Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 147545 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147545 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
“Come on, Cassie.” He shakes his head, looking away from me. Then he looks back. “You know I couldn’t tell you what I was going to do.”
“Or what you did,” I state, my heart thumping as I hold his icy gaze. “After you did it, you came back to that motel room, and you fucked me. Don’t tell me that wasn’t calculated.”
His jaw tightens. Of course it was.
“How did you think I would feel about that today?” I ask. “Or was that not a consideration?”
“I considered it.”
“Of course you did. And did you think I would be happy knowing that the first time we really had sex, you had my ex-boyfriend’s blood all over your hands?”
He shrugs indolently. “I showered first.”
I glare at him. “This isn’t a joke, Tor. You took the life of someone I loved.”
Rather than look a damn bit sorry, he wraps his hand around my throat and pushes me back against the door. “Then we’re even.”
My breath catches, my heart rate kicking up as his grip tightens—not to hurt, just to threaten.
“Don’t get me wrong. Killing my brother is the most interesting thing you’ve ever done, and I understand why you did it, but I loved him. He was my twin brother, which is inarguably a closer bond than you had with your first boyfriend. I still chose you. As soon as I saw the gun in your hand and registered what happened, I knew I had to make a choice and stick with it. I didn’t even try to help him—I helped you instead. Because there was no doing both. If he lived, you went to prison. I chose you over my blood, and you have had my undivided loyalty ever since, but I expect your loyalty in return. You did good today, but I don’t love this wavering. You loved Russell once, and that’s okay. It was a long time ago. But if you’re honest with yourself, you know why he had to die. Russell was not loyal to you. He was a danger to us both, and you know it. I know this isn’t what you wanted, but it was the obvious solution to our problem. And I can accept that you have complicated feelings about it, but make no mistake, Cassie.” His grip tightens, and he leans in.
I swallow, looking up at him.
“I own your loyalty. I paid for it in blood.”
I swallow again, feeling the tightness of his grip on my throat as I do. “I didn’t ask you to do that,” I whisper roughly.
“I know. You didn’t ask me to do any of this. But you needed me to.”
“No. I could have just… taken the consequences. Told the truth.”
His thumb caresses the side of my throat. “There were consequences either way. If you want a jailor, you can have one.” He leans closer, kissing the curve of my jaw, but the kiss feels like a brand, a taunt. His voice is low and threatening as he murmurs, “Do you want to go to war with me, Cassie? You’ve seen how I fight. Don’t you think it’s better to be on the same side?”
“Would you hurt me?”
“Yes. But I wouldn’t kill you.”
He says that like it’s any kind of reassurance, and I would laugh if I could breathe.
He’s a fucking psycho.
My heart hammers in my chest, and the realization that I may be in deeper than I want to be settles around me.
“Let me go.” I grab his hand and try to pull it away from my throat.
His hand doesn’t budge. “I don’t want to fight,” he tells me. “I just need to know that I can trust you. There’s a lot on the line right now.”
“I won’t tell on you,” I say, panic rising as I pull harder at his wrist, and his grip only tightens. “Please, let go.”
His grip eases, but it’s not because of my pulling. It’s because he’s granting my request.
He brings his other hand up to caress the side of my face, but that on top of his grip on my throat—I feel completely caged in. “I’m sorry if you’re hurting,” he says. “I knew you wouldn’t be happy, but if I’m being honest, I thought deep down you knew I’d do anything for you.”
He’s crazy if he can think that while he’s threatening and choking me. “Then let me go.”
“Not that,” he says, a bit apologetically. “Anything else, though. I’ve got you.”
“I didn’t mean…” Since this isn’t working at all, I decide to try a different tactic. Instead of resisting him and trying to pull his hand away, my touch gentles. Tentatively, I reach for his waist. I keep my eyes locked with his as I pull him closer until our bodies are touching. Instinctively, he leans closer, and his forehead meets mine. “I didn’t mean that,” I say quietly. “I just meant my throat. That’s all I meant.”