Page 60 of The Trick

“Reporters,” I correct her. “If you remember correctly there were two reporters that magically received info the week leading up to the fifteenth anniversary of the Campbell murders,” I wink.

If looks could kill, the stare Blair has on me right now would be the equivalent to a grenade being dropped.

“I can’t fucking believe you. A test! Are you fucking serious? I’ve given you the last fifteen years of my life–”

I step to her, eliminating the space between us, pressing her against the bookcase. Slipping my tongue into her mouth, her bitter words become muffled. Her fiery demeanor meltsas I trap her tongue between the split muscles of my own.

Breaking the seal of our kiss, though keeping my mouth on hers, my tongue slithers outward, tracing her top lip before I speak. “Hands up,” I instruct.

Her brows fall to a scowl. “What, are you a fucking narc now?” she laughs as my hands move, grabbing one wrist and then the other before I lock them in my large palm, cuffing them overhead.

“Always so fucking defiant. You know what happens when you defy me,” I rasp, already feeling the effects of the impending chase stir within my system.

Her lips press against mine, her kiss like poison and the antidote to my decaying soul all at once. “You punish me,” she grins before sealing her fresh words with another kiss.

My lips part to meet hers, but instead I capture her bottom lip in mine, yanking it downward, moaning like a ravenous hunter tired of being teased by my prey.

“Tell me what you want, little hellcat. Say it and daddy will give it to you.”

“You,” she moans into my mouth. “I want you, Maddox Crane.”

I pull away from her kiss, as painful as it is. But having her desperate and angry is the only way that will make what I have planned next work. I can’t recreate her true slasher fantasy without giving her some ammo to work with.

“Please,” she whimpers with ripe need.

“Fuck, I love how pathetic you sound when you’re begging for me, but I know you. You’re lying. You don’t want me. Who you really want is the Boogeyman and I’ll fucking give him to you, live and in the flesh but only if you show me how a final girl comes after she’s chased. Now…run.”

CHAPTER 27

One.The deep baritone of his voice echoes to my core. The look in his eyes, cold and capable of destruction, makes me want to defy his command to run. Wanting instead for the fist that’s clenched at his side to wrap its way around my airway so I can feel his heated touch melt my skin.

Two.He raises his foot, decreasing the space between us by one, long step, followed by another slow but intentional sauntering step my way.

Three.An electrical current ripples through my body as each number sounds angrier than the last. I know if I don’t move my legs at this very second, I will succumb to the deep baritone of his voice that feels like it's slicing my spine in half.

My chest heaves watching his serpent style tongue swipe at his lip as his mouth parts to continue counting, this time a sinister and amused expression takes hold of his chiseled face.

Four. Be daddy’s good little whore.

His words are now melodic as they are taunting. Heart rate accelerating to a dizzying speed, I inch back, breakingthe frozen, still state my body has been trapped in.

Five. There’s nowhere to hide.

The sinister grin on his face widens. His neck tilts to the side at an eerie ninety-degree angle as he takes another step forward and I scoot several steps back.

Six.

Seven.

The evil sing song now dissipated; a sinister chuckle erupts as the speed of his counting revs up. He’s growing impatient. I can tell by the way the veins that entrap his inked forearms look like ropes, pulsing and thick.

Now, that he is good and angry, locked into hunter mode, ravenous for his prey is when I decide it’s a good fucking time to run.

Eight.

My pulse swishes at my ears as I start to run in what feels like circles. The adrenaline both fueling my body while also making me feel like I’m trapped in quicksand. Scanning the area by the mantle, looking for a route to go that will ensure him having to work to find me.

Nine.

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