Page 22 of The Wallflower

"I'll be honest. I'm not sure. There's just something...different about you. I'm going to see it through."

"Until...?"

"Until I'm finished."

I gulp. "Finished, like you're going to use me up and throw me away, finished?"

He snorts and rolls his eyes up to meet mine in the dark. "Until whatever fascinates me about you lets go. It'll be easiest if you just give in until then."

"But...why? You don't know me. There are plenty of other girls on campus who would go from one end of the quad to the other, sucking you off in public… And you want me...the vir..." I stop myself before I reveal too much.

Thankfully, he doesn't seem to notice I've cut myself off. Would it matter to him if I told him I was a virgin? Probably not. He’d look at it like a consolation prize. He stays kneeling by my feet and lays out his first-aid kit again. He pulls out another disinfectant wipe, and I wince as he cleans the cuts, then slathers on some antibacterial gel. The kindness he’s showing me is too much for my fragile mind at the moment, and then you add in the silence, and it’s too much to bear. I’d take his filthy words over silence right now.

“You're right. There are plenty of girls, but none of them hold my attention like you do. None of them draw me in and make me want to own them, keep them.”

"What is wrong with you? You make me sound like a fucking basketball or a damn coat. I'm a human being,nota belonging."

He bandages the cuts, and they feel better without the gritty dirt all over them, even if they sting from the cleaning. My face hurts from hitting the ground, and my hands are cut to high hell from all the times I've fallen, but it’s better than lying down and taking it. When all of this is over, I’ll at least have some sort of dignity intact.

"I promise you, you do not want to know what is wrong with me. We don’t have the time or paper for that conversation, andI’ll have you know I prefer football over basketball, in case you didn’t know that already. And just so we’re clear, you’re mine and belong to me, Maybel.” He stands to his full height and grabs me by the back of the neck, pulling my face closer to his. I find it impossible to look away even when I know I should. "You belong to me. Every whimper and moan. Every orgasm. Every single thought you have is mine. Your sweet little soul and pussy. Mine as well." His voice is low and husky, and the smell of mint fills my nostrils. A wave of dizziness slams into me, and my knees threaten to buckle beneath my weight.Fucking hell.He's serious but absolutely batshit crazy if he thinks I’ll go along with this.

I shake my head as much as I'm able with him holding me. "No. I don't belong to anyone but myself."

"Keep telling yourself that, little wallflower." His hold on the back of my neck disappears, and I suck a ragged breath of relief into my lungs to be out of his grasp. It’s short-lived when those same fingers move to my throat, his huge hand squeezing the column. "Keep telling yourself that."

I’m momentarily paralyzed, and all I can do is stare at him. Shit. He's huge. Bigger than I remember when he grabbed me in the library. His eyes darken, the green in them appearing almost black. "You’ll need to stand on your own because it’s time for me to inspect my prize."

"Inspect?" I whisper. “What does that mean?”

He releases me like I’m a burning coal, and I don’t bother hiding the fact that my knees shake. I huddle into myself, both from the cold and the fear coursing through my veins. Like he's got all the time in the world, he just stares down at me. I feel insecure, like I’m beneath a microscope…about to be judged. As he watches me, I take the opportunity to stare up at him. His dark hair brushes his eyebrows, and his dark green eyes see right through me like I’m made of glass.

"We can stand here all night," he finally says. "I'm nice and toasty. You, however, look a little cold."

I gesture at my dress and bruises. "And you want me to take my clothes off, knowing I'm already freezing?"

He shrugs. "The faster you strip, the faster we can move on to warming you up."

I swallow around the golf ball-sized knot forming in my throat. My breathing is faster now, my heart hammering against my ribs. Every fiber in my body prays that he’s fucking with me, but I know better. This isn’t some messed-up mind game. He’s serious, and if I don’t give him what he wants, he’ll take it from me.

"Strip, flower, or I'll do it for you."

"What if I want to walk away?" I whisper. "Just leave. No money. No bother. I go home and chalk this all up to stupidity?"

That earns me a chuckle. "I’d say nice try, but you’re smarter than that. I already told you that you belong to me. I'm not giving you up that easily. Besides, if for some reason I allowed you to walk away, do you think I would let you get away scot-free? You walk away, and everyone on campus will find out that you’re a liar and a cheat. Think smart, flower, do you really think I won’t use my status to ensureeveryoneturns their back on you?”

As he speaks, my heart rate climbs. “I’m not...I’m not a cheatora liar.”

“You said you want to walk away...If you do, that’s going against the agreement you made when you stepped foot inmy fuckingforest. You wouldn’t think twice about keeping the prize money...but now that you’re caught, suddenly you don’t want to suffer the consequences. Sorry, love, but that’s not howthisworks.”

My world shrinks to this very moment. He’s really going to force me to strip or ruin my life. No one will go against himor believe me over him. I’m a nobody who can barely make my tuition payments. “What if we make a deal?”

The corner of his lip curls up, and then he licks them and steps forward. “What kind of deal?”

It seems I have his attention. Aterrifyingthing. “If I do this. I don’t run and see through whatever you want...you point me in the direction of the cabin and let me still try to get there.”

He laughs. “Twenty-five thousand dollars for a quick fuck in the woods? I don’t think that is worth it for me. I could take you and keep you until dawn. Ruin all your chances of getting there.”

“What do you want, then?”

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