Page 64 of Forever We Fall

Mine is even with the man’s chest, while Arlo’s is even with his thighs.

I drop my bag to the floor near the foot of the bed, then drop myself on it next to the bed. I grab one end of the chain in both hands, making sure they’re spaced out enough that the tip won’t drag along the wooden floor. Arlo supports the other end, pulling it taut. Then I crawl backward under the bed.

The movement is awkward, shuffling my toes, hips, and elbows an inch at a time like a centipede, only slower. Sweat slicks my belly, soaking my shirt by the time I exit the other side.

We settle the chain onto the ground, and before I can take a full breath, crawl back for the other chain. I can’t wait to see his face when he wakes chained to his fucking bed. What’s more, I can’t wait until he realizes how doomed he is.

I’m square to the middle of the bed when the springs groan right above my head.

It sounds like a bomb being detonated, though I know it’s not. I know it’s a sound he is used to while sleeping. I’m certain he’s just rolling over.

I can barely make out the edges of Arlo’s black shoes. The ones I bought him for this event. They backpedal toward the door.

“Huh?” A groggy and gruff voice echoes in the room.

Every ounce of oxygen in my body evaporates.

Arlo stays perfectly still as though his uncle is a fucking T-Rex and can’t see him if he doesn’t move. I hope to hell it’s true. If Arlo is as frozen with fear as I am, we’re screwed.

I cling to hope with both hands, willing him to be a chronic sleep talker. Hell, I’d even take bedwetter right now.

The springs groan again. “Who’s there?” his uncle rasps.

My body goes cold. The sweat slicking my skin turns to ice.

A click reverberates for a split second before dull light blinds me. I blink furiously against the strain.

“What the fuck?” the demon barks. Over me, the springs cry like I long to.

No. No. No. No. It isn’t supposed to happen this way.

“Come back for more, twat?” Two gigantic feet plop onto the floor inches in front of my face. “I’ll give it to ya.”

He stands, and I swear the man’s bare calves are as wide as my thighs. Terror clamps around my already useless throat.

Run! Arlo! Run!

“You even brought me your chains. What a good little?—”

“I brought them to tie you up and kill you.” Arlo’s voice is bombastic and heavy with rage. It boasts confidence and a fight I haven’t seen in him, not ever.

“Y…You can’t talk,” his uncle mutters.

“You have no idea what I’m capable of.”

The demon stands and spreads his feet in a self-assured posture. “You’re pretty good at choking on my prick.”

His words light a rage so deep inside my bones, I didn’t know it existed. It warms me from the inside out. Its roar deafens every worry and kills my panic. Something inside me shifts from a fucked-up young man to a ruthless predator.

He doesn’t know I’m here. A sinister grin pulls at my lips. I shimmy to the edge of the bed, where I can see all of Arlo and his tormentor’s wide back. He’s in nothing but threadbare boxers. The man isn’t muscled as much as he is just big.

“Tonight.” Arlo’s stance goes loose like a wrestler’s. “Tonight we’ll see how wellyouchoke on your cock.”

“On your fucking knees,” his uncle barks. Uncertainty wavers his voice even as he grabs his junk and shakes it.

“No,” Arlo growls. “But I’ll see you on yours.”

His uncle rushes him, a bull set on demolishing the china.

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