Page 56 of Drop His Mask

“Why should I trust you?” I asked warily.

“Because I know who you are. I know that your sister stabbed you. I know that you survived it. And I know how.”

Staring unblinkingly at 195, I tried to understand what he was saying. He gestured for me to sit again and the biting smell of poison suffused theair. It clung to him, but I found that I didn’t despise it. If anything, it drew me towards him.

My legs refused to hold my weight any longer as I dropped unsteadily to my knees, still doing my best to stay out of his reach. I knew that at any minute he could change, that he was lethal,deadly.

But his words had been genuine, his tone welcoming, and my gut, for whatever reason, trusted the practical stranger before me.

“At the end of this game, one of our teams will be dead,” I said plainly. “No matter what you say to me up here, it won’t change that fact.”

195 bent forward quickly, his hands reaching out, his long fingers splayed.

I didn’t jump as he cupped my face, his thumbs landing on my lips.

He dropped his hold on me, breathing in and out a few times slowly. “That doesn’t have to be the case, but before I tell you my plan, I need you to trust me. To understand that I will do what I must to protect you. Even if that means sacrificing myself.”

He was lunging further forward before I could process his words, his hot mouth pressing against mine. His harsh lips, leaving no room for escape. One of his hands tangled in my hair, the other gripping my neck with just the edge of pressure.

I swallowed down the poison he breathed into me. The stinging flavor was oddly delicious, and I panted under him as he continued his assault on my senses.

Panting, I managed to push him back.

“What…what is this?” I watched him through my lashes. My nerves danced under his touch, goosebumps prickling up and coating my skin in a sensitive array.

Inclining his head, he whispered into my ear, “You may not remember me, Raven. But after you were stabbed, I stumbled upon a man clutchingyou. I offered him my help. I took the both of you with me as far as we could go. And when we were stopped by Government Officials, I offered myself up. To save you.”

Shock. Stabbing, piercing, dumbfoundedshockwas all I could feel. Whatever I had expected when I rose up on my platform with 195 as my opponent, itwasn’tthis.

“It’s nice to meet you, Raven. My name is Oleks.” He withdrew from my space.

Why do I feel like I’ve heard that name before? Yet even still, I don’t recognize this man at all.

He watched me carefully as he murmured, “I know exactly how to make it through this round alive.Together.” His lips quirked. “There is more than one way toget someone off.”

It only took a few seconds for his words to sink in. To understand them. My face heated as I realized what he meant. How it actuallydidmake sense. This is exactly the type of fucked up shit I would expect from the Creators and Sponsors.

This reminded me of the game I was forced into with Levi. Fight or fuck. But now we would be over two hundred feet up on a thin platform.

A series of questions spilled out before I could help myself. “Who was it? Who were you with? Who saved me?”

195’s–correction—Oleks’s attention flickered around as if he were searching for something. “That I can’t disclose, but I promise you will be reunited soon enough. Trust me.”

I wanted to argue, to scream, to demand he tell me. But he had already offered more to me than what I had to him. And if he were telling the truth, I might not be alive at all if it weren’t for Oleks. For this man before me.

I examined him in a new light. My lips still tingling from his, my belly fluttering uncomfortably, my body an even morewobbly mess.

Maybe we can both make it through this after all.

“Okay,” I agreed, shifting closer to him and putting my hands on his knees. “I will trust you…for now.”

Oleks inclined his head, his mahogany hair falling forward over his mask. Barely audible, he whispered, “I don’t deserve it or you, but thank you.”

Sinking back to my side of the platform, I analyzed the man before me.

Questions stabbed at my psyche.

Whoexactlyis Oleks? How did he end up here?

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