Page 36 of Brutal Game

“Jack, what are you doing?” she hissed.

I glanced over at her. There were gold striations in her brown eyes; I had missed them before.

“Taking you home,” I told her, briefly captivated.

“I mean, what the hell were you thinking, following me? Barging into my boss’s office? Threatening him?”

I stopped, backing her up against the wall. We were at the end of the hallway; one more step and it would spit us back out into the bar. Light spilled in, illuminating her rosy skin and making it glow.

“I was thinking that you’re mine for as long as I want you to be. I fucked your untouched cunt, and that changed everything.Your body’s mine, your pussy’s mine, your decisions are mine.Everything about you is mine,and I protect what’s mine.”

“I’m not yours,” she argued. “And making this about my virginity is barbaric.”

I didn’t even bother responding to her nonsense. Instead, I wrapped my hands around her head, positioning her where I wanted her, and swallowed her protests with my mouth. She fought me, pushing at my chest with her hands, but I had her right where I wanted her, and I wasn’t letting her go anytime soon. I was too invested in the taste of her, the apples and honey smell of her, the feel of her soft skin under my hands, the soft gasps as I kissed her. Possessed once again by those urges I couldn’t make sense of, I softened the kiss, slowing it until we were molasses together, sweet and thick and difficult to tear apart.

I could’ve kissed her forever this way, held her in this space forever. Time could’ve stopped, and I wouldn’t give a fuck. Not when I held this girl in my arms, this furious and caring, vulnerable and strong, wise and brave girl. But Aviva must have felt differently, because there was a sharp sting on my lower lip.

She’d bitten me.

Again.

I pulled back, releasing her head to touch my lower lip with my thumb. It came away wet with blood.

I gazed at my thumb, then her.

“You want it rough?”

She glared. “Don’t kiss me like you like me.”

“Oh, princess. I don’tlikeyou. Ilikewatching the Winter Olympics. Ilikemy Classics advisor. Like is too gentle of a word for how I feel about you.”

“That would sound romantic if I didn’t know what an asshole you are,” she said, her voice hoarse with anger.

I stared at her. It wasn’t romantic.

So I continued. “Don’t interrupt me. Like doesn’t cover all the ways I’m going to defile you, ruin you.Destroyyou. But you’re forgetting, so I’ll remind you: you don’t decide how this goes. Ido.”

In case she didn’t understand how serious I was, I leaned over, pushing my right shoulder against her soft stomach, before standing again with her over my shoulder.

“What the hell!”

I slapped her ass. “Quiet, little fighter. I told you I’d carry you out of here if you weren’t amenable.”

“You said if I didn’t walk with you! I would’ve walked with you!”

I laughed, but it was harsh, hard. I’d lost my mind there for a bit, feeling soft toward someone I couldn’t be soft with. Aviva hadn’t earned that from me, didn’t deserve it. She didn’t deserve my protection, either. The most she deserved was to be the receptacle for my cock and my come. No more, no less.

Then why do you want to wrap her soft body in wool and take her somewhere where she’s safe—even from you? Why areyou so impressed with her strength, bravery, compassion and loyalty if you truly hate her?

I fucking hated my inner voice.

Carrying her back into the bar, I stopped in the center of the floor. The place had filled up since I’d followed her into the back office, students sitting at tables, sharing pitchers, others gathered at the bar itself, waiting for drinks from a harried and overworked Tovah.

“Oh thank god, you’re back—what are you doing with her?” Tovah asked, spotting Aviva over my shoulder.

“Put. Me. Down.” Aviva ordered.

“Put her down, or I’ll make you put her down. I swear to god, Feldman—” Tovah ranted. I ignored her.

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