“You know what happens when you challenge me. Do it again and you’ll be next on my shit list.”
He doesn’t say anything, shaking his head as he goes around the building.
Briggs shoves me back against the brick wall, causing my head to bang against it.
“You’re hurting me!” I yell, then wish I hadn’t, because he probably gets off on hurting people.
“Shut the fuck up and listen.” Briggs leans down to me, his hands on my arms, holding me in place. “It’s only been one day and look what I’ve done. You really want to continue this?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say, wanting him to admit it. “What did you do?”
“Don’t play stupid. You know what I did.”
“Put drugs in my locker? Made us partners in Chem lab? Big deal.” I stare back at him, trying my best to hide my fear. “What else you got?”
“Your grad form disappearing?” He laughs a little. “I even hid the forms so the old lady in the office would take forever to find them.”
“Yeah? So? You got what you wanted. Here I am. Now what?”
I wish I hadn’t asked. I don’t want the answer. Briggs is capable of most anything.
Briggs lowers his face to mine. “What’s it going to be? Do what I asked or find out what’s next? And trust me when I say today was nothing. On a scale of one to ten, today was barely a one.”
My chest rises and falls as I struggle to breathe, my heart pounding against my chest. And there’s this odd tingling sensation moving through me. My body’s never reacted to fear like this. It’s almost like I’m turned on, but that would be sick, and twisted, and just... wrong.
Briggs either senses what I’m feeling or it’s just part of his game because next thing I know, his mouth is by my ear, his warm breath causing a shiver to go down my spine.
“What’s your answer?” he asks in a low, deep voice.
“Briggs, stop. Don’t do this.”
“Do what?” he asks, his lips brushing over my ear. “What do you think I’m going to do to you?”
“I don’t know, but I need you to stop.” I hear my voice shaking, but I’m not sure if it’s from fear or from the sensations coursing through my body. Sensations I should not be feeling right now.
“You want me to stop?” He raises my arms above my head, his giant hand grasping both my wrists.
“What are you doing?” I sink back against the wall and look up at my hands. “Let me go.”
“Ella.” He waits for me to look at him. “Do you want me to stop?”
“Yes,” I mutter.
“Then do as I asked. Fail a test. Miss an assignment.”
“I can’t.” I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to make these feelings go away because what I’m feeling right now, for Briggs, is so damn wrong.
“Why?” His voice is soft, but still in that deep, powerful tone that reverberates through me as he talks in my ear. “Why can’t you do this, Ella? It’s one little thing. Like you said, it means nothing.”
“But it does. To me. I worked my ass off to get this and I’m not giving it up.”
He gets quiet, and I keep my eyes closed, not wanting to look at him, not wanting to know what’s next.
I suck in a breath when I feel his hand on my thigh. It’s a light touch, not his usual harsh grab. He slowly moves his hand up, taking the knit fabric of my dress with it. More sensations fill my body, making me want to slap myself for feeling them. What the hell is wrong with me?
“Is that your answer?” he asks, his hand stopping at the top of my thigh.
I open my eyes and see him looking back at me. “Briggs, please. Don’t do this. This isn’t you. You’ve done a lot of bad stuff to me, but this... this is so much worse. And it’s not you. I know deep down, it’s not.”
