Page 798 of Filthy Elites

"I make friends easily enough, but I don't always let even friends in real close." I tap a fist to my chest. "I don't let guys get too close because I have a history of making terrible choices with them. Trust me. Dating Declan… sleeping with him again… neither is going to happen. You don't have to worry. I know myself well enough to recognize that I'm flawed in this area, and I won't make the same mistake twice, not with Declan, okay?"

Dawn eyes me for a long moment and smiles. “Okay.”

“Now, can you bring your chair over and model for me?” I ask.

“Model?”

“I want to draw your face,” I explain.

That’s one way to make sure I don’t draw Declan.

“If you really want…” she says dubiously. “Or you can see if Eliza or Kaylie are home.”

“Nope! You. I want to draw my roomie.”

She grins. “Fine! Stop twisting my arm!”

We both laugh as she pulls over her chair.

“Grin again. Not a force—there. Hold it.”

And I get to work, feeling much better having talked to Dawn.

Declan will not have any hold on me.

Neither will that asshole mugger.

I am my own person, and I won’t dare forget that again.

ChapterTwenty-One

Too bad I’mstill trying to figure out who I am.

I keep my head low in classes and concentrate hard, hating that I missed a day’s worth of classes and wanting to make it up to my professors.

As for Declan, he’ll smirk at me, but somehow, that curl to his lips no longer seems to be mocking. He’ll lift his chin, but I get the feeling he’s waiting for me to approach him.

I don’t. One point in the coward column.

As for karate, he’s treating me just like any of the other students, and I realize that what I took for his being a bully is his way of trying to motivate the students. He also tends to be harder on the teenagers, but they need it to stay focused, and the more I observe Declan, the more I realize that he’s tailoring his approach slightly differently for each student.

Sensei does much the same, although he’s more militant, demanding perfection. Not that Declan accepts errors, but Sensei will bark at you to get it right, whereas Declan might make a snide comment but watch to make sure you get it right the next time, or if not, he’ll demonstrate it again.

That detective finally calls and apologizes for not getting in touch with me sooner.

“When do you think I can stop by the station and talk to you?”

“How about—Hold on.”

He puts me on hold, and when he comes back on, I can tell it’s not good.

“I have a lead,” he says. “I’ll be in touch.”

And that’s it. He hangs up, leaving me to hope he’s going to find the mugger and this nightmare be over.

Because that’s the thing. Days have passed since I slept with Declan, and my every night is torturous between dreams of being with Declan, in his arms again, his cock buried deep inside me as I ride him, or nightmares of being with that mugger as he shoves his gun into my mouth, forcing me onto my knees.

Maybe that’s what I deserve.

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