Page 58 of Play Dirty (Brooklyn Dawn 1)

It had been easy to slip into the barn, and it would be even easier to slip out. But these were an unexpected gift.

I pocketed one of the two tapes, the one I’d used to document Alex’s betrayal. The other, labeled Logan demo, I pulled out of the machine, then ripped out the spool and watched it unwind.

And while Alex and his tramp cuddled, I shredded it to pieces on the fucking floor.

Fourteen

Beneath me, she yawned. Like a content little kitten. If not for the wash of moisture in her eyes before she cupped her mouth, I might’ve believed she was simply tired.

I wished she was.

That I was.

Instead, I was far too wary. My ears tuned to any sound, my eyes alert.

There had been the faintest scrape while I’d been catching my breath. Barely a hint of sound, but I’d noticed it.

Like a chair being dragged over a floor.

Like metal moving against metal…

I shook my head to clear it. No. I’d probably just imagined it. No one was here with us.

We were alone, not counting the ghosts filling this barn. Now they were even moving furniture.

Fuck, I needed to get a grip.

I yearned for the blessed blank moments that followed a release. For once, I deserved them. And yet I’d been denied again.

Pulling out of her took inhuman strength. Especially when she made a strangled noise, caught between pain and enjoyment. I understood the sentiment far too well.

She hadn’t made it easy on me. Not this time nor the first. She’d given back as much as she’d taken and made me want to be more. To be worth her offering. But I wasn’t, and wishes didn’t make it so.

My biggest gift to her was to push her away.

She didn’t fight me. Didn’t ask questions as women were wont to do after sex. Or so I’d heard. It had been so long since I’d been inside one other than Lindsey that I barely remembered. No other woman compared to her reality. She’d crowded out every other in my brain.

And I’d best be locking down such thoughts right now before her shrewd eyes narrowed and she figured me out. As if all my tells weren’t explanation enough.

I rose and closed my eyes for a moment as I turned away to gather my shirt. My legs were as shaky as a calf’s. She didn’t need to know tha

t either.

“I wonder if there’s something to drink in here. Logan must’ve forgotten that we would need to properly hydrate.” She sat up and stretched, drawing her arms far above her head so her distracting breasts bounced.

Witch.

“Probably wasn’t thinking we’d have fluid loss. Then again…”

“Then again, he’s a smart dude. In school, people make up after a fight. Once you’re grown, it takes a different kind of combat to clear the air.”

I wanted to argue. I didn’t particularly like the idea of Logan knowing what we’d done. Not that I was shamed by it. Far from it. I also didn’t have any problem with staking my claim.

Just as my lips and teeth had on her neck. Fuck.

“Don’t suppose you own any turtlenecks?”

She frowned and rubbed her throat as I pulled my shirt back on. Her gaze drifted lower past the hem of the cotton, making the part of me in question preen.

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