Page 152 of Arrow

“There’s blood on your wrist.”

It was almost a caress, the way he said it. I glanced down. I had licked Harley’s bite clean but missed the trail along my radius.

“Is it mine?” I let my voice go teasing, a little fake-brave.

“Not unless you’ve been securing your own restraints,” Arrow said, still not facing me. “Or fucking girls who use knives for dessert.”

Then, I saw the edge in his eyes. Not rage, not jealousy, but something sharper. I’d never truly seen pure emotion on his face, only performance. Now the mask slashed open, every motion bare, electrified to the limit of what a man could survive.

“I saw the video. Every second of it.”

My heart hammered against my ribs. “And?”

“And I watched another woman make you come while a room full of strangers cheered.” His thumb brushed my bottom lip, still swollen from Harley’s kisses. “Did you think of me while she fucked you?”

I swallowed hard. “Yes.”

His eyes flashed with something dangerous. “Liar.”

“I thought about how you’d react,” I admitted. “I thought about you watching me.”

“You wanted me to see?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

I met his gaze unflinchingly. “Because you were with another woman tonight.”

A muscle in his jaw twitched. “Business, malen’kaya gadyuka.⁠* Just business.”

“Bullshit,” I hissed. “I’ve seen the pictures. The way she touched you. The way you smiled at her.”

“Is that what this was? Revenge?” Before I could decide whether to flinch or fight, he had me pressed to the wall, a forearm pinning my shoulder blades flat. His other hand found my chin, yanking it sideways with a precision that flared every battered nerve. He pressed his mouth to the shell of my ear and whispered, “You wanted an audience, did you?”

My ribs fluttered. I tried to be indifferent, but my pulse gave me away. I was a rabbit caught in a snare, and both of us knew it.

“Maybe I did,” I lied, and Arrow smiled.

“You didn’t.” His voice was like gravel, rough and sharp. “You just wanted me to hurt.”

My body betrayed me, already responding to his proximity despite everything I’d done to prove I didn’t need him. I could feel my pulse quickening, my skin heating where he touched me. The wall was cold against my back, but Arrow was burning hot against my front.

“Did it work?” I asked, my voice steadier than I felt.

His laugh was mirthless. “What do you think?”

He spun me around so fast my head knocked against the wall. I gasped as he pinned me there, one hand tangled in my hair, the other sliding down to grip my hip hard enough to bruise. His face was inches from mine, his eyes dark with something that looked like rage but smelled like want.

“You let her touch you,” he growled. “You let her make you come. In public.”

I tilted my chin up. “And you let Svetlana whisper in your ear. You let her press her body against yours. You smiled at her.”

“It wasn’t the same.”

“Wasn’t it?” I challenged. “You were with your ex. The woman you used to fuck before our little arrangement. What was I supposed to think?”

Arrow’s grip tightened in my hair, pulling my head back to expose my throat. “You were supposed to trust me.”