Page 83 of Vile Boys

The other masked man pulls out a phone and shows me the texts. The texts I senthim.

“Wait, so you …” I mutter.

He tilts his head, and the low voice that follows stirs the arousal in my body, not out of free will but from the memory of his fingers alone. “Hello, little rose.”

I’m too stunned; I don’t even know what to say. “But how … You gave him my number?”

“Heisa prick, I’ll give you that,” Caleb muses, snorting while Ares throws him a damning glance.

“What do you want?” I growl, trying to defuse.

Ares tucks his phone back into his pocket and pulls out his knife instead. “We already told you … do you need a reminder?”

They’re here for me.

There’s no way they’ll let me pass.

There’s only one other option.

I fish my knife from my pocket and chuck it at Ares’s head.

He avoids it, and it flies into the bushes, but I still turn around and make a run for it.

I bolt toward the closed-off exit and rip at the wood, trying to tear it away. But within seconds, two strong hands pull me away and drag me toward the middle.

“Let me go!” I yell.

They set me down on the bench, and one of them, Ares, holds a knife against my throat.

“I told you that you would regret the day you’d come for me.”

“Because you have to threaten girls with knives to make them want you?” I retort.

I don’t know what’s gotten into me, but I want to make him feel as powerless as he’s trying to make me.

He tips up my chin farther, the knife etching into my neck. “Nothing you can say will change the course of tonight.” He forces me to look at him. “Before this night is over … you will give me your fear.”

I hiss when the blade cuts into my skin just a little, a tiny droplet running down my neck before he retracts his knife.

“Caleb. Do what it is you came here to do.”

He steps away only for Caleb to replace his spot in front of me.

“Your dad will never allow you to—”

He grips my throat, squeezing so I can’t say another word.

“You’re the reason this is all happening. You’re the reason they’re together.”

“That’s why you chased me here tonight?” I croak, his fingers squeezing off my airway.

“I told you … my father doesn’t need a new woman in his life. And now they’re engaged.” His fist balls. “Make your mother pull back her claws and call off the marriage.”

He only slightly releases my throat so I can properly talk.

“It was their choice. They should be allowed to—”

“Do it. Or I will do it for you,” he growls, staring straight into my eyes.

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