“You’re lying.”

“He took a picture of me with a blood-covered knife to the one girl’s throat.”

“Liar.”

“He said he was gonna send it to you if I didn’t do as I was told. And then you’d come take care of me for him. And isn’t that funny? That you threaten to kill Brett if I don’t do what you say? You and Garrett are more alike than you think, Case. You just can’t bring yourself to admit it.”

There is a brief moment of silence and during these microseconds, I tell myself I didn’t actually say that.

Case’s fist crashes against my head, dragging me far away from that delusional wish. I see the blackness before he even starts squeezing my throat. I grab at him, buck my back and try to get him off me, cursing myself for being in such a submissive position in the first place. He flips me over, but instead of more blows, he gets up, spreads my legs and eases himself between them.

I hold my breath.

He licks me. He licks and kisses each of the poke marks he made on my upper thighs with his knife. “Did that hurt?” he asks.

“What do you think?”

“I think you liked it. I think you wanted more.” He grins at me between my legs. “I think you want me to do more right now.”

He does more. His mouth reaches higher, his hands gripping my legs a little bit tighter as his head moves towards my pussy.

I don’t move.

He looks up as he hikes my knees up to my face and sweeps his tongue across my folds. His lips part and then he sucks my clit into his mouth. Not hard and demanding, but with just the right amount of swirling pressure to make me moan out and arch my back. No one has ever licked me there before.

He slips in a finger and teases me in two ways now. This feels so good, I have to close my eyes to block him out.

“You still wanna fight me, wildcat? You still want to have that conversation?”

But I don’t. I said too much. So I bite my lip and tip my head back, enjoying it.

“You got it all wrong, Syd.” I hate that he calls me that. “I already told you. The hard fuck is hard on you because I push your limits. Not because I fuck you hard.”

“So push me,” I whisper. “Throw me over the edge of the cliff, Case. And if you want to kill me in the process, well, I’d love for my end to be filled with so much irony.”

He never responds. Or he does respond, but not with words. The time for talking is over.

He gets up and stands next to the bed. I watch the muscles in his arms move as he drops his pants and steps out of them, giving them a swift kick across the floor.

I never even try to get away. It’s just not in my nature. I’ve been waiting for this moment. And I even take it one step further and lift both arms over my head and grab hold of the rusted iron headboard.

The crooked smile on his face says this was a good move.

We are players. We are playing.

I track his body, watching the fluid moment of what makes him so dangerous, as he walks to the foot of the bed, grabs my ankles, and pulls me so hard my shoulders cry out in pain before I have the good sense to let go of the headboard.

My body is twirled around and positioned until my head is hanging off the end of the mattress. His cock is right in front of my face, but I meet his gaze. His amber eyes are glowing from the dying firelight that leaks in from the other room.

I wait for the questions to start. He must have so many.

But he is silent as he eases his cock into my mouth. It slips to the back of my throat and my hands are instinctively there, telling him to stop.

“Shhh,” he says, reminding me I have no say in the gentlest of ways. He takes each of my hands in his and laces our fingers together, giving me a squeeze of encouragement as he pushes past my limit.

I gag, but breathe through it the way Garrett taught me. And that was my yes.

He fucks my mouth until I am choking on my own spit. But instead of withdrawing when I feel like I will drown on my own saliva, he simply turns my head to the side and lets it fall out of my mouth.

His hands never let go of mine. I never try to stop him again.

He keeps going, my head bobbing back and forth against the side of the mattress until I’m dizzy. And then he releases down my throat and holds me down with my own hands until I swallow.

Only then does he release me and back away, never taking his eyes off mine.

I hold that stare and wait for a signal like Garrett used to give.

“I’m waiting, bobcat,” he says.

I cringe at the name. It’s so degrading. But I’m running on instincts now. The training has taken over and I’m powerless to stop it, even if I wanted to. And I don’t. So, “More, please,” is my response.

“More what?”

“Take it all, Case. You told me eight years ago you owned me. So take it. Take me. Take me the way you promised when you left me behind to die.”

His hands are under my shoulders, urging me to sit up. I comply. Because that’s my job here tonight. And then he grabs my hair and turns me around so my head is at the top of the bed once more. I grab the rusty rails and open my legs, inviting him in.

He slaps my tit, then my face, holding it in a tight squeeze. So hard I bite my tongue and taste blood. “Whore,” he whispers.

“Your whore,” I whisper back.

“Don’t fucking forget it.”

“It’s my purpose in life, Case.”

He slaps my face again, but I like the sting. I like the sting and I like the way his cock drags across my clit now that he’s on top of me.

His tip pushes against my pussy and even though I’m scared out of my mind, I ache for it. He thrusts inside me and I grip the rails harder. I close my eyes, but another slap brings me back to attention. He pumps inside of me, his huge cock stretching me so wide the tears fall down my face.

But then he pauses long enough to lie down next to me and turn me on my side. His hand eases down to my clit and he begins to strum as he fucks me. He plays me like the guitar. And I play him back—like a player.

I swell with feelings. I have never felt such emotion. Such hate and love. Such pain and pleasure.

I come like that. A conflict of emotions. A paradox. Simultaneously filled up and empty at the same time.

He pulls out and comes with me, once again shooting hot semen across my back in long squirts.

He rolls over, breathing heavier than I am. I turn to watch his reaction. His revelation, if you will. And I get something I never expected. A smile. “It’s not a hard fuck if it’s easy, Syd.”

“I’m a good little actress, Case. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” My eyes dart down to his cock, still erect, even after coming twice in the span of twenty minutes.

I look up, quick enough to catch his gaze dropping to where mine went. There’s a hint of confusion on his face as he sees the proof of what I told him.

“What the fuck?” He looks up from the blood covering his dick and finds my face. “What the fuck?”

“I told you,” I say in a hushed voice. The voice of trickery and lies. The voice of abuse and pain. The voice of the hush. “Garrett saved me for you, Case. He said to tell you to consider me a gift. For making you kill that girl.” I don’t want to add the rest. But I do anyway. I’ve practiced it enough times for it to roll off my tongue like water. “For making you kill her before you got a chance to fuck the virgin out of her.”

He’s quick to respond, I’ll give him that. Because he’s got that syringe out of the bedside table faster than I can turn away. He shoots it into my arm as I gaze up into his eyes. “Don’t feel bad,” I say as the sting of the drugs shoots through my muscle. “It was always you, Case.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“My dream guy. The one who taught me how to save myself. The one who came back after you left me there to die. He was always you.”