I’ve never had to work for anything really. And I’ve never had to use my body to get what I want.
But it’s just a kiss.
Nothing more.
Testing the water, I sink into the pool and its only deep enough for the water to reach up to my waist. I better get this over with. The more I stall the worse it gets. Inwardly I curse myself for ever writing down those sticky thoughts.
But I couldn’t keep them in my mind anymore. They made it hard for me to fall asleep at night and I’d be all fidgety and frustrated. And who can blame me. Something happens to a good girl when she meets a bad boy and especially when sheliveswith said bad boy who’s emitting all that testosterone, all that pent up energy. It’s not like Dacre did anything to make it any easier. When he looks at me, he doesn’t flinch, regarding me as if I’m some decorative object he wants to possess.
“Tick tock,” Pete grunts and I flinch, rubbing my hands down my arms.
“No tongue,” I say and his face drops.
“You’re pushing it.”
I’m halfway toward him. A couple of more steps and I’ll be close enough for him to kiss me but suddenly this is starting to feel so freaking wrong, I can’t go through with it. There’s something about Pete that’s seriously off putting and besides...
The thought of me kissing another man, even though he’s more of a toad than a man at the place where Dacre and I live together....where Dacre eats, where he breathes, where he sleeps...it feels like a betrayal.
I’ll just have to figure out another way to get that money.
Shaking my head at Pete, I murmur, “I’m not doing it. I changed my mind. Keep the money.”
Pete’s face screws up in distress and I twitch when he slams his palm onto the surface and droplets splash everywhere. “You’re keeping your fucking deal of the bargain,” he yaps, pointing at me. “Damn tease. Getting all half naked then acting like some coy virgin...”
Anger boils in me at his aggression but then I feel a lick of fear from the way he’s looking at me.
This doesn’t bode well...
I start backing when I catch a movement in the corner. It’s big and black like a shadow and moves fast and violently.
Dacre!
A scream erupts from my throat when he within the blink of an eye grabs a hold of Pete and pushes his face into the water. Pete struggles, arms and legs flaying in all directions and Dacre sneers, letting out curse after curse.
His face is furious, his eyes so dark they seem to have turned black and there’s a tint to his otherwise pale skin like his blood’s boiling. Pulling up Pete from the water, he snarls,
“That’s my stepsister you were fucking with!”
Pete gasps for air. “S...sorry...”
“Sorry’s not gonna cut it,” Dacre growls, pushing his face into the water again and I whimper, getting out of the pool and turn worried when Pete’s twitchy limbs begin to twitch less and less.
“I don’t want a dead man in my apartment!” I cry.
Dacre’s eyes flash to mine, his gaze so dark that I gasp and put a hand over my mouth.
Pulling his lips over his teeth, Dacre growls before yanking Pete out of the water and he throws his body to Baldur, whose jaws close around his hoodie and neck. Pete wails in panic as Baldur drags him across our marble floors, shaking his head from side to side like Pete’s prey he needs unconscious.
Pete’s eyes roll back in his head and he reaches out with his hands. “Help me!”
I whimper in response and Dacre snarls, “Don’t you dare fucking help him. You’ve done enough.”
Feeling like I’m having a hard time breathing, I wrap my arms around me and draw a sigh of small relief when Baldur drags Pete into the hallway and Dacre opens the door and kicks him out. The door shuts with a slam and I swallow.
“T...thank you,” I stutter. “You saved me.” I flinch when Dacre whips around and cower at the look in his eyes.
“What the hell were you thinking?” he bellows, flicking out with his hand and he picks up a vase full of orchids and throws it into the mirror on the other side of the wall. Glass shatters everywhere and I tremble.