“Carrington…” His voice was thin and strained. “What the fuck do you want from me?”
“Everything, Sunshine,” I said, my answer, honest and straightforward. “I want everything from you.”
His throat worked, but his chin tilted stubbornly with a touch of defiance. “You’re out of your fucking mind if you think I’ll let you fuck…”
“Out of my mind?” I stepped closer, one foot then another, making each boot strike the concrete with a heavy echo. “No, I lost that a while ago, Baby Boy. I don’t want any games anymore. No masks. Just you. Raw and fucking powerless as you scream my fucking name.”
His back pressed harder against the bars. “You can’t just?—”
“I can.” I cut him off, voice flat, certain. “Because you won’t stop me. You fight me, you yell in my face, and wiggle. But you never fucking stop me. Because you know you want this too. You always have.”
Shiloh shook his head, almost desperate now, as he watched the distance shrink little by little. “This is insane. You bribed a guard, brought me down here for what? To scare me? To?—”
“To make you honest. For once.”
His lips parted like I’d slapped him right in the face. “Honest?”
“You walk around acting like you’re fine, like your father hasn’t gutted you from the inside out. You hide behind all that anger and silence. But I see you. I know what you are hiding. I know why you feel like you have to hold on to the light. Why are you so damn afraid to let the darkness in?”
“Shut up.” His voice cracked.
“You’re terrified.”
“I said shut up!” His fists clenched, his knuckles going bone-white as he gripped the bars like a lifeline.
“You’re terrified of him. But you’re more terrified of what it means to want me. Because I remind you of him. I remind you of what you know you are, too. And that’s why you crave me the way I need you. You’re terrified of being your-fucking-self.”
The words landed like a blade. His face twisted. All that rage, denial, and shame tangled. Then he shoved off the bars, slamming into me with a force that rattled my ribcage and made my heart sing.
“Fuck you,” he shouted louder, the sound echoing off the walls while he shoved me harder.
I stumbled back half a step, grinning through the blood pouring down my lips. “Good. That’s it. Show me something real, Sunshine. Let me in. Let me see the darkness. C’mon. You wanted to break me so badly, Baby, well, here I am.”
He pushed me again, and this time I didn’t give ground. My hand shot out, gripping his throat, tight enough to remind him how lethal I was. He had me near the bars now, so I spun our bodies, slamming him against the open cage.
His eyes widened when I leaned down and let my tongue sweep over his busted lip. “Run, Sunshine.”
“What did you fucking say?”
“Run.” My mouth brushed the word across his cheek, a dare now. “You want to fight me off? Stop me from fucking that tight ass? Then run. This is your final chance to stop me from fucking you. Can you make it, Baby? Or do you want to bend over now? Make this so much sweeter for when I finally make you submit, and watch you break beneath me.”
For a heartbeat, he stayed rooted in place. I could see the war in his eyes, the pride, the fear, and the want. His instincts won. He tore free from my grip and bolted down the dark corridor.
The sound of his sneakers against concrete ricocheted through the silence. The air filled with his ragged breathing and the clang of him clipping bars as he ran from me.
I laughed low in my chest, the sound chasing him. “That’s it, Shiloh. Show me how fast your fear and denials can carry you.”
I followed behind him, my boots pounding, my body thrumming with the thrill. The cells blurred as we tore past them, the shadows deepening, and the stink of rust and mildew thickening with each heavy inhale of my lungs.
He veered left, trying to lose me in a side row, but I knew every heavy footfall he made. My strides swallowed the space between us.
“I found you already, you could keep running,” I called, my voice sharp and deadly. “But you know how this ends. You’ve always known. And that’s why you made it so easy.”
He glanced back once, and that hesitation cost him. I lunged, catching the back of his shirt and dragging him toward the nearest open cell. He kicked the air, twisted his body, and tried to wrench free of my iron grip.
Too bad for you that a predator never lets go of its prey.
His chest hit the bars with a hollow clang. And he was left with no choice but to reach out and grab onto them to steady himself. I was already there, pressing in behind him from the other side of the swinging metal door, pinning him between the sets of bars and using my weight to keep him trapped.
