Page 49 of Tell Me You Like It

“Put me down,” I demand, thrashing, kicking, beating his lower back…anything to get him to release me. Nothing. No response from him. And no one around us is responding either, despite my pleas for help.

There’s something wrong with this fucking town. Not only will no one help me, they won’t even look in my direction. It’s like I don’t even exist. It’s almost as though…if Roman doesn’t want me to exist, then I don’t. Everyone just seems to go along with whatever the Sacred Sons say. I mean, fuck morality, right? Fuck humanity. As long as they keep writing those checks, I guess….

Roman’s car screeches to a halt in front of us, and the valet opens the car door. Without waiting, Roman bends slightly to open the passenger-side door, and unceremoniously dumps me into the seat, then slams the door. Then hewalks around to the driver’s seat, slides inside, and starts the engine, peeling out of the parking lot with a loud screech.

He’s angry. I can see it etched on his beautiful face. His jaw is set, and his movements are stiff like he’s trying to keep the rage contained.

For a second, neither of us speaks, but I can’t stand the silence, so I ask the obvious question. “Where are you taking me?”

He doesn’t say anything, and there’s just something about his cold silence that trickles down my spine and fills me with fear...

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Lux

We pullup to Rush House, and Roman pulls into the driveway, then comes around and opens the passenger-side door. I don’t move. I just glare up at him, trying to calculate my next move. But I take a second too long because he just reaches down and hauls me out of the car.

“Ow!” I say, trying to yank my arm out of his grip. No dice. His hand is like an iron band, and there’s no way I’m strong enough to break his hold. “Let me go, Roman.”

“So you can run? I don’t think so.”

He moves to throw me over his shoulder again, but I lift my hands and take a step back. “I won’t run,” I say.

I don’t know what happened back at the club, but something about what happened with Ash triggered him, and I don’t know Roman well enough to guess why he brought me here.

Thankfully, he stands down a bit, and instead of tossing me over his shoulder again like Tarzan, he threads his fingers through mine and tugs me toward the back door. Heunlocks the door with his thumbprint, then leads me through the house, up the back staircase, and down a long dark hallway.

Our footsteps echo in the silence, and at the end of the hallway, Roman pushes a set of double doors open and shoves me inside. I stumble in and glance around. There’s a light on in the corner of the room and it looks…like a bedroom. It’s huge, though. The size of my entire one-bedroom apartment growing up.

There’s a huge mahogany four-poster bed on the far end of the room, and the entire space is lined with built-in bookshelves, filled to the brim with leather-bound tomes that look like they should be in a museum somewhere, and not in some college guy’s bedroom.

I’m still taking everything in—the armchair, the guitar, the piles of laundry—when Roman closes the door and locks it. The distinct scrape of metal on wood is like a declaration:You’re trapped here.

I swallow and face him. “Why did you bring me here?”

He fucks with something on a bookshelf briefly, before turning back to face me, his face pulled into a scowl. “I told you not to speak to Ash, and what did you do?”

“I had to ask him something. About Bree, ” I say.

“You embarrassed me,” he says slowly, and damn, but the darkness in his voice is unsettling. “In front of everyone, and I can’t allow that.”

My heart is racing, and my palms suddenly feel sweaty. “I’m…sorry…?”

He continues to advance, and with every step he takes, I take one as well—just backward, retreating until my calves slam against the frame of his massive bed.

“You have nowhere to run, Lux. It’s just you and me now, and I think it’s time I show you who is in control.”

He’s close now, his large, muscular body at arm's length, and heat rushes through my veins. I hate this guy, but I can’t deny the way he sets my blood on fire. Fuck him, though. Honestly.

I laugh. It’s not the smartest thing to do, but I can’t help it. Anxiety snakes through me, and my brain isn’t working properly. “You might control most of the people in this town,” I say. “But you’ll never control me,Roman.” I push my head forward, so my face is dangerously close to his. “Never.”

He grabs my jaw with one large hand. For a second, I see hate in his eyes. Pure, undiluted hate, and I suck in a breath, truly afraid now.

He dips his head and whispers in my ear. “You think you’re resistance is so fucking cute.” His warm breath washes over my cheek, and a shudder of awareness rolls down my spine. “But I know you want this, Lux. I know you want to be dominated.”

I swallow. “You don’t know anything about me.”

He nips at my ear, and the little flash of pain makes my core twitch. “I’m theonlyone who knows you, Lux. The darkness you have inside you…I recognize it. I want to touch it.”

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