I look behind me with a wiggling Bianca still firmly in my grasp and see a small, darkened alley between the side of the convenience store and the closed dry cleaner next door that will work just fine for my purposes.
Once we’re shrouded in shadow I grab onto Bianca’s hips and let her body slowly slide down mine until she’s standing on in front of me on her own two feet.
“What the hell was that, Carson? You can’t just throw me over your shoulder like some kind of fucking caveman.”
“Too bad, I already did. Now what the fuck was all that,Bianca?”
“What are you talking about?” she asks while taking a step back like she’s trying to escape me. Instead of creating distance between us I merely take a step towards her, stalking my prey.
“I’m talking about you having absolutely no regard for your personal safety,” I manage to spit out through clenched teeth. I’m not even bothering to try and hide my anger right now. I want her to see how irresponsible she was. Jesus Christ, she could have been killed several times over tonight and she’s acting like it’s no big deal.
I don’t know why the thought of losing this girl that I’ve only known a few weeks scares the shit out of me, but it does. I’m not even going to try to fight it right now. I’m too close to the edge of losing all control and I don’t like the feeling.
She takes another step backwards until her ass hits the wall behind her causing her eyes to go wide. She’s stuck while I’m still advancing on her. “Look, I know it wasn’t the smartest thing, hitting a gunman with my shoe—”
I let out a snort of derision. “You think?” I ask sarcastically.
“—but you have to admit that I saved those people.”
“You could have been shot, Bianca. You could have fucking died.”
I can hear her suck in a breath like the thought is only just occurring to her. She looks disturbed. Good. She needs to understand how unbelievably reckless she was tonight.
“Nothing bad happened,” she says significantly more subdued than she was a few moments ago but I don’t let up.
“You were lucky, you understand that, right? If you hadn’t gotten him in the eye he could have just turned and shot you dead right there in the middle of the store. And what about the absurd decision to walk home from a bar, by yourself, at one in the morning?”
“Carson, we’re not that far from home. I walk home after nights out all the time, nothing bad ever happens. I’m fine.” Her telling me she does it all the time is not helping calm me down. “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.” And that’s what finally sets me off.
I move my body right into hers so that she’s pressed firmly against the brick wall behind her. With one hand I snag her wrists and raise them over her head. My other hand settles around her throat.
“Yeah? If someone grabs you like this, can you get away, Bianca? You take care of yourself?” I mock.
“Stop manhandling me! Let me go!” She struggles against me but I just tighten my grip on her hands and put a little pressure on her throat just to show her what I could do if I wanted to. Her pulse is pounding furiously against my hand and I’m not sure if I want to choke her or fuck her up against this wall. Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll get to do both.
“If you can’t even get away from me, how do you propose you’ll get away from somebody who actually wants to hurt you, Bianca? You can’t be this reckless. If you keep acting like this, eventually your luck is going to run out.”
She’s breathing hard and I realize my chest is heaving to match hers. The look in her eyes has gone from full of defiance to glazed over. I mutter a curse when I realize she’s turned on. Her tongue darts out of her mouth and moistens her full lower lip, practically calling for me.
Fuck it.
That’s the last thought I have before my mouth goes crashing down onto hers.
Chapter Seven
Bianca
You are not getting turned on by this.
You are not getting turned on by this.
Fuck.
My wrists are pinned above my head, there’s a hand encircling my throat, and Carson looks beyond pissed.I’ve never been into hate fucking before but I guess there’s a first time for everything.
It’s not that I disagree with him. Yes, what I did wasn’t exactly safe. I didn’t think anything about walking home alone in the dark, but I really have done it before without a problem. I guess that had the unfortunate consequence of emboldening me.
I don’t even want to think about the guy with the gun. And I guess that was the problem, I didn’t think, I just acted on instinct. I was incensed when I saw him hurt that old man and it was reflexive.