Page 119 of Burn With Me

“Her foster brother picked her up from Decadence. He’s apsycho. He’s abused her since they were kids,” I explain quickly.

“Shit,” he swears softly. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. I’m going to fucking kill him. I’m on my way, but you’re closer. Traffic is starting to get bad. Just get her out of there, please.”

“Of course. I’ll call you when we’re leaving.”

“Thank you.”

It takes everything I have not to throw my phone across the seat. My knees start to bounce, and my heart jumps into my throat. I try Ginny repeatedly, getting her voicemail every time, feeling completely helpless as my mind starts to think about all the bad things that could be happening to her right now.

Hold on, Red. I’m coming.

Ginny

Chris’ cold, clammy hand grips my arm, tugging me out of the cab and onto the familiar sidewalk that leads to the apartment I abandoned so many weeks ago. His silence during the ride after showing up at Decadence out of the blue is unsettling.

“Ginny, your brother is at the front for you. He’s hot! I can’t believe you never told me you had a hot brother,” Lenni jokes as she pokes my side.

My heart seizes, head whipping to the front to see Chris standing there, eyes glued to me, a deadly serious look on his face.

What the fuck is he doing here? He isn’t supposed to be back for months.

Did Barbara tell him about seeing me and Jackson? Is that why he’s back?

Ignoring Lenni’s disturbing comment, I make my way to the front slowly. When I reach him, his eyes roam over my body as if he’s looking for any evidence of change. “What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t coming back for a few more months?”

He steps closer and grabs me by the arm, pushing me a few steps from where Lenni has resumed her position at the hostess stand. “And I bet you would have been moved in with him by then, wouldn’t you?”

Gulping, I shake my head. All the confidence I’ve found since working at Désirer bleeds out of me from the stab wound his reappearance has made. “What are you talking about?”

Lenni catches my eye, frowning when she sees the look on my face. Chris barks out a short laugh. “Oh, Guinevere. Barbara told me all about how you’re dating Jackson. I told her she must be mistaken, but she assured me you were very much together. So, I decided to come all the way back here to prove her wrong. Imagine my surprise when I got home to find all of your stuff gone. Didn’t wait long after I left, did you?”

“You need to leave.” I don’t answer his question, or ask how he found out I worked here at Decadence. I just want him gone as soon as possible.

“Oh, no. I don’t think so, Gin. I think you’re going to come home with me right now.” His lowered tone rises as he says, “There’s been an accident with Mom, so we need to get going.”

He grabs my wrist and pulls me over to Lenni. “Will you be a doll and grab her stuff, please? My mother has had an accident, and we must leave immediately.”

Lenni mistakes the shock on my face and runs to the back to grab my things without another word. When she returns, she shoves them into my hands. “Go. I’ll tell Carmela what’s going on. Call later and update me.”

I could have told him no. I should have stayed there, where I was safe from whatever hell he’s about to unleash on me. But the look in his eyes told me that if I were to deny him, he’d make a scene.

I’d discreetly tried to pull my phone out and call Jackson during the ride, but Chris had seen and snatched my phone away before I could.

As he drags me up the stairs, he finally grinds out, “Why is it that you can’t just be a good girl, Ginny? Huh? Why do youalwayshave to test me?”

Twisting my arm in an attempt to pull free, I spit back, “You’re fucking delusional. You think Iwantedall the shit you did to me? Newsflash, Chris, I didn’t!”

He laughs, squeezing my arm tighter while he unlocks the door. “Oh, is that right? Is that why you always begged me to let you come? To fuck you so that you could finally know what it felt like to be filled up by a real man?”

“I never begged you to fuck me, you psycho!” I may have begged him to let me come because when you’ve been brought to the brink so many times, in the moment, you’ll say whatever to get off, but Ineverbegged him to fuck me.

Once we’re inside the apartment and the door shuts, panic settles in. I start to struggle in his grip. Twisting and turning, I throw my weight to the floor to try and knock him off balance, but he just holds onto me tighter as he laughs at my feeble attempt to escape.

“Let go of me!”

Chris hauls me off the floor like I weigh nothing, pulling me through the kitchen on the way to his bedroom. “I told you when I got back, I would fuck you. Did you just want to get experience for me, Gin? You wanted to make me feel good when we finally fucked, didn’t you?”

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