As a girl who wanted this man out of my life, I didn’t give a shit.
As a writer who was in desperate need of inspiration, my interest had grown.
I pulled a glass out of my cupboard and filled it with ice. “Oh? And why don’t you think it exists? Aren’t you all close?” By what happened two weeks ago, it truly seemed like it.
“Because most of the shit he goes after doesn’t exist. He’s a free agent. He does what he wants, and we let him because if we didn’t, he probably would have killed us all a long time ago. He’s been officially classified as a serial killer by many agencies, but he hasn’t been caught because we have people everywhere and Jack is very good at helping Azrael cover up the tracks he can’t manage to cover up on his own, which doesn’t happen often.” He paused. “That isn’t breakfast.”
I poured a bit of creamer into my cup and filled the rest with coffee. I stirred it, turned, and sucked down a few gulps while making direct eye contact, watching as his eyes narrowed to slits. I swallowed. “Ahhhh,” I sighed. “Yummy.” I folded an arm over my stomach and rose a brow. “Your father doesn’t seem like the kind to have such a loose cannon on his weird little team.”
“Family,” he said bitterly. “And you couldn’t possibly understand the dynamics of our family.”
“No,” I agreed, shaking my head. “I couldn’t. Because I could never imagine fucking some girl with my brother in the same room as me on the orders of my father who also told you to put a collar around my neck. Blood or not. That’s all sorts of fucked.” Igulped down another swig, realizing it was worse for me because I had fallen for the man who was ordered by his father to fuck me.
I immediately slammed my drink down and straightened, opening my mouth to say something only for him to interrupt.
“Someone sounds jealous,” he mocked, taking me in.
“Jealous of what, exactly?” I asked, lifting my chin. “Of the fact that your middle-aged daddy gave you an order to fuck me rather than take my money? Jealous of how fucked up in the head he has to be to order his son, blood or not, to do that to the girlfriend of some guy who got a loan to buy hiswifea house?” I shook my head. “I’m not jealous, I’m fucking disgusted. Does that get you off, baby boy?” I cooed, his eyes flaming. “Knowing that your daddy probably wants to fuck me as much as you do? Knowing that your daddy probably has wet dreams about what you must do to me?”
He straightened, taking a step towards me before freezing in his tracks, his nostrils flaring. “Says the girl who has dirty dreams about being strung up by a serial killer and raped while he shreds your skin with broken glass,” he growled, his eyes wild as if he were seconds away from losing all control.
My eyes widened, my heart skipping a beat as my jaw hit the floor. “You found my stories?”
“You don’t hide anything well, pup. Not one thing.”
My heart thudded, my mind spinning. “Those were private,” I hissed.
“I don’t do boundaries, especially in situations like this.”
I couldn’t catch my breath. Everything I wrote in those books, they weregraphic. Things that were never supposed to leave my sanctuary. “I see how much it turns you on looking at this collar around my neck,” I said instead, trying to redirect the conversation. “You like it. I bet you wish it was yours. Your idea. Your collar.” Pup, he had called me. It felt deeper, somehow, asif he had put real thought into picking it. Picking it just for me.
“It was, Olivia,” he said through his teeth.
My heart skipped, my eyes widening. “What?”
He shook his head, his veins protruding from his skin as if he were imploding trying to keep his feet planted where they were. It only made me want to push him more. I wanted him to snap. I needed him to snap. “He suggested something to tie you to us. The order was to do whatever it took. To make you realize that you couldn’t escape us, no matter where you went or how loud you screamed. That was the order. I chose everything else. Right down to the pawn resting in the hollow of your throat.”
My heart slammed, my breathing labored at the thought of him picking this out. Of seeing it and thinking it would be perfect for me. Proof that he owned me. Just like that name. ‘Pup’.
“Is that what you fantasize about?” he went on when I didn’t respond. “Powerful, dangerous people taking what they want from you?”
I pressed myself back into the counter as he stalked towards me like a lion on the hunt, his eyes glowing, his control wavering. “It’s called consensual non-consent. It’s in a book, that’s safe. I would never want that to happen in real life!” A pathetic half-lie.
“Says the girl who loves being tied up and whipped,” he hummed, coming to a stop in front of me, his eyes falling to my lips only to find my eyes again. “Who begged me totake what I was owed.”
Fuck, I knew that would bite me in the ass. “I said that in the moment, it’s not what I want.” It was what I wanted, but I didn’t need him knowing that. Not that it mattered if he read those books. Myprivatebooks.
He grabbed my jaw, lifting me up until I was forced to stand on my tiptoes, my hands wrapped around his wrist. “Embrace the fucked-up parts of yourself, Olivia, I won’t allow you to do anything else. Not anymore.”
I grit my teeth, glaring at him. “You’re not in charge of me,” I bit. “You can’t order me around like a dog.”“Call me pup again. Put a leash on me and I’ll do whatever you want,”I pleaded silently, my cheeks burning hot.
One corner of his lips flicked up as if he heard my innermost thoughts, and he angled his head. “I love it when you lie.”
My heart skidded, my eyes widening, a breathlessness filling me.
“Do it again,” he ordered softly, his voice nonetheless commanding.
I searched his eyes, the world tilting on its axis. “You disgust me,” I tried, his hand tightening around my neck as his pupils widened. “Every time I see you, I want to puke.”
