Page 32 of Rugger: The Huntress

“I don’t talk in circles, baby.”

“Tonight you ar–”

“Project 184.”

“Alive and well.”

“Deep in the pits of hell,” he corrected me.

My heart was no longer in my patella. It had reached the ball of my left foot. Silence coated the distance between us. Paralysis had handicapped me. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t speak.

The numbness of my limbs intensified with each passing second. Tingling consumed me.

“Breathe, Rugger.”

Three minutes had elapsed and still, I hadn’t exhaled. Distance no longer separated us. He’d obliterated every inch. Chemistry’s fingers cupped my chin, squeezing as he took me in.

“Breathe, baby,” he demanded.

Still, I found little use for the lungs that were close to collapsing. I was no swimmer. I wasn’t Chemistry. I didn’t blend in like a shark in the muddled waters. My lung capacity wasn’t as strong as his. My body wasn’t as equipped for long periods of oxygen deprivation like his.

“Breathe, goddammit!”

His roar was loud.Commanding. Condemning. Cold. Calloused.

The heel of his palm pushed into my back, forcing air from my lungs. Air came rushing out of my nose and mouth. Thetingling subsided at once and I lunged forward as if there was an object lodge in my throat. There was nothing. Nothing tangible, at least.

He rounded the island. The distance he regained was necessary. Not only was it his way of reading me. It was his way of expanding his view. My entire frame was under his gaze.

Chemistry would know if a lie was told. At what point it began. When it ended. And, what parts of a response were accurate or exaggerated. He was observing. I was spiraling. His revelation was accompanied by a softer resolve and a sigh from his lips.

“Not your body.”

I shook my head as my emotions flared. “Not my body.”

Both lids lowered until those dark eyes were covered by dark skin. He was unreadable.

“What’s on your mind, Rugger?” He inquired.

“That was my body!” I reminded him, “I’ve been doing the work. Stalking the prey. Following the– fuck. The schedule never set well with me. I should’ve taken him tonight.”

“But you didn’t. There’s no need to dwell on the situation. Someone did us a favor.”

“I don’t ask for favors. I am capable of handling my own. Well-equipped.”

“Don’t go searching, baby. It’s sweat off our back.”

“Chemistry, how could you ask that of me? He was responsible for taking you away from us.”

“Yet, here I am. In front of you. And, at any time I want, I can visit either of you. Let’s not forget that I’m a wanted man, Rugger. I’m not a man who is afraid. Threatened. Or, worried about a corrupt government. It’s you and the rest of the women I love that I’m protecting.

“I’d touch each of them three times before they could touch either of you or touch me again. They aren’t smart enough. Theirmoney isn’t long enough. Their team isn’t tough enough. Their tactics aren’t thorough enough to fuck with me.

“I handed my freedom to them to secure my happiness and free my wife of her transgressions. They didn’t confiscate it. So, he’s not responsible for shit that I orchestrated myself. Don’t go searching, Rugger. I meant it.

“I’m not asking. I’m telling you. Try me and watch how fast I sit your hard headed ass down.”

“Sit me down?” I tittered.

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