Page 113 of Skate the Line

I don’t like my hands pinned.

It makes me feel trapped.

“You’re coming home with me,” he mumbles before sweeping his tongue into my mouth.

“No,” I mutter. “Can we sto…stop?”

I need to take a breath.

He grips my chin harder when I try to move. “You are hot as f?—”

I bend at the knees when he suddenly disappears.

A tight gasp flees from my mouth.

Why am I like this? God.

With the back of my hand, I press on my swollen lips and slowly stand up straight.

Rhodes towers over Simon with a look on his face that I can only describe as deadly. “She said stop.”

Thirty-Six

RHODES

I’m turnedon and jealous at the same time, which is not a good mix.

As soon as Sunny disappeared from my sight, I stood and followed. Not to be a creep or a pervert. This time, it was purely out of protection.

I told her I’d watch out for her the entire night, and there was no way I was going to go back on my word, even if it was absolutely torturous to watch her dance with some guy.

The torture got worse when I saw them in the dark hallway. Agitation crawled up my spine as I stood and watched some man stick his tongue down my daughter’s nanny’s throat. I was drowning in envy. So much that I almost grabbed the woman who walked past and started to make out with her, just to ease the jealousy.

But then I heard the faintestno,and I became fully enraged.

I want to kill him.

Good for him that I know how to control my impulses. If I can stand and watch Sunny get tongue-fucked by some guy anddo nothing, surely I can stand and verbally threaten the culprit instead of knocking his teeth out.

“Who are you? Her boyfriend?” The idiot glances at Sunny, but she isn’t paying us any attention. Her hands are on her knees, and she’s bent over at the waist.

She needs me.

“I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you were so blinded by your tongue down her throat that you didn’t hear her say stop.” I swallow roughly. My voice is more of a growl. “Now go before I change my mind about letting you go scot-free.”With my Sunshine’s taste on your tongue.

The guy scrambles away, muttering something under his breath that has no place in my head. I stride toward Sunny and stand in front of her. Her breaths are choppy, like the sea during a storm, and I don’t know what to do. I’m not naturally an empathetic person. I’ve been told most of my life that I’m emotionally unavailable, cold, and heartless. It’s been said that I don’t console, coddle, or even attempt to comfort people.

It’s not necessarily true.

I just hide my feelings well.

As for consoling, I reserve it for Ellie.

And apparently, Sunny.

“Sunshine,” I sigh and crouch down. I peer at her through the thick curtain of hair that envelops the entirety of her face.

“I’m fine,” she whispers.

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