Page 20 of Hate Game

He looks down, his gaze focused on my small breasts. I take slow breaths in and out. He follows the movements. Suddenly, I can’t take a full breath in. I’m lightheaded from his nearness and his scent. Male. Virile.

Virile.

Cassie. She was with him earlier. They hooked up. I’m certain of it. My body gets cold. My finger falls from his chest. I ball my hand against my side. “I hate you, Malice.”

“Keep saying it, Rue. The feeling is mutual, sweet thing.”

“Don’t call me what you call your girls. I’m not one of them.”

“You’re right,Regret.”

I suck in a breath, having this sudden urge to smack the smirk off his face. But I go with a nonviolent idea of evening the score.

“I hate that you think you’re better than everyone else,” I say, playing into Malice’s hate game. “You’re not. Strip you of your last name and your parents’ money, and you’re nobody.”

He crosses his muscular arms over his broad chest. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me.”

“Seriously? That’s your comeback?”

“You have a better one,Regret?”

He leans into me until our noses touch.

“Stop calling me that.”

“Or else what,Regret?”

I growl low in the back of my throat. He chuckles.

“You gonna do more than hurl words at me? You gonna hurl that skinny ass of yours at me instead?”

I scoff. “You wish.”

“I do,Regret.”

“Malice.”

He smiles, but the smile doesn’t reach his eyes. Malice puts distance between us. With his palm up, he gestures for me to come and get him.

I narrow my eyes. “You’re asking for it.”

“Ooh, I’m scared.”

“You better be. I’ve had practice wrestling with the guys.”

“This won’t be your average tumble with your boys, Regret. I don’t play fair. Nor do I go easy.”

“My friends don’t show me mercy.”

“I highly doubt that. You’re a girl.”

“What does that meanexactly?”

“They go easy on youbecauseyou’re a girl. I don’t see you the same.”

He looks my body up and down, and something hot flares in the depths of his beautiful eyes. Suddenly, my shirt is tight across my breasts. My nipples pebble and press against my bra. Malice zones in on my girls, and my body betrays me more.

My gut clenches in anticipation. My heart does this loudthump,thump,thumpagainst my rib cage. Can Malice tell I am turned on? Oh yes. Yes, he can.

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