Page 27 of Better Hide

A single, hot tear runs down my face.

“Lemon drop,” Cole tries again.

I ignore him, watching the turbines. Lonely, massive machines. Some of them are broken down and not moving. Carissa told me that people don’t tear them down once they break—it’s too expensive and dangerous. They just leave them up like a giant graveyard of lonely machines.

Somehow, that makes me even more sad. More tears trace silently down my cheeks, and the back of my throat hurts.

We drive in silence for a long while. Cole tries to talk to me, and I ignore him every time. I refuse to look at him, too. He tries all kinds of tactics to get me to talk.

Finally, he grinds out, “You’re being a bit of a bitch right now.”

What…did he just say?

Slowly, I turn my head to look at him.

Cole throws me a haughty look. “Oh, there she is. What, just needed a little shit to get you to come out and play?”

“Play?” I raise my voice. I thought I stuffed the emotions down, but they’re simmering at the surface. “This isn’t some little game, Cole. This is mylife. You’ve stolen my life! Kidnapped me and treated me like shit. Worse than shit.”

“Would you guys keep it down?” Jayden groans from the backseat.

Cole throws me a look. “You’re ours, Jo. We can treat you however we like, and you like it.”

I laugh bitterly. “Spoken like a true man. Oblivious. I’ll never stop running from you.”

Suddenly, Cole swerves the car to the side of the road. I grip the door handle to avoid being slammed into the side of the car.

“What the hell?” Jayden growls.

Cole throws the car in park, jumps out, and rounds the front of it. He bends down for a minute, picking something off the ground. Adrenaline fills me. I’m not sure whether to run or fight, so I tense up and prepare for both.

Cole yanks my door open, and heat rushes into the car. He’s holding a handful of flowers from the side of the road.

“Is this what you want, Jo?” Cole cocks his head. “You want a man who will give you flowers? Be home at five every night, ask for sex once a week, and otherwise ignore you?”

I don’t take the flowers, and Cole drops them on my lap, putting each hand on either side of me. He leans into my personal space until we’re nose to nose. He smells like dirt and spearmint.

“No, I don’t think that’s what you want at all. I think you like the push and pull. The anger, the hate. I think you love it. I think it makes you feel alive.” Cole’s blue eyes spark with fire and excitement. He snaps his hand out, grabs the leash attached to the collar, and wraps it around his fist. He yanks me evencloser to him, smashing my face into his and putting immediate pressure on my neck. “I think you want to be owned and forced, Jo. I think that’s what gets you going. So stop pretending like you don’t like it and stop saying that you’ll run, ‘cause I’ll never let you run again.”

I come to my senses and shove back against Cole’s shoulders. He doesn’t move for a second, staring down into my eyes, making sure I know he could keep me here all day. His gaze bounces between my eyes and my mouth. Then, he loosens the pressure on my throat.

I suck in a breath, then shove him again. Adrenaline rushes through me. “Get fucked, Cole. I hate you.”

He smirks. “Good. Hate me all you want, baby, but don’t you dare ignore me again.”

Cole walks around the car and gets back in. He smooths his hair down and looks in the mirror. “Wakey wakey, sunshine.”

Jayden huffs. “Want to get off the side of the fucking road and stop drawing attention to us?”

Cole gives a mock salute.

I shove the flowers off my lap.

Cole pulls back onto the highway and keeps driving. The car is silent for a long time. I want to pull the collar off my neck and throw it out the window. To scream that I don’t belong to anyone.

Under it all, there’s a nagging excitement that I hate. He’s paying attention, and I want to think that could last. I really do.

But I refuse to get hurt again.

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