Page 8 of Widow's Walk

I narrow my eyes in response. He pries the soaked cloth from my mouth, lifting it up and over my head. I wipe the slobber from my chin on my shoulder, never taking my eyes off him.

I’ve never been one to shy away from a sudden urge, especially the self-destructive kind. So, when the image of spitting in Blackwell’s maddeningly handsome face flashes across my mind, I don’t hesitate or second-guess it. I gather a wad of saliva in my mouth, lean back, and hurl it.

Unfortunately, my aim is a little off, landing just south of glory. Hitting him in the chest.

His chin dips slowly and methodically. For a moment, nothing moves. Suddenly, I forgot how to breathe. And for the first time in years, fear curls cold and uninvited, trickling down my spine. I haven’t felt fear in so long, so as it creeps in, I feel it everywhere. In my fingertips, in the tautness of my shoulders, in the thrum of blood rushing to my ears.

But it isn’t a fear that weakens. It charges.

When he lifts his eyes again, they’re endlessly black. Deeper. Bottomless. The kind of gaze that makes you forget where you are and who you are.

My heart slams against my ribs, and heat gathers between my thighs like an aftershock. My face feels feverish with shame and thrill, clashing beneath my skin.

With no warning at all, his fingers twist through my hair and wrench my head back. I hiss in pain when he yanks me against the hard line of his body. His face is inches from mine, all sharpened angles and fury. He snarls, practically foaming at the mouth. Even his perfect, dark hair is now undone.

His control is unraveling. His sanity is breaking.

And fuck me, it’s beautiful.

“You have two choices here, little girl,” he spits, spittle hitting my cheek. “Act like a proper human being and accept your place here, or you can tuck tail and run back home and do whatever the fuck you want to do with your life.”

“That seems like a rather easy choice,” I bite back.

His grip constricts, and my scalp stings with pain. “So, is that what you want? To crawl back to that hell just to kill yourself for nothing? No one will mourn you. No one will cry for you. No hearts will be broken. You will provenothingwith your death.”

He speaks the truth I have always known, but to hear those words come fromhim, they feel heavier.

“At least I’ll be free.”

“Yeah? You think there’s freedom in death? That there’s some kind of paradise waiting for you on the other side?”

I don’t respond because I have no idea what I believe in the afterlife. No idea of what happens once you die. Yes, there has to be some kind of higher power, but Heaven and Hell? Reincarnation? They sound too storybook.

“Your life here does not have to be imprisonment.”

“Bullshit,” I bite. “I was kidnapped, tied up, dragged to another state, and I’m forced to marry a stranger. That’s not freedom. It’s a sentence.”

He cants his head to one side. “It depends on your perspective.”

I glare at him. “How the fuck else am I supposed to see it?”

“You might not be free to choose everything, but you’ll finally be free from your family.”

“You don’t know shit about me and what I want.”

He seems like he’s mulling over his next words as he stares down at me in a way that makes me feel stripped bare under a microscope. I usually thrive under a stare. Shock, fear, desire.But this feels different. This feels like exposure, and I hate it. It has my stomach in knots.

“I know you think your eccentricity shields you,” he says softly but deadly. “But I see through it. I seeyou, little girl.”

I give him a cunning smile. “Is that what you’re into? Little girls?”

His nostrils flare, but he remains indifferent. “If I didn’t have plans for that smart mouth of yours,” he murmurs, “I’d rip your tongue out just to shut you up. Permanently.”

Fuck, I love the way he talks.

He finally releases my hair and walks behind me with unnerving calm. When he cuts the zip-ties from my wrists, I almost moan in pleasure. My arms drop forward, and I bring them around to inspect the damage. I’m furious all over again. They’re ghostly pallid, bruised, and swollen.

They will all pay for this.

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