Page 17 of Under Fyre

“He can’t hurt me.”

“Louder.Fiercer.”

“He can’t—”

“Louder!”

I take a huge breath, shove at Fyre with all my might. “He can’t fucking hurt me!”

We stare at each other for a second, and then Fyre draws up his legs, wrists on his knees, hands dangling down.

I didn’t even notice he wasn’t wearing shoes. He has such long, elegant feet.

He stares at me like that for a long, long moment. His mouth parts, and there’s a flush on his cheeks. Persistent eyes bore into me, checking for signs of weakness. And maybe, just this once, in this single moment, he doesn’t find any…because he smiles.

“Five Finger Fun,” he says.

I just stare at him, shake my head.

“Do you want to play it with me?”

I lick my lips, shake my head again.

He reaches into his pocket, pulls out a red dice. I flinch, recoil. But then he grabs my wrist, gently draws my hand into his lap. There’s no mistaking the hard ridge behind his pants.

“Are you sure?”

“Gideon, please.” I shift, my body switching from fear to…something else.

He forces open my hand, and then sets the dice on my palm. “It’s just a dice, Charlotte.” He closes my fingers around the hard plastic cube. His fingers grasp my chin, tilting my head up so I’m forced to look into his eyes.

“Those words hold no power.”

Five Finger Fun.

I shiver, clamping my hand tighter over the dice, until it bites into my flesh.

“Say it.”

I shake my head, the world wobbling as a fresh batch of tears collect on my lids.

“Say it, and it loses its power.”

I blink hard, freeing my tears. Then I open my hand and stare down at the dice.

“What else did he tell you?”

“Everything.”

Shame burns on my cheeks. I swipe away a tear with my knuckle, and then twist my hand so the dice rolls around on my palm.

One. Four. Three.

Five Finger Fun.

A whole hand.

“Five Finger Fun,” I whisper.

---