Page 28 of Ruthless Scoundrel
He chuckles. “Now clean it.”
My elation evaporates at the memory of Jasper gutting his fish, but the scent of the smoking meat is nearly enough to drive me mad. I’msohungry.
Icouldsurrender and let him gut it for me. I could concede this one time and just let him do it so I don’t have to split the fish open and pull out its innards. The thought of slippery blood coating my hands, of bones and intestines sliding around as I slice at the creature, makes me shiver. But if I don’t do this myself, I’ll owe him. I don’t want to be indebted to my captor.
I take a deep breath and return to shore. There’s a flat rock dripping with blood from where Jasper cleaned his fish.
He stops beside me, setting his folding knife on the stone. “This’ll make it easier.”
I grab the knife and pop it open with a satisfyingclick. The clean blade glints with sunlight. It’s long enough to kill a man, and he’s just given it to me.
I look up at Jasper, squinting from the sun behind him.
He smirks. “Contemplating my murder again so soon?”
“I never stopped,” I say.
He turns away, unafraid that I might stab him. This could be my only opportunity. Can I survive with what he’s taught me already?
Before I’ve even decided, I’ve jumped to my feet, unwilling to lose this chance at freedom. Jasper stops in his tracks. I clench my fist around the knife, my body frozen.
“If you’re going to stab someone in the back, don’t hesitate.” He glances over his shoulder. “It’ll get you killed.”
Heat burns in my cheeks and my retort dies on my tongue. I crouch down with the knife and stare at the fish. My stomach is so tight with anxiety, it whines. I should’ve killed him. I should’ve just finished it.
Jasper’s shadow falls over me and dread slides down my spine like icy fingertips. He kneels in the sand and pulls my fish from the spear. It flops weakly against the stone, then stills.
He grabs my wrist and I stiffen, holding the knife up in warning.
He sighs and releases me. “Will you stop being feral for a moment so I can teach you?”
My jaw hurts from how tight I’m clenching. He reaches out and grabs my hand. His fingers are calloused and the drag of his skin against mine as he peels open my fist sends electric shocks up my arm. That damn fluttering is back in my stomach, and I wish I could stab it out.
“Hold it down with one hand, like this,” he says, placing my open palm against the top of the fish. “Push back a little to tighten the skin on the belly.”
Keeping one hand on mine, he moves behind me and grabs my knife hand with his other. His chest is cool against my sunbaked skin, but his breath is warm against my cheek. “Put the tip in here first,” he says, pointing to where the tail meets the stomach. “And saw your way up to the head.”
I’m frozen under his touch, enraptured by his gentleness. My heart pounds as he helps me push the knife into the belly of the fish. It meets resistance at first, and then drags easily up to the head.
I pant in rapid, shallow breaths as his hands slide back from mine and linger on my wrists for just a fraction too long. He pulls away and stands, blocking the sun once more. Little zaps of electric bliss fire down my arms and legs, exploding where his body touched mine.
His eyes glow with pearly, opalescent light as he looks down at me. “Pry it open and take it to the water to clean it out. You can use the blood of the first one to draw in bigger prey.”
He returns to the shade and rotates his fish over the small fire.
What in the nine hells just happened?
I set the knife aside and stare at the bleeding fish. I bolster myself and pry open its rib cage. Dark guts squelch out and I retch.
Jasper laughs. “You’ll get used to it.”
“I don’t want to,” I say into the crook of my elbow.
“You could always let me do it,” he says.
I steel myself and ignore the prickling sensation left on my skin from his touch. “No.”
He shrugs. “Your choice.”
