Page 540 of Rage

“Gross.”

I chuckle. “Kiss it better?”

The crack of a gun has my grin falling, my chest immediately tight with fear.

And a shock of fury and grief.

Xander has been the only salvation in my godforsaken life. I’ve needed his brand of lightness to survive the years of darkness in my father’s house. If that shot took him out, well, you don’t need a functioning leg to shoot a man in the head.

Chapter Six

Cece

The gunshot isn’t unexpected, but damn, does it hurt.

Straining to listen, I make out shouting in the distance, masculine, and surprisingly, feminine joined in angry, panicked sounds drifting over the gravestones. The floodlight in the distance wobbles before righting itself.

Not a death sentence, then. Probably. It looks more like a scuffle where a gun went off.

Xander had better be okay. I’ve spent half my life listening to the exploits of one Alexander Liu, and I want in. The older sisters of a few classmates dated him, and based on the rumor mill, he’s worth it.

To prepare for whatever happens next, I plaster myself against the bar I’m attached to and get my boobs contained. I don’t want them flopping around if I have to prove why I’m next in line to lead the cartel. And if the dress has one saving grace, it’s that it’s tight enough to act like a sports bra.

Then I double down on looking for a way free from this post. Liam is mumbling something furious about retribution and death, and I’m right there with him. Although, I’m not sure what he’s going to do with a bloody leg, mangled back, and a likely concussion, based on his griping in the trunk. He’s got size onhis side, but besides that, if anybody is going to exact vengeance, it’s more likely me than him.

Looking down at my dress, I have an idea. A crazy one, but better than just sitting here hoping that we live.

“Liam, I’m going to ask you to do something really weird.”

“Will it let me get out of here and fuck shit up?”

“Hopefully. I think there’s steel boning in this corset. Can you chew a piece free? I can use it to break the zip ties.”

“You want me to chew through your dress?”

“Hopefully?”

“Didn’t you say that silk is the toughest fabric?”

“Yup. But I’m hoping your teeth are sharp. Once there’s a hole, we should be able to wiggle the wire out.”

He huffs, then lifts his chin. “Okay then. Get down here.”

I flop myself over him, and as his teeth dig into the fabric, I can’t help the way my breath gets tight. Because it’s all too easy to imagine him doing something similar, only without a few layers of silk between us. The fabric gets wet, and I’m embarrassed when I do, too.

I want to say something to break the tension humming between us, but it’s not like he can say anything back. Instead, I watch him, like the creep he accused me of being. His hair is dark with sweat from the pain he’s feeling, but not acknowledging. Those freckles are begging for tiny kisses, his blue eyes earnest as he gnaws at my dress.

I shift my lower half, trying to get in a less painful position, and my thigh brushes against his obvious erection. “Shit,” I mutter, even more turned on knowing he isn’t unaffected.

His eyes flick to mine, and the longer we stare at each other, the hotter I get, my breath ragged just from the force of his gaze.

Then his tongue slips from between his lips, circling the peak of my nipple once, before his teeth latch onto the newly freed boning, tugging it half an inch out of the hole he created.

“Thanks,” I say, my voice high and breathy, like we’re alone in bed instead of zip-tied to the gate guarding our graves.

He swallows as I move myself off him, inching the boning free. “My pleasure.”

I smirk, even though this isn’t the moment. With careful fingers, I pull the boning out and weave it around the zip tie. Then I twist, and twist again, the moment stretching now that I’m so close to being free, the light in the distance wobbling again, the voices raised as more shots are fired, before the light tumbles down, rays cutting through the even lines of stones like a searchlight through blinds.

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