I don’t know why I’m the one who ends up breaking the silence. Or why I break it in the way I do.
“Are you going to… uhm… punish me now?”
He chuckles against the wall, a bitter sort of sound, before turning slowly around. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Little pain slut?”
Asshole!“I was just… wondering.”
“No, Lia. I don’t punish when I’m angry.”
“Oh.” Weird. “Why not?”
“Because I need to be able to stop. You need to be able to use a safe word, and I need to be able to stop.”
“A safe word?” I arch an eyebrow. “That doesn’t sound like much of a punishment to me.”
Shaking his head, he tosses me his leather jacket, and Ihurriedly wriggle into it, thankful to not be naked anymore. Then he grabs my wrist and pulls me up. “Let’s go to the car.”
“Logan!”
He’s back to dragging me, and I scramble after him, trying not to land on my ass again, because I donotwant more carpet burn.
“Logan! Wait! Why are you angry?”
“Why do you fuckingthink?”
“Because I bit you?” I gasp with the effort of forcing out the words that any sane person would avoid under these circumstances. “You’re angry about a tiny little bite? Did Ihurtyou, Logan? Hmm?”
I try to put as much of a taunting quality in my voice as he had in his, but the minute he turns around, facing me, I regret it.
“Uhm… fuck. Sorry. Never… never mind.”
I take a few steps backward, tripping over one of the glass bottles that litter the ground. I nearly fall on my ass again, but he grabs at the front of my jacket, and keeps me suspended in mid-air.
“That can’t be… that can’t be good for the jacket, Logan,” I stammer, struggling to get out of his hold. “You should probably… let me… let me up…”
Don’t show him you’re scared. Don’t show him you’re scared!
It’s not just him, but my fear of heights that has me shaking. I know I’m not very far up from the ground, but something about being suspended over even a few feet of nothingness, arched backward in this unnatural position, makes me queasy.
Of course, it doesn’t help that there’s a homicidal-looking guy gripping the front of my jacket.
He stares at me for a long time, slowly bending toward me, his eyes full of dangerous heat. There’s a long pause, punctuated only by my own labored breathing.
Then he whispers, “Yes, Lia. Yes, you hurt me.”
13
Logan
“Oh, aren’t we staying here?”
Everest looks at me in surprise as I slide behind the steering wheel, after having shoved Lia into the passenger seat.
“No.”
“What the hell were you guys doing then? I’ve been waiting for you for nearly an hour. Aurora’s getting really fussy…”
“Shut up.”
