Page 17 of Drama Queen

Just silence.

I pause again and wait. I’m a patient man, and for her, I’d wait forever.

I know he’s the other side of the tree. He’s literally three feet away and my heart is fuckingracing.I can’t slow it down. I’m concentrating too much on keeping my breaths quiet.

If he just steps forward a little, I might be able to attack him and take him out for a few minutes so I can run again.

Come on, Angel. Just one more step.

His sandy blonde hair comes into view, and I don’t wait. I don’t even think. I just move.

He doesn’t see me until it’s too late. I kick the back of his knees and he falls to the ground with a yell. But then I squeeze his neck between my forearms. He wriggles and bucks, but I hold tight.

“Hey, Angel. Did you miss me?” I goad, a little breathless with the exertion, but I keep my hold.

He throws an elbow backwards into my ribs and I grunt.

I lick my tongue up the side of his face. “You’re gonna have to do better than that, sweetie.”

“Fuck you,” he gasps and throws himself backwards, slamming me into the ground.

The thud knocks the wind out of me, and I have to fight to keep hold of Angel. I wrap my thighs around his ribs and squeeze, constricting his ability to breathe. I might not be in the family business, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t trained by the best.

My father hired the best tutors that money could buy and ensured that I could take care of myself should anything like this ever happen. I can also handle a gun well, but I much prefer blades. It’s the intimacy of killing with a blade that got me. How close you had to get to kill someone with a knife. It’s poetic or some shit.

Right now, I’m fighting Angel, and I’m fucking winning. He’s tiring. His attempts to break free were getting sloppy and I know it won’t be long until…

Angel’s body slumps and goes limp. Perfect. I stay still a few moments more just to make sure he isn’t playing me for a fool, and then I slowly let go. I don’t want to kill the guy, but I sure love the fact that I’d manage to take one of them down. It’s thrilling. Exciting. Makes me want to fucking jump and dance and sing.

An idea pops into my head, and I bend down to find his phone. I pull it out and hold it in front of his face to unlock it, then find the camera. Setting it to the video function, I hit record.

I lay down beside him and film myself licking the length of his face. Fuck, he tastes good. Like strawberries and cream and something a little wicked. I look at the camera. “Hey boys, come find me. I want to play.” Then I blow them a kiss and drop the video in their cute little group chat. I really wish I could see their reaction.

I watch the screen as my little rabbit blows me a kiss and the grin across my face is as wide as the proverbial Cheshire cat. I bet Maxim is fucking pissed that Angel is lying on the ground, out cold. But I think the thing that will piss him off the most is that he likes the fact that Echo has managed to take out Angel. The guy is fucking mercenary and there he is, splayed out on the ground while a pint-sized hellcat licks his face. I fucking love it and I can’t wait to make her pay for it. I look at the location on the phone and even though I know that Echo will leave the phone with Angel so we can find him, it’s the last place she was so I head that way. I’ll leave Maxim to deal with Angel and look at the area she was in. It’s not far from the river, and, if I were her, I know exactly where I’d go next.

I put my phone back in my pocket, falling in love a little bit more with her. I’ve never felt so obsessed with someone. She takes up all my thoughts until every breath I take is to an image of her. I want to possess her. Own her. Fucking carve my name into her skin so she knows she belongs to me.

I pick up the pace to a jog and I head in her last known direction. My heart pumps furiously in my chest with pure excitement, and pure fucking need.

I want to shout her name, to put the fear of God into her as I chase her down, but I can’t do that and I curse the day that Tony Caruso stole my words. I slow down as I approach the river, knowing that this is where she’ll most likely be, setting up some kind of hiding place to take us by surprise.

I know she’s here. I can sense her. It’s like my body goes into overdrive as soon as I’m near her. I take a deep breath and hold still for a moment behind a large tree at the edge of the river. Thewater rushes down its winding path, crashing against rocks and it’s the only sound for miles.

Then I catch a glimpse of her. Her hair is wild, her makeup smeared under her eyes. She’s fucking beautiful and, for a moment, I just watch her step around the tree, completely oblivious to my existence.

She steps closer. And closer. Then she’s merely a hair's breadth away and I hold my breath. Staying silent until she steps in front of me.

Then I move.

I grab her shoulder and slam her backwards into the trunk of the thick tree. My hand slams over her mouth to stop her scream and I see the wildness in her eyes that sets my pulse racing. I take a moment to wonder if Maxim has a way to monitor my pulse. Does he know how fast my heart is beating? Does it excite him? Does it turn him on?

She stares at me for a fraction of a second, her eyes wide and fear burning brightly. I notice the moment her survival instincts kick in. Her pupils dilate and she takes a deep breath through her nose. This woman isn’t going down without a fight and I am fucking here for that.

I pull the knife from its sheath at my hip and place the tip against her throat. Her breaths are uneasy but that beautiful glaze falling over her eyes tells me how much she’s really enjoying this.

I step backwards and pull my hand from her mouth. “Run, little rabbit. Run.”

I hope she runs. God, my cock is tenting my pants just thinking about her running away from me. She smiles uneasily as she looks from me to over her shoulder. She’s so close to the river, so close to freedom that I bet she can taste it like a visceral thing.

---