Priest’s head is broken. You’re the only thing that quiets the noise.
“I’m not yours.” The words barely escape past the pressure at my throat. The corner of his mouth curves into something thatshouldbe a smile.
“You’ve been mine since the night I found you.”
I jerk away, but his other hand clamps down on my thigh, fingers digging in hard, holding me still.
“Stop—”
“Tonight, I’m going to give you something you’ve never had before.” He leans in until his forehead presses to mine. “I’m going to give you your sick, twisted little fantasy. The one you keep buried. The one I saw in your eyes the first time I took your throat. The one where you’re hunted. Where you’re taken. Where you don’t get a choice. I’m going to give you what you want.”
“I wantnothingfrom you. You’re sick,” I spit out. “You’re fucking sick.”
“We already know who’s the sick one here, Arlo.” He releases my throat and pulls out a knife. The small blade glints in the dim light from the dashboard. He drags the tip of it over my cheek, down my throat, a thin, cold line of promised violence. “The girl who craves the man who ruined her. Who gets wet thinking about the monster who took everything from her.”
I hate the fear clawing up my throat. The way my heart slams against my ribs. But what I hate more is the heat pooling low in my belly—the way my body answers his voice, his touch, his presence with a traitorous pulse.
“I’m going to hurt you.” His knife trails the edge of my stolen sweatshirt. “I’m going to make you scream until your throat is raw and your voice is gone. And when there’s nothing left of you but shaking bones and shattered pride, I’m going to make you beg for more.”
Fear rushes in like a flood. True fear. The kind that steals your breath and numbs your limbs.
And still?—
The scent of him—gunpowder, mint, and blood—sinks into my lungs. And my body, in its cruel betrayal, aches.
Before I can bury it, he grabs the back of my neck and yanks me forward. Crashing his mouth to mine. His teeth tear at my bottom lip, drawing blood, and I taste copper and want and ruin all at once. I shove at him, push hard, claw at his back, his shoulders, anything I can reach. My nails sink into his skin. He doesn’t flinch.
He laughs and when he pulls back, his eyes are black fire.
The knife presses to the side of my throat, the tip biting into skin. Blood slowly trickling down.
“It’s time you learned what a real monster feels like, Arlo.” He smiles, the blade dragging slowly down the center of my sweatshirt.
“I’m going to fuck you like I don’t give a goddamn shit about you. Like you’re just a body I found in the woods. A set of holes to use until I’m empty.”
Cold air rushes in as he slices the fabric apart, exposing my chest. The thin bra clings to my skin, nipples hard, shame and heat mixing in a dizzying wave.
He tears it in half with one brutal tug. The straps snap like paper.
“Because that’s whatyouwant,” he growls. “That’s whatIwant. This thing between us? It’s a fucking sickness. And I’m done pretending it’s anything else.”
He throws the knife into the front seat—it skitters across the dashboard with a dull clatter.
Then he grabs the waistband of my sweatpants and yanks them down in one swift, vicious motion, dragging my pantieswith them. I’m naked in the cold leather of the backseat of a car on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.
“There isnothingbetween us.” I try to cover my breasts, but he grabs my wrists, slamming them above my head.
“Fucking liar. I have never cared about anything more in my entire fucking life than I do you.” His mouth crushes mine again, and I bite down, hard, on his lip. He groans and kisses me deeper, his tongue forcing its way back into my mouth. He’s all-consuming, a fire that’s burning me alive from the inside out.
He breaks away, and shoves his knife into my hand. Pushing the door open, he gives me one last menacing look.
“Run.”
I don’t have to be told twice. I scramble out of the car, the forest a wall of black shadows, the air biting against my naked skin. I don’t think. I just run. Tree branches whip at my face and body, snagging in my hair.
What the fuck.
What the fuck.
