Chapter 6
Scarletta
Ican't stop replaying it.
The masked man's mouth on mine. The way he kissed me between steps while I was terrified of falling. The way his hands felt on my waist, steadying me.
You're exceptional.
No one's ever said that to me. Not in person. Not looking at my face while they said it.
Online, sure. Anonymous praise from faceless usernames. But that's different. That's not real. That's people reacting to words on a screen, not to me.
He called my writing brilliant. Said I could do literary fiction. Dark literary fiction that would make critics uncomfortable.
I want to believe him.
God, I want to believe him so badly it hurts.
And his face. Jesus Christ, his face.
I wasn't expecting that either. I thought the mask was hiding something. Scars maybe. Or average features. Something that would make the mystery make sense.
But he's just... handsome. Actually handsome. Sharp jawline, intense eyes, the kind of bone structure that makes you want to keep looking.
It makes me want to please him more. Makes me want to earn his approval. Makes the ache between my thighs even worse because now I can picture his face while I imagine all the things he might do to me.
Pathetic. I'm so fucking pathetic.
But I don't care.
I step fully onto the platform and realize how narrow it is. Just a ring of wood surrounding the massive tree trunk. Barely wide enough for one person to stand on, definitely not wide enough for two.
I turn around to ask him what I'm supposed to do now… and find him walking back across the plank. Away from me. Heading toward the opposite tree where the rope ladder waits.
"Wait—where are you going?"
He glances back over his shoulder with this devastating smile. The kind that promises trouble. "This isn't a pre-school, my good little slut. It's a master class. You don't get your hand held twice. You want my cock, little whore? You gotta earn it."
His words land like a slap.
"You've already taken more from me than you've earned. You're in debt, my horny little trollop. So my last bit of advice to you—" He reaches down between his legs and grabs himself. "—if you want this big, hard cock inside your dripping wet pussy—is to exceed my expectations. Otherwise…" he shrugs. "I'll edge you forever. Deny you forever. Leave you alone…forever."
Before I can pick my fucking jaw back up off the ground, he reaches up into the canopy and pulls something. A handle. Hidden in the leaves.
Then he jumps.
"What the?—"
He disappears on a zip line that materializes from nowhere, his body swinging down through the trees with perfect control.
Gone.
Just... gone.
I stare at the empty space where he was standing three seconds ago.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" I yell into the jungle.
