Page 23 of Wicked Dreams (Fallen Royals 1)

He guns it out of the parking lot, flying down streets that we used to run through. It’s surreal. It’s a dream-turned-nightmare.

“What if I don’t want to play?” I ask.

He turns onto a familiar road, easing into his driveway. He parks in front of the empty house and grins at me. It’s the smile that belongs to a madman, leaking darkness like an oil spill. “Sorry, love. You don’t get a choice.”

Caleb climbs out of the car. I take a deep breath and mirror his movements, following him up the front walkway. He unlocks the door and pushes it open, gesturing for me to go in front of him.

This place…

Memories sucker punch me. Chasing him around, eating dinner. My mother brushing my hair off of my forehead and kissing my temple.

“I changed my mind.” I back away, right into him.

He grips my arms and propels me forward, deeper into the house.

“Caleb, stop.”

“Who said we could stop?”

I dig my heels into the ground, but my upper body keeps moving forward. I take a step, then another, farther into the house that feels more like a ghost town than a home.

Room after room, furniture is covered in white sheets and dust.

“What happened?”

He laughs, squeezing my arms.

“Caleb.”

“I’m not sure a sheep should be so direct.” He talks above my head to the empty house.

We stop in the kitchen, and he shoves me forward.

The kitchen.

“I don’t want to be here anymore,” I say, turning back.

I try to slip past him, but he grabs me. Hauls me in. He lifts me and sets me on the counter, holding my hips.

I stare down at him. His eyes are level with my throat at this angle. “Caleb, please.”

“Please?” He watches me. “Since when does please work?”

Please don’t tell them, Margo.

His voice echoes out of the recesses of my mind, so loud that I flinch.

“One day I’m going to fuck you on this counter.” His voice is low.

My body is a live wire. One spark, and I’ll set this whole house on fire. One touch, and Caleb and I will go up in flames.

“You’re going to enjoy it,” he continues. “Even knowing what happened here. Because all you’ll be able to think about is my dick in your pussy, spreading you wide. Hitting every. Fucking. Nerve.”

One of his hands comes up and palms my breast.

I’m wet. It’s a new sensation, but Caleb is right between my legs, and I can’t move if I don’t want him to know.

He pinches my nipple, and I automatically try to lean away from him.

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