I turn around and see Brom standing there in the middle of my bedroom, the loop relaxed around his throat, the reins dragging on the floor.
I feel as if I’m on fire.
I march toward him, winding up, and deck him square in the face.My knuckles explode in pain, but I ignore it and the hit is enough for him to stumble backward against the wall.
“Fuck!”he cries out, holding on to his nose.
“That’s for Kat,” I tell him, coming at him again and grabbing him by the throat, my fingers wrapping around the leather.I push him back against the wall, squeezing tight.
His face goes red and I know he can easily fight me off until I have him completely restrained, but he lets me do this to him.“You already shot me, isn’t that enough?”he ekes out, his Adam’s apple moving against my palm.
“Doyouthink it’s enough?”I challenge.
He meets my eyes, trying to breathe in and out.A caged animal.
Finally I let go of him and he bends over at the waist, coughing.
“Do you want me to punish you, Brom Bones?Because I’ll give you whatever punishment you think you deserve.”
He looks up at me, his hair a mess, his eyes bloodshot.
“Who areyouto punish me?”he grumbles.
Worry shoots through me.He might remember what we had together, but he might not have any interest in having that continue, no matter how attracted to me he still might be.
“I deserve whatever wrath Kat wishes to inflict on me,” he goes on hoarsely.“This has nothing to do with you.How did you…” He shakes his head, as if trying to get sense back into him.“How is it that you’re here?And with her?”
I turn over the hobbling leather in my hands, keeping an eye on him.“The universe works in mysterious ways.”I pause, dragging the strap slowly between my fingers.“I’ve had more time to adjust to the idea of you and Kat together than you’ve had adjusting to the idea of she and I together.But make no mistake about it, pretty boy, that witch is mine.”
His confusion turns into a scowl, his anger radiant and consuming.“I’m supposed to marry her.”
I ignore the sharp spike of fear in my chest.“Are you sure about that?”I come close to him again, tugging at the straps in my hands while keeping my gaze locked on his.My goodness, this man carries such wildness inside him even when he’s not possessed.“Because from what it sounds like, marrying her has never been your idea.It’s been your parents’.Her parents’.It’s been arranged since birth.”
The line between his brows deepens.“You don’t get to tell me what I want or how I feel.”
“Perhaps not,” I say smoothly.“But I do get to tell you howIfeel.And as long as you’re possessed, you’re not to lay one fucking finger on her.You’re not marrying her.You’re not going to be with her.And you’re certainly not going to fuck her.At least not without my permission and keen supervision.”
He lets out an acidic laugh at that.“Who do you think you are?”
“Professor Ichabod Crane,” I say with a smile.
His eyes narrow.“Right.And I’ve known Kat my whole life.You’ve known her, what?A month?”
“You were gone for the last four years,” I say sharply.
“You know, no, yousawwhat happened to me!”he exclaims.“I had to leave!”
“And what did you do while you were gone?Tell me, Abe.Tell me.You were with me, my cock buried in that exquisite ass of yours, taking whatever I decided to give you.”
His nostrils flare at that, eyes dancing wildly.“Fuck you.”
“Uh-uh.”I give him a quick smile, smacking his shoulder with the straps.“I believe I was the one fucking you.”
That’s just enough gasoline on the fire.
He lets out a roar and comes at me, teeth bared, hands open, and I duck him in the nick of time, swinging up behind him and grabbing the reins, giving them a hard yank so that they almost break.His hands fly up to his throat and I quickly yank back again, enough that he falls flat on his back, the room shaking.
I don’t have time to worry if any of the teachers on this floor felt that, instead I’m getting down on the ground and taking advantage of the fact that he’s got the wind knocked out of him.I flip the heavy weight of him over onto his stomach as he coughs from the damage I just inflicted to his windpipe.
