“But you kind of implied you wanted to do other things.”
“And it got you so worked up you had to get drunk to get out of it.” He laughed now, and I smacked him.
“Rook, I did not,” I hissed. “I mean, I didn’t do it to get out of it.”
“It’s alright. You were having too much fun being a rebel. What are you doing later?” he asked.
“Tonight? I have a date,” I said. It was a lie, and one I didn’t know why I was telling him, but part of me wanted to see his reaction. Maybe it would help me figure out what he wanted from me. If this all revolved around sleeping together, or more.
His scowl made me laugh, and I wondered what terrible things were on his mind. I nearly scolded myself for how giddy it made me that I knew he was thinking dark, dangerous things all because I would be going out with someone else.
“With who?”
“None of your business.”
He grabbed the back of my neck, dragging me closer. “You are always coming around here being a brat,” he said with a shake of his head.“It absolutely is my business. What the fuck do you think you are doing going on a date with someone?”
“I’m a free woman.”
I wanted to pull away, but there was a part of me, a dark and twisted part, that liked his possessiveness. I wanted to be wanted, to beneededby someone, and Rook continued to give that to me. It was a dangerous game, one that I knew I couldn’t win, but here I was still playing.
“Maybe you shouldn’t be,” he growled. One arm circled my waist, picking me up just enough that my toes could barely touch the ground as he dragged me towards the garages in the back.
Fear involuntarily bubbled in my throat. I knew Rook could be violent. I knew he could hurt others, kill them, and I had let myself get comfortable with that. I had let my guard down and then walked right into his hands. But he had taken care of me all night. His touch had been gentle, and him being with me had been a comfort. I didn’t think he would hurt me, but now he was dragging me down the hall like he wanted to.
His grip was firm on my waist. The other still wrapped around my neck. His fingers dug into me, and for the first time in days, I wondered again if I had misjudged him. It was easy to hide who you truly were for the days we hung out. It’s not like he had let me into his life at all.
The possibilities of what he could do, would willingly do, twisted my gut with dread and excitement.
We made it to the office before he said a word.
“Lie down,” he ordered, pushing things across the desk.
“Why? What are you going to do?”
That sinister grin came over his face, the one I knew from the first night we met, and my heart raced.
“Lie down, Regan.”
I listened, too scared to find out what would happen if I didn’t.
He pulled out a black marker before he pulled my shirt up and my leggings down. “I’ll be nice and give you this one for now,” he said, moving my head back down when I tried to watch.“But if you wash this off before your date, the next one will be permanent.”
He leaned down over me, the marker pulling against my skin as he wrote on my lower stomach. It almost tickled, but the hard push of the tip made me hold my breath.
“That’s what you are doing?” I yelled, looking down at his name scrawled across my lower stomach. My head fell back against the desk, and I let out a heavy breath. “Dammit, Rook, I thought you were about to cut me open or something.”
He laughed and jumped up onto the desk, coming down over me. “Why would I kill you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe this is your murder room or something.”
“This would be a pretty shitty murder room. There are papers, my bike, the desks. Who would clean it up?”
“All this because I had a date?”
“No, all of this because I told you that you are mine, and you didn’t listen.”
“So I’m supposed to go out with him, but apparently, not get undressed in front of him?”
