Page 75 of More, Daddy
I have to be all nods and mewls, which I can do.
He must’ve heard the door, so he has to know I’m here. I lick my lips, my heart rate beating loudly in my own brain as I continue forward, silently praying that my eyes adjust to the darkness and start showing me something.
“Hi there,” he says, causing me to catch a gasp of surprise with my hand, crushing my back against the wall. I look around into the darkness, but still can’t see anything beyond the shape of a couch. It’s really fucking dark in here. Daddydidkeep his promise.
“You’re not nervous, are you?” he asks, and suddenly, his words are dusting my ear, his breath is hot on my face. His hand comes to my hip, gripping me with disorienting force. His other hand comes to my throat, where he holds me gently, extending his thumb up the underside of my chin as he forces my head back. My scalp grates against the wall, and I blink a few times, reaching up to wrap both of my hands around his wrist.
“My pretty little girl,” he coos, turning my insides to molten lava. I hadn’t expected him to jump into roleplay, but I’m ready. I’m ready for anything he has in store. With a hand on my hip, he hooks a knuckle in the tie at my waist and before I can stop him, he snags it, letting the long dog ears of the belt fall free, sending the bottle of wine to the floor in a loud cacophony of shatters.
I look down at my feet, but it’s still so dark that I can’t make out the splashes of crimson on my nude leather heels. But it’s there. The mess is there, and the smell of wine overwhelms me as his hand around my throat tightens.
West’s lips, soft and full and everything I’ve ever dreamed of, dust the tip of my nose, growling out a string of words that steal my breath and scramble my brain?—
“How. Fucking. Dare. You.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY
I didn’t makeany promises to stay calm. I didn’t tell myself that I need to be careful with her. I didn't take a deep breath and linger in a moment of restraint.
Fuck that.
Rage. Let yourself fucking rage. That’s what I told myself as Briar Matthews took the bait and came to my house tonight.
I want her to feel the raw, searing edge of my fury—not just sense it, but drown in it, let it boil her down to nothing, like stew simmering over a relentless flame.
She needs to choke on my rage, to breathe itin until it suffocates her, becauseshe’sthe one who set this inferno blazing inside me.
My hand clamps around her throat, her pulse thudding wild and frantic against my palm, and I start where instinct takes me. “How. Fucking. Dare. You.”
Four words, razor-sharp, slicing through the air, but they barely scratch the surface of my betrayal. She stays pinned, shrinking against the wall, her body wilting under my grip.
My fingers dig deeper, pressing into her racing pulse until a sharp gasp escapes her, followed by a choked whimper. “What’s that? Cat got your tongue now, huh?” I taunt, my lips grazing hers—not a kiss, but a cruel tease, hovering close enough for her to feel the heat of my breath, the weight of my presence. I let her squirm, let her stew, let her—finally—be the one lost in the dark, grasping for answers, not knowing what the hell comes next.
The longer we stay in the dark, the longer I play by her rules. Did she not get to know me at all in the last three months? Does she not know that I make the rules? I don’t obey her. Sliding my hand up the wall behind her, I flip the switch and watch as she pulls her chin to her chest, hair falling over her face and she struggles to acclimate to the sudden brightness.
“Oh it’s too bright?” I take my hand off her throat and claim her jaw, jerking her face up to meet mine.
I’ve never been face to face with Briar, not this close at least. We’ve never directly spoken, either, that I am aware of. She was just a girl in the hall. A girl on the sidelines. A girl in the junior coaching program.
Always just a girl.
“No one,” I whisper down at her, the severity in my tone making her wince. She’s so small against the wall, beneath me like this. She can’t be more than five foot five, because mysix feet and two inches completely dwarfs her. She may look slight and small entrapped by me, but it doesn’t change what she did.
“Wh-what?” she finally speaks, breaking the silence that I realize now added to my simmering rage. Her lips are full and pale, the kind of naturally plump lips that people inject themselves to mimic. I notice the way her bottom lip trembles as she waits for my reply.
I slide my hand from her jaw to her throat, and hold her with enough force that she knows I mean business, but not enough to hurt her.
I am going to hurt her.
I’m going to hurt her in ways she never knew she could be hurt. I’m going to make her feel the immense pain and sting of my anger.
I am going to make her pay for what she fucking did to me.
“You were no one to me. Do you know that,Briar?” I stretch her name out, letting us soak in every syllable. “You were just agirlthat existed in my world.” Her blue eyes hold mine, pupils wide despite the bright lights shining down from above. They’re beautiful, and I hate that they are. “Why?” I finally manage, after a baited minute where all we do is stare at one another and attempt to even out our breathing. But her chest is storming, rising and crashing, and mine is, too.
She shakes her head, a tiny tear slipping free as she reaches up and wraps her small hands around my wrist again. She doesn’t try to tug my hand away but instead, holds my wrist tenderly, in support of the way I’m violently gripping her.
