta

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