Page 16 of Wicked Games

“I’m not carting you over my shoulder, right?” His footsteps alert me to his approach. “Not yet anyway.”

I shiver. My heart shouldn’t be beating out of my chest like this. He’s just a boy. He’s justCaleb. But maybe that’s exactly why. No matter what he does to me, I’ll still feel something for him.

He leans on the railing beside me, so close his arm presses to mine.

For a split second, I imagine hurting him. Punching him in the face or kneeing him in the groin. Anything to make him mirror the agony I feel on the inside. There’s broken glass inside me, pushing its way out.

“Margo,” he repeats. He faces me. His hand comes up, sliding around my neck and into my hair.

It’s too gentle.

“You just—” I shove him away from me.

His face doesn’t show any reaction, like he’s numb to this. God, I hate him. I follow him, hitting his chest. I can’t stop, and he’s not doing anything to make me.

—fists against the door?—

I blink. What was that?

In one smooth motion, Caleb grabs my wrists and maneuvers us so my back is against the railing.

I’m not a violent person, but he just makes me soangry?—

“Come back,” he says in my ear.

I flinch. “Let go.”

“So you can hit me again? Unlikely.”

“Weren’t we happy?” I meet his gaze. I’m not talking about our childhood—I mean yesterday.

His fingers tighten on my wrists, which he keeps between us. He narrows his eyes.

“Happiness is an illusion, little lamb.”

I almost wish we were drawing attention, just to have an excuse to break free of him. As it is, my body is ignoring all the warning signs.

It’s been less than a day. I miss him and I hate him. The ache in me is bone-deep. This hurts worse than Ian kicking me and biting me, or Amelie’s snide words, or Savannah using the cheerleaders to make my life hell.

This is so much worse.

“It doesn’t matter,” he adds.

I gape at him. “How? In what world doeshappinessnot matter?”

“You belong to me just as I belong to you.” He says it like it’s a fact. Simple, easy, absolute.

It’s not.

We’re live in all the shades of gray between.

“First to give in loses,” I whisper. “I guess this is my big punishment. I fall for you, you ruin my life.”

None of this belonging shit. He’s ruined everything.

I can’t go home. I don’t evenhavea home.

His finger strokes over my bracelet, drawing my attention back to it. He still wears his.

---