Page 43 of Bad for You

I just don’t know how.

I have a few ways, but all mean hurting Valentina.

Storming down the hill, I yank off my jacket and throw it to the ground. I do the same with my bow tie. I unbutton three buttons because I suddenly feel like I’m suffocating.

“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath, fisting my hair.

I have never felt more helpless.

“What’s wrong?”

It takes every ounce of strength I have not to tell her the truth. That I don’t trust Gianna and we need to leave this place right now. I don’t tell her this because I know what the answer will be, especially after tonight.

So I push aside my emotions and do what I do best—ignore her.

But she does something she’s not done before. She grabs my wrist, stopping me from storming off.

I tongue my cheek, making a point to look at her fingers around me. “Did I tell you, you could touch me?”

I attempt to snatch back my arm, but she uses the other hand to hold my forearm. “Did I tell you, you could kiss me?”

Touché, tesoro mio…

I mull over her comment, faking confusion. “We kissed?”

My comment stings, especially since it was her first kiss.

“Oh, fuck you, Lennon.”

She only uses my full name when she’s angry—like right now.

“I know you dream of that every night.”

“How dare you do this?”

“Do what?”

When she takes her time, I yawn, which infuriates her further.

She releases me only to do something which shocks but pisses me off in the same breath—she slaps me.

I can see the surprise on her face, but she soon owns it. “Oops, I slipped.”

Every part of me demands I walk away, but that animalistic part of me that is all alpha dog just can’t.

She knows she has a three-second window before I make her regret coming out here to see if I was okay.

She turns, but it’s too late.

I pick her up and throw her over my shoulder. She fights wildly, but I hold her tight. She weighs next to nothing, but she puts up a good fight.

“Put me down, or I swear to God—”

As she flails uncontrollably, I buck her off-balance, and she grips me for support. Her threats go ignored, however, as I continue walking.

“Can’t keep your hands off me,tesoro mio?”

“Oh, get over yourself! And I am not yourtesoro mio.”

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