“I don’t know you, Ryder,” I spat, my fear and panic pouring out unchecked. “You turned up out of nowhere, lied about who you were just to get close, and for what? To find my mum? To chase down some bloody USB drive that she doesn’t even—” The word caught in my throat, my fury cutting off as if someone had popped a balloon.
Ryder leaned in, so close his breath feathered against my lips, his voice dropping into a husky whisper that made my skin shiver. “Doesn’t even what?”
I couldn’t speak, the reply seemingly trapped.
Shit. Shit.Shit.
Ryder’s fingers skimmed my jaw, deceptively gentle before hooking beneath my chin and tilting it up until I had no choice but to meet his eyes. “Doesn’t even what, Violet?”
“Doesn’t even have,” I finally said, refusing to back down. “She lost it.”
There was a second where his brows snapped together, and his eyes darkened to almost black. “Fuck!” he barked, so loud I jumped. But his fingers remained startlingly soft, which was a contrast to the fury radiating from him in waves. “Why didn’t you tell me she fucking lost it?”
“Because you’re one of them,” I shot back, my voice steady even though my insides trembled. “You’re one of the people trying to hurt me and my family.”
His jaw flexed, the lines of his face carved from stone. “I have no interest in hurting you. I’m the one who told younotto go to the police, remember?”
“They’re the police!” I cried, my throat raw. “They’re supposed to help. What else was supposed to happen? But he didn’t even listen to me.”
Ryder’s laugh was humourless, jagged. “Trust me, the police are the first to be bought for the right price. They don’t care who you are. They see a woman bruised, and they’ll believe the man. They see a kid begging for help, and they turn away because his mum’s a sex worker. So clearly, he must deserve it, right?”
My chest ached at the venom in his tone. “Ryder…”
“Don’t look at me like that,” he growled, stepping in so close his heat bled into me, suffocating and magnetic all at once. “This is your problem, Violet. You feel too much.”
I went to shove his chest, to allow myself some space. But instead, I found my fingers curling into his shirt, as if I wanted to pull him closer.
“Since when is caring a crime?”
He stiffened for a fraction of a second before his mouth twisted into something dark, dangerous, and unbearably raw. “Since your emotions ruined everything.”
That smile was destabilising, hiding his brutish nature beneath charm and arrogance. It was all an illusion, and it made me want to hit out. Push him away and…
“Don’t.”
A single word, whispered in warning that should have me running scared. Instead, heat uncoiled low in my belly, sharp and consuming, a reaction I couldn’t explain and didn’t dare name.
Clearly, I was looking for anything to keep me grounded while the rest of my world collapsed. That had to be it, because the alternative wasn’t possible. The idea that I could be reacting to Ryder, of all people, was absurd.
He was the definition of a walking red flag, the exact kind of man my mum had warned me to avoid. So why did the air between us crackle with tension?
“Oh, blondie,” Ryder mocked. “Look at you all hot and flustered, and not an ounce of E in your system.”
My eyes narrowed. “Shut up.”
He only smirked, his free hand settling on my thigh, fingers tracing upward with deliberate slowness. “So what is it then? Me? Or is it the thought of giving up control?” His gaze burned, daring me to answer. “I’d put money on the control. After all, you’ve spent your whole life with mummy dearest pulling the strings, haven’t you?”
This time I did actually shove him, but he caught my wrists, tugging them until they were pressed above my head in one of his hands.
“Rule number one, you don’t get to touch me. Ever.” Ryder’s fingers traced a slow path down my throat, stopping at the curve of my breasts.
“Ryder…”
“Hmm, I bet if I told you to get on your knees, you’d do it, wouldn’t you?”
I shook my head, my dress suddenly feeling too tight.
“You’d suck my cock between those perfect lips like a good girl, just because I demanded.”
