Page 56 of A Game So Reckless

I don’t have a gun. I don’t have anything but my own rage.

I draw up my foot, plant it against Connor’s chest, and shove.

Between the beer he’s had and the element of surprise, he goes toppling backwards. He very narrowly misses falling right in the fire. I can’t say I would have felt bad if he did.

“Oh, fuck no,” he pants, getting to his feet as I stand up and start to leave. He grabs my arm again, yanking hard when I try to shake him off. “Don’t fuck with me. You’re seriously gonna fucking tease me right now? After you’ve been prancing around in front of me in your tiny bathing suits this entire fucking time? You fucking slut. I’m going to-”

Without warning, his hand releases me.

No. It’swrenchedfrom me.

I spin around. My heart climbs into my throat.

Darragh is here. Dressed all in black.

He’s got Connor by the throat. He backs him up against the thick trunk of a nearby tree, and, oh, God, there’s a gun. He forces the barrel of it between Connor’s teeth.

“Say that again,” Darragh murmurs quietly, all terrible silken malice. “Say that again with my gun in your mouth.”

Connor’s eyes bulge. He gasps and gags against the metal Darragh is shoving mercilessly to the back of his throat. Blood dribbles from one side of his mouth.

“I can’t hear you,” Darragh growls. He doesn’t even sound human to my ears anymore. The firelight plays against the side of his face, turning his profile into a twisted mask. “Say it again. Say that she’s a slut while you’re two seconds away from swallowing my gun’s load.”

“Darragh,” I whisper as the crotch of Connor’s pants goes dark with piss. “Please!”

I don’t even know what I’m asking for. For him to stop?

For him to keep going?

My body goes shaky and half-numb with the buzzing torch of adrenaline.

I’m about to watch Darragh kill yet another man right in front of me.

“Where did he touch you?”

It takes me a moment to realize that Darragh is addressing me. He hasn’t turned to look at me.

“Nowhere!”

“Don’t lie to me, pet,” he hisses. He twists the gun viciously in Connor’s mouth. “He was touching you when I fucking got here.”

“Just my wrist. That’s it! I wouldn’t have let it go any further anyway. I was going to-”

Darragh tears his gun out of Connor’s mouth and then uses it to deliver a stunning blow to his temple. He falls limply to the ground, groaning. The groan turns to a howl when Darragh grabs a rock the size of my head from near the fire and smashes it down on Connor’s wrist.

My muscles revolt, violently flinching at the sound of breaking bone.

“Where else?”

Darragh finally turns to face me. He looks furious. Nearly manic. His eyes alight and yet ruthlessly dark.

“Nowhere! Just my wrist. I swear.”

He plants his boot on Connor’s back, his burning eyes still on me.

“If I find out you’re lying to me,” he seethes, “then I am going to leave his severed dick at your front door tomorrow. Wrapped like a fucking present.”

Holy shit.

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