“But you don’t have to hurt anyone. You say that like it’s so inevitable when it isn’t.”
“But it is. We can’t both have her. Someone has to lose, and it won’t be me.”
She glares up at me. “That won’t work on me, Dare.”
I cock my head curiously.
“Aubrey may have believed you when you played at jealousy, but I don’t. I’ve watched from the sidelines while you were with Anae. You occasionally tossed out comments to make her feel special, like Milk-Bones to an eager pet after they performed well for you, but you’ve never been jealous. You said it yourself five seconds go—you know you’re not going to lose her. You can’t be jealous if you’re not afraid of losing someone, that’s not how it works. What is much easier for me to believe is that you know if you ask Aubrey to stop hanging out with ‘the competition’ for the good of your relationship, you don’t come off sounding as controlling as telling her she can’t have a friend she likes just because you don’t particularly like her.”
I smile. “See, that right there.” I point at her. “That’s why you can’t be her friend. But, at the end of the day, my reasons don’t matter. Maybe I am a manipulative bastard who knows how to get what I want. Maybe I just don’t fucking like how much work I have to put in to pull her back in every time she sees you. Maybe I saw you cuddling my girlfriend who called you instead of me to pick her up and I didn't fucking like it.”
Hannah shakes her head like I’m unbelievable. “Yeah, she didn’t want to call you after you kidnapped and traumatized her. What a fucking shock, Dare. This is why she needs me. When you do crazy shit, I can be there to help pick up the pieces.”
“Everything Aubrey needs, I will give her.”
“No, you won’t. You can’t. You’re not equipped for it.” She shakes her head, that pleading look in her eyes again like she’s just so desperate for me to understand. “If you’re all she has, you’ll lose pieces of her along the way.”
“Then she doesn’t need those pieces,” I state simply.
“Are you honestly this selfish?”
“You can’t really be surprised.”
She shakes her head, looking down for a moment. When her gaze returns to mine, she tries one more time. “Please, Dare. I am literally begging you.”
I touch her chin, keeping her gaze on me. “No.” I move my hand, sliding it to the side of her neck. She stiffens, probably recalling the last time I had my fingers around her throat, but I don’t let her look away. “I’ve laid all the necessary groundwork on Aubrey’s end. I’ve been much clearer with you. Now, all that needs to happen is that you go away and let us live happily ever after.”
“And if I don’t?” she whispers.
My hand closes around her throat. “Then I stop being nice, and this war gets bloody.”
I feel her throat work beneath my palm as she swallows.
“Maybe that’s what you want,” I murmur, my grip tightening.
Her hands fly to my wrist.
“You wanted my attention. Now, you have it.”
I see the flash of fear cross her face. “No. No, I didn’t want your attention, I wanted—”
“Sh, it’s okay. You can admit it. It’s just the two of us.”
I lean closer and I swear she nearly bursts into fucking tears. “Please, stop,” she whispers.
“I don’t think you really want that.” I lean down so my mouth is close enough for her to feel my breath on her lips when I whisper, “Do you have a little crush, Hannah?”
“You’re sick,” she hisses.
I smile, stroking her neck with my thumb while still holding on tight. “I can make you sick, too.”
“Get your hands off me. You don’t want to fuck me, you just want to scare me,” she says, fighting the fear and trying to get back to seeing me clearly. A special talent of hers, and not one I can let her get a firm grip on right now, so I lean close and smell her hair. I hear her shuddering breath, a nearly silent squeak of horror as she listens to me breathe her in, my body pressed close so she can feel my heat.
“Are you sure?” I whisper. “You might think I’m bluffing, but how far are you willing to go to find out? Because, Hannah?” I look down at her. “I don’t blink.”
She looks up at me like I’m breaking her poor little heart again. Maybe I am.
She’s so upset, so angry and wounded knowing there’s not a shot in hell she’ll win a game like this. Tears begin to glisten in her big blue eyes.
“There’s more than one way to lose someone, you know.”
My eyes narrow.
She swallows, still with my hand wrapped around her throat. “Maybe you think you can’t lose her because you won’t let her leave, but you’re wrong. You can make her stop loving you. Maybe you can keep her as a prisoner after that, but you can only force her body to stay. You can’t force her heart.”