Page 35 of Caution Tape

Sleeping with him was only supposed to be a test. A one-time thing.

Clearly, he’s taking it to a whole new level.

When we pull up to a luxurious looking house in a nice neighborhood, I can’t help but roll my eyes. The bastard lied to me. He’s taken me to his house.

“You’ve got some balls,” I groan. “I thought you said we were going to your office?”

“I also work from home.”

“Whatever.”

Right on cue, I pull out my phone and search for Nolan’s name in my contacts. When I find him, I shoot him a quick text.

Me: I think I might want to be unhealthy.

Me: Scratch that. I want to be a lunatic.

“No,” Michael lets out unexpectedly. “Do not text him. Give me your phone.”

My eyes lock with his as he pulls into a driveway. “What?”

Without warning, he tears it from my grasp and exits the car.

A rush of adrenaline courses through me, the blood boiling in my veins. I fling my door open and practically leap out of the car, storming in his direction and chasing him all the way up to the front entrance.

“Give me my phone, jackass,” I demand, done with his games.

He unlocks the front door and strolls inside. I follow behind him, now in a fit of rage.

“Give me my fucking phone,” I say again, burying my hand into his pants pocket until he swats my arm away. Little white spots begin to cloud my vision, and my body vibrates with an anger so intense I find myself scanning the entryway for heavy objects to hit him over the head with.

Every part of me wants to show him what I’m really capable of. He’s stepped over a solid line that I’d never intended to be crossed. I’ve never experienced this kind of crippling fury before. Something inside me has snapped, like a rubber band being stretched way too far.

Thisis too far.

I have the upper hand. I have always had the upper hand. Who does this fucker think he is? Nobody controls me. Certainly not him.

It’s as if all the years of holding this darkness inside of me has finally begun to take its toll. I’m not a naïve girl to be toyed with; I’m a caged monster lost in all of time and space who has finally gotten the strength to break free.

Although I’m now blinking through blurred vision, I’ve never seen anything so clearly like this. My senses are heightened. My endorphins skyrocket at the fleeting thought of bashing his head in and making human Play-Doh out of his brain matter.

Michael leads me to his office and as soon as my gaze sets onto the paperweight resting on his desk, my heart leaps into the back of my throat. It taunts me. I’m suddenly starring in my own cartoon. I see tiny black hearts floating around the small, heavy object, and it calls out to me.

“Come play with me, Cora!”it sings to me.

“I don’t see anything wrong with you,”Nolan had told me.

The paperweight says it, too.

There’s nothing wrong with you! This is how you were born!

The moment I pick it up from his desk, my heart swells. God, it feels so incredible against my palm. It fits so perfectly in my hand. It’s like it was made for me.

It’s as if I’ve fallen in love.

Give in to the madness! Embrace it! Set yourself free!

“Cora, no!” Michael shouts, dodging out of the way at just the right moment.

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