“Stop it,” I hissed, but couldn’t stop myself from taking a backwards step.
“Three.” Grayson closed the door behind him, taking a step towards me.
Shit. I stumbled backwards as fear slammed into my guts. Gone was the polite expression he’d worn the entire night. Instead, there was dark excitement in his eyes.
“Four,” he whispered at me tauntingly, a demented laugh escaping his lips as I backed away from him. I sucked in a shattered breath and whipped around, my body responding instinctively.
“Five,” he hummed behind me, sounding more than a little disturbing, as I ran into the forest, into the dark, to find somewhere to hide. Fear made my feet take flight as he continued to count. I couldn’t hear him anymore, but I kept on counting in my head, my body icing over as I made it to ten.
He was coming.
I dared a look behind me, seeing nothing but darkness. It was frighteningly quiet around me. The only sounds were my feet, crunching over the dead foliage and my ragged breaths. I changed direction, hoping it would throw him off, moving slower to avoid making too much noise. I ducked behind a large tree. With my hand clamped over my mouth, I tried not to make a sound as I gasped for air. I listened for him, for footsteps, but nothing. Then, “Ready or not… I’m coming for you,” he sang out into the night, his accompanying laughter sounding like something from a horror movie. Electricity ran through my body, as fear and excitement gripped me. The sound came from my right, so I darted in the opposite direction, running as fast as my legs could go. After a while I ducked behind a tree again, listening. A twig snapped, making my heart thunder in my throat.
“Come out, come out, little witch,” he called out again, so close. Was he tracking me? I dared a peek from behind the tree. He was standing with his feet wide, head tilted to the side, listening. I shuddered. Gods, he was terrifying. He took a step forward. Then another, and another. I had to move around the tree, or he would see me. Holding my breath, I carefullyplaced one foot after the other and slinked around the trunk as silently as I could. I stopped and careened my neck around the tree to see if I could catch a glimpse of him, to know where he was, but he was gone.
I screamed as he grabbed me, yanking me backwards, but the sound was muffled, by his hand wrapped tightly around my mouth. He laughed viciously, delighting in my terrified scream. “Found you,” he whispered lowly in my ear. I struggled to get free, but he had me pinned against him.
He had me. Whatever this game was, he’d won. I went still in his arms, accepting my fate.
“That’s a good girl. No point in struggling.” He pressed his nose against my neck and inhaled audibly, his breath coming out in a crazed moan. He lowered the hand he had clasped over my mouth to my neck, and wrapped his fingers tightly around it, cutting off my oxygen. I panicked, clawing at his hand while he chuckled in my ear. When my lungs were on fire, he released me slightly and I gasped for air. My body trembled against him.
“If you were mine, Princess, I’d fuck you senseless right now.”
A shudder rippled through me, settling between my thighs. His hand tightened around my neck again, as he bit at my earlobe. Just as I thought I was about to pass out, he released me again. My legs gave way beneath me, but Grayson held me up, laughing, and I wasn’t sure if it was from the sudden oxygen, or the pure pleasure I felt. I liked it, I realised. I liked what he was doing to me. I was at his mercy, completely vulnerable to him, and I loved how it felt.
He pressed me harder into him, and I felt the swell in his jeans, pressing into the small of my back. I moaned in delight, and attempted to reachbetween us to touch him, but he caught my wrist and tightened his hand around my neck again.
“Behave,” he warned, before allowing me air again.
I panted, unable to catch my breath, as Grayson’s hand roamed across the skin on my stomach.
“Such soft skin. Sometimes I wonder what the inside of you would feel like. Ever had your hand in someone’s abdomen? Felt their guts move against your fingers?” He rasped in a seductive tone against my ear. Andfuck, it did crazy things to me. Fear and lust swirled together in my stomach, acting like they belonged together, two sides of a coin. I clamped my eyes shut, trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with me. “I wouldloveto wrap my hand around your beating heart and rip it from your chest. To keep with me forever.” His hand drifted lower and lower as the dark thoughts he shared with me made my insides warm. My body giving in to the mess of feelings Grayson had awoken in me, accepting them. I could question how fucked up this was later. Now, I only wanted to give in to his madness andfeel. I moaned and buckled my hips in an attempt to get his hand closer to where I needed it so badly.
He laughed in my ear, sending goosebumps rippling over my skin. “So demanding.”
His hand moved farther away, and I caught it, holding it in place. He couldn’t stop now. “Grayson,” I panted, my voice raspy and shamefully needy.
He pushed my face up harshly to his. “Then beg,” he growled.
I bit my lip hard, watching his eyes in the moonlight. His jaw was set in determination, but I saw the lust cloud his eyes as he stared back at me. I didn’t react fast enough, so he retracted his hand even more.
“Please,” I heard my own voice say, barely audible.
Grayson arched a brow at me. It wasn’t enough.
“Please touch me, Grayson.” My cheeks were red with embarrassment. Never had I begged someone for this. Especially not someone who just confessed that he had those hands in someone’s stomach before.
I had lost my mind.
But as he stared at me, I realised what he was doing. I might have been completely at his mercy and he a deranged maniac, but he was making sure I got to choose whether or not I wanted this. In thesexiestfucking way. My knees threatened to buckle again.
Grayson pushed his warm, calloused hand into my pants, and oh so slowly, traced a finger across my folds. I whimpered and let my head roll back, resting it on his chest.
“Shit, Ava,” he breathed as he felt the slickness between my thighs. “Thisis how you react to my depravity?” he questioned breathlessly.
I wasn’t able to explain it myself. Everything he was went against my very nature, but I was aching and throbbing for more of him. I bucked against his hand, and he rewarded me by swirling a finger around my clit. I inhaled a ragged breath, unable to handle the pleasure that pulsed through my body with each movement of his fingers. His mouth and teeth were on my neck, teasing, tasting. His other hand unzipped my jacket and roughly tugged down my shirt and bra, exposing my breasts to the cold night air.He swore as I arched, pressing my breast into his hand, feverishly craving his touch.
“You’re fucking exquisite,” he rasped as he palmed by breast harshly, giving me the pressure I so desperately needed. Without warning, he plunged a finger into me.
