Page 90 of Another Christmas from Hell

“Then, what are you doing?” Bryce asked as his gaze shifted back to those scissors as he discreetly tried to pull his arms free, but they wouldn’t budge.

He was going to make the bastards pay for this.

Oh, were they going to fucking pay…

“I’m ensuring that this interrogation is more productive than the previous ones,” Cayley murmured, looking thoughtful as she finished reading through the list, nodded to herself, mumbled, “This will have to do,” and shifted her focus on him.

When she only sat there, blinking at him, Bryce found himself once again glancing back down at those items by her side and-

“How long have you been in love with me?” came the curious question that had him looking up to find Cayley still watching him as she pulled a ballpoint pen out of her pocket and clicked it open.

“How long are you planning on keeping me tied to this chair?” Bryce countered, only to frown when the question was met with a forlorn sigh and a sad shake of her head as she made a small mark on the bottom of the page.

“That’s one,” Cayley said with a shrug that left him even more confused.

“One, what?” Bryce asked, watching as she muttered something to herself as she made another mark.

“That’s two,” Cayley murmured as she glanced up at him expectantly.

When he only glared at her, she explained, “Two strikes,” only to follow that up with, “For every question that you answer, you get a reward, but if you get a strike, you lose that reward.”

“I see,” Bryce murmured absently as he glanced back down at the items on the floor.

“Now, you were telling me how long you’ve been in love with me?” Cayley said, double-clicking that pen to draw his attention back to find her watching him expectantly.

“I’ve always loved you, Cayley,” Bryce admitted, watching as she absently nodded to herself as she scratched off one of the strikes.

“And the reason why you avoided me?” Cayley asked, throwing him a questioning look as she asked the question that he’d managed to avoid answering the last time that she tried interrogating him.

It was the same answer that he refused to give her now.

CHAPTER50

“Not going to answer me?” Cayley asked, watching as that muscle in Bryce’s jaw continued to tick, letting her know that he had absolutely no plans on telling her, but that was fine.

More than fine, in fact, Cayley thought with a heartfelt sigh as she placed her legal pad on the floor and stood up, really hating to do this, but he hadn’t left her with much of a choice. At least, that’s what she told herself as she pushed her chair back before reaching down for the scissors.

When Cayley stood up, she watched as his expression turned hopeful, which, honestly, was kind of sad, only to turn confused as she knelt down in front of him and reached for the hem of his shirt. “Are you going to answer me?” Cayley asked, glancing up at Bryce to find his eyes narrowing on her and that muscle going double-time.

Nodding, Cayley mumbled, “That’s what I thought,” as she was forced to cut his shirt open. When he still didn’t say anything, mostly because he was a stubborn pain in the ass, she carefully cut each sleeve open and reached behind him so that she could pull the ruined shirt away, leaving him shirtless.

Releasing a shuddering sigh as though this somehow pained her to do this, Cayley placed the scissors back down on the floor and sat down, clearing her throat as she waited. When she didn’t say anything else, Bryce frowned as he glanced down at his torso before glancing back at her and asked, “That’s it?”

Wondering when he was going to learn, Cayley reached down to pick up her legal pad, thought better of it and stood up, deciding that she should get comfortable since it looked as though they were going to be here for a while. With that in mind, she reached down and slowly pushed her cotton shorts down before stepping out of them and kicking them aside as she sat back down, ready to pick up where they left off.

“You were saying?” Cayley asked, blinking at him.

“This is just…sad,” Bryce said with a pitying look.

She appeared to think that over for a minute before she let her shoulders drop and sighed because he was right. “My interrogation tactics could use some work, huh?” Cayley asked, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as she watched him begin to nod in agreement, only to groan when she reached down and grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it off. Once she tossed it aside, Cayley shifted in her chair to get more comfortable as she watched Bryce try to shift in his chair as his gaze dropped down to her breasts and…stayed there.

“You were telling me why you’ve been avoiding me all these years?” Cayley reminded him, watching as he struggled to focus and since that worked in her favor, she dropped the legal pad on the floor, hooked her thumbs in her panties and-

“Aw, fuck…”

-shimmied out of them and tossed them aside.

Once she was done, Cayley settled back on the chair and-

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