Page 104 of Little Liar
The look on her face when he barged through the doors and told me to get inside told a thousand stories. Something is going on between them. If she was smart, she’d run in the oppositedirection, and definitely not into the arms of another Reznikov like Adryx.
What is she thinking?
“Do as you’re told, or this will get ugly. Give me. Your fucking. Arm.”
“I hope when Malachi gets you, he makes it slow and painful.”
Igor huffs and shoves Xander aside, grabbing my wrist and yanking me to him. I can smell his foul breath and the cigar smoke on his clothes—both scents infiltrate my senses, and I try not to vomit as he pulls something long and sharp from his son’s hand.
“How hard is it to discipline her?” he sneers at Xander. “You have a lot to learn, boy.” Turning to me, he tightens his grip until I flinch with the pain. “If you squirm or try to pull away, it’ll hurt much more.”
I grit my teeth and look away as he slowly, so damn slowly, inserts the needle into my skin—it tears at the flesh, and warm liquid drips to the ground.
“There,” he says, grinning as he pushes the needle in further, cutting through the muscle and depositing the tracker. “Now you have no way of running from us.”
It burns. It feels like he’s pressing nails into my flesh, but I revel in it.
If I feel this pain, even for a few minutes, I can ignore the pain and panic in my heart. Because now, no one can save me.
29
Malachi
The beeping won’t fucking stop.
It only grows louder the more awake I become.
There are voices. Two voices. I think. Unless there’s only one and it’s echoing. I can’t zone in on it enough to figure it out.
Did Olivia sneak into my room again and not turn her damn phone alarm off? Why is it still beeping? What is she saying to me?
She better go back to sleep. I’m too tired to wake up just yet—her cheer practice doesn’t start until the afternoon, so we could have a lazy morning with a movie. Maybe she’ll let me go down on her again like I did a few nights ago?
Parker has been silenced, and although Mom is now hellbent on Adam being her chosen suitor, I plan on taking her far, far away from all of this.
“Malachi.”
She sounds different—maybe she’s been up crying all night so her voice is a little hoarse. Did she have another nightmare?They rarely happen when she’s with me, but maybe they’re getting worse? I’ll need to do some research to figure out how to stop them from plaguing her mind.
There’s a heaviness on my chest, and I want to stroke my fingers through her hair. I can’t smell it like I usually do. I mentally frown because I can barely move my face.
Then there’s a second voice. It’s distinctly different. Fuck. Did our parents just walk in and see us in bed together? We aren’t doing anything.
Did they find out I’ve been fucking around with Olivia while she’s passed out. Are they about to ruin this entire thing for me? I said I hadn’t touched a girl before. I hadn’t kissed one. I hadn’t fucking tasted her.
What would she do if she knew I was nothing but a little liar?
She’s saying my name again.
My brain short-circuits because none of the voices around me belong to Olivia.
One is soft, the other harsh, but I can’t focus enough to recognize who they belong to.
Trying to open my eyes, I groan, or attempt to—there’s something in my throat. I try to swallow, but I end up choking, sending whatever’s beeping erratically to up its tempo. My hand lifts to feel what’s in my mouth, but I hear a gasp, and someone grabs my wrist.
“Dad! Get the nurse! He’s awake!”
There’s a scuttle of shoes, a hand coming to rest on my face—not soft and gentle like my Olivia’s. No, this is a rough hand. Large. Their fingers grip my cheek. A firm tap that has me trying to open my eyes, but I’m so fucking weak, and my body aches.
