Page 97 of Bound to a Killer
He’s here. Standing in front of me.
Ledger grabs a fistful of Jayce’s collar and yanks him higher, lifting him to eye level like he weighs nothing.
He narrows his eyes on my classmate, sharp, daggered, and unflinching.
“Are you deaf, or just fucking dumb? She said, don’t touch her.” His voice drops low, vicious, a dark vibration that tears a violent shiver out of me. I know what he’s capable of when he’s angry. And right now, he looks like he could gut him. Just like he did to the last guy he dragged off of me.
Jayce’s face drains to an unnatural shade of white, his voice cutting off from the pressure Ledger’s putting on his throat. My heart slams into my ribs.
Oh, God.
He’s going to suffocate him.
“Stop, please stop,” I cry out, finally finding my voice. “He can’t breathe!”
Ledger’s grip loosens when he hears me, just enough to lower him slightly, but not to let go. “Listen. And listen to me real close, because you’ll be sorry if I have to repeat myself,” hegrowls, jaw tight. “I never want to see your punk ass near her again. Got that?”
Jayce whimpers, his knees caving inward. He looks impossibly small next to him, like a boy realizing he’s come head-to-head with someone bigger and far more dangerous than himself. He just has no idea how much. Not like I do.
“What the hell, man? You’ve got this all wrong,” Jayce gasps, sounding downright pathetic as his head shrinks back into his shoulders. Like a frightened turtle. Prey and predator.
“Got. That?” Ledger repeats, his grip tightening. Jayce sputters out his compliance at record speed, a vein bulging in his forehead before screwing his mouth shut, hoping it’ll speed his release.
My stomach clenches tight. Apprehension quaking in the pit of it.
“Wait,” I choke out, both heads snapping toward me. “He has something on…” My cheeks burn. “His phone.”
Ledger pauses. The silent stretch shorter than a heartbeat before it registers. He doesn’t ask for clarification. Doesn’t need to. His attention cuts back to Jayce like a swift blade to the jugular. “Get out your phone. Now.”
He doesn’t shout. His voice is deathly low, but it makes the fine hairs on my arms lift. Quiet. Certain. That tone terrifies me more than if he’d broken into a rage. The restraint in it bone-chilling.
Jayce feels it, too. His gaze jumps to mine, stricken, his bravado cracking at the seams. I’ve never seen any of the jocks at school this terrified before, and secretly…I like it. More than I should.
His brows pull together, like he actually still expects me to be on his side. But we both know he’s been holding that photo over my head this whole time, and will continue to do so if given the opportunity. There’s no way I’m letting him get away with it. Not this time. So I keep quiet, my mouth clamped shut.
Jayce’s expression fractures, something uncertain flickering in his eyes, like he’s just now sensing an undercurrent he’s not part of. He glances away, swallowing hard as he fumbles to scoop up his phone.
“Unlock it,” Ledger says, nodding at the phone trembling in Jayce’s hand.
“What—come on, man,” Jayce says, glancing back at me, panic breaking through now, raw in his voice. Still expecting me to step in. Still clinging to the hope that I’ll save him once I catch up to how bad this is.
I don’t.
When he realizes that, something in his face shifts, a mean glint cutting through the fear in his eyes. “That’s who it was for?”
I cringe, my eyes dropping to my silver heels. My ankle throbs, so I shift my weight slightly to take the edge off, keeping my focus there.
Ledger shoves him forward, breaking his line of sight. “Eyes up here. You have less than a fucking second before things get much worse for you.”
Jayce grits his teeth and keys in his passcode, his fingers rigid, like he’s choking down the last of his pride just to obey.
Ledger snatches it out of his hand, swiping through the screen until he lands on what I assume isthephoto. His thumb stills. His face hardens.
A shiver-laced sweat slips down my spine. My face prickling with heat, a visceral sting of humiliation threading through me. He’s looking at it, at the image of me in my lace bra, lips parted, teeth tugging at the edge of my swollen bottom lip from that night he called. I look away, eyes locking on the pavement as my heart flips hard.
Seconds later, I hear the notification of the picture being deleted before the phone crashes to the ground. He stomps over it, grinding it beneath a heavy, scuffed combat boot.
I gasp, my eyes widening at the crack of glass and the burst of plastic shards scattering across the asphalt.
