Page 44 of The Masks She Wore

?“I always know where you are, Rae. We need to go.”

?I stepped back as he reached out for me, my back hitting thebar. “I’m not going anywhere with you. You need to go. You need to leave, Max, this isn’t for you.” Great, now I had to stay.Fuckhim.

?His eyes narrowed in chaotic rage. “You don’t get to tell me what to do.”

?“Me?” I breathed out, my eyes widened. “I don’t get to tellyouwhat to do? I don’t even know you Max. All you do is try and control every second of my life.”

?“For good reason too,” he stated, stepping up to me. “Look at you, getting slapped by the wife of the Police Captain. You’re a slut, Rae. I’m trying to protect what little image Mom has left. Now, let’s go,” he said, grabbing my arm again.

?I jerked it out of his grip, slamming my elbow back against the bar, tears flooding to my eyes when the pain shot straight up my arm, but I didn’t reach for it, I held his eyes. “Leave me alone,” I told him. “Justgo. I don’t want you here. I don’t want you anywhere,” I said evenly. “I don’t want you in my life at all. Justleave, Max. Go.”

?There was such anger in his eyes, my body tensed, readying for whatever he was going to do to me. “You’ve tainted her name. You’ve humiliated her in front of all of her friends.”

?“My friends too,” I replied. “I may have never gone with her to any of these events, but I am known among these people. They know who her daughter is, but they don’t know anything about her son.”

?“Don’t mistake knowledge for power, Rae. You have no idea what power is. I’ve done things you couldn’t even fucking imagine, nowget to the car or I swear to God, you’ll regret it.”

?“Hello, Princess,” that cool voice suddenly spoke.

?Max turned as my eyes lifted, my heart pounding. I hate to say it, but thank fucking God.

?“I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” he smiled softly.

?There was danger in that smile, a quiet threat, and fuck if I wasn’t as grateful as I was annoyed that he had followed me downstairs.

?I straightened, finding confidence in his presence. “I wish you both would stop,” I chided, looking between the two. “It’s sad how desperate both of you are for my attention.”

?Max, who looked so…scrawny compared to the masked man, glared at me. “Rae,” he warned.

?“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I repeated, turning back to the bartender. “Another. Please. Strong.”

?By the time the bartender had made me another drink, one untouched by Max’s putrid hands, my half-brother had left, leaving me to deal with the masked man on my own.

?I took a sip and turned to him, eyeing him as he eyed me. I saw no judgment in his eyes, just cold annoyance. “Why did you follow me?” I asked dryly. I didn’t understand it myself. Why it was so easy to challenge him when I was so afraid of Max. The energy was different, I supposed. Max made me feel as if I needed to dip myself in acid to rid my skin of his presence, but this man? His energy screamed something completely different.

?Or maybe it was just purely physical.

?“We own you now,” he said, the thinly veiled threat skittering across my skin. “We get to do whatever we please to you.”

?It took everything in me to hold onto the person I was when I had walked in here. Calm, collected, brilliant beyond belief. Clever.

?Take the high from that rush, the shock from the slap, and the annoyance from Max and use it as a weapon.

?“I don’t know who you think you are,” I said, letting my lip curl in disgust as I roved over hisbeautifullydressed body, “but nobody tells me what to do. Perhaps I should have let that conversation play out. I assume you’re the one who set it up? He’s older, you’re bigger. Bodyguard or…” I thought about it, finding those black eyes. “Grunt.”

?His mouth tightened.

?Finally, something he hated. “What would he have done to you had the cops shown up? Nothing pretty, I assume.”

?He leaned in. “You assume a lot, don’t you?”

?“Some games aren’t that hard to win,” I hummed.

?He worked his jaw, clearly getting annoyed. “Just because you watch some show, readsome bookabout crime, doesn’t mean you know the game.”

?“Your boss seemed impressed,” I shrugged, taking a sip.

?“Mybossdecided to spare you for the next week because he owed you a favor. Don’t think that guarantees your life.”

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