I exhaled slowly.
“You should have called for me.”
Her back hit the wall as I closed in on her. My teeth groundtogether. I grabbed her by the neck, my fingers locking around her throat, tightening until her breath began to slip away.
Her face flushed red. Her eyes widened. For one warped second, I thought I would snap her pretty little neck. The thought pulsed through me like heat. Then I loosened my grip and let her go. I stepped back with a guttural sound building in my chest.
“Run, Doll,” I growled. “Run so fast, because I will not be this gentle when I catch you.”
She was already hurt. Bruised. Shaking. I did not ask how or why. She understood anyway. She pushed past me with a broken little sob, tears streaking down her swollen cheeks, and she ran out the door, sprinting toward the woods and the park near the cliffs.
I tilted my head, then turned and let out a low growl. I tore after her, pounding across the ground, closing the distance with every step.
The woods swallowed her. Trees crowded in tight, bark rough and dark, the air thick and cold. She hid somewhere between the trunks. Even without seeing her, I felt her breath trembling in the dark.
“Run, little Doll!” I called out. “But you can’t hide from me.”
She ran. I could hear her lungs tearing for breath, her steps frantic against the forest floor. But she kept going.
And she wasn’t just running from me. She was running from what I made her.
“Fuck off!” she screamed, her voice cutting through the dark.
A laugh ripped out of me.
“Say it again,” I taunted, my steps closing in fast. “Say it, and maybe I’ll fuck you. Off. On. Non-stop… your choice, Doll…”
Her fear skated across her skin. She didn’t stop.
Within seconds, she was at the edge of the cliff. She froze,trembling, pebbles scattering over the edge and falling toward the waves.
I caught her wrist before she could fall. Yanking her back, I spun her into me. My breath brushed her neck, warm against her shaking skin.
“You made me this way,” I snarled, staring into her wide eyes through the smeared paint on my face.
I lifted the blade to her throat. Not hard. Just enough.
“Tell me, Doll…” My voice softened. “Would you die for me?”
She didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. She leaned into the knife instead. Cold metal kissed her skin. A single tear slid down her cheek and broke on the edge of the blade.
A quiet laugh escaped me.
Her eyes held mine like she was trapping me in them.
“So easy, isn’t it?” I whispered.
“You lied to me,” she said, her voice cracking. “What’s left to lose?”
“I lied?” I asked, “You are a liar here, breaking promises you can’t keep.”
Her fingers wrapped around my hand, pressing the blade closer. I felt the first warm bead of her blood roll down her throat.
I didn’t smile. I just watched her.
“Would you kill me?” she asked.
Silence.
