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“Come all over my fingers, show me how tortured you are.” I grind my hips, closing my eyes, dreaming it’s another man touching me.

A man with golden eyes, hidden behind a deep, heavy mask. I also dream about splattering Gabe’s brains out. My eyes snap open at the image…Why would I think that?

Gabe’s voice ruins my fantasy. “Relax into it, baby. The sooner you do, the easier this will all be.”

I push out the murderous thought and dream about the pain. My pussy clenches around Gabe’s fingers, and I arch my hips, pressing my chest out, and let the darkness take me. Gabe pulls the rest of my dress up, so my bra is showing, pulling down the wire, so my left tit is hanging out. His mouth finds mine, and I nip at his bottom lip.

“Fuck,” he murmurs. “Layla, you’re killing me. I don’t think I can wait until after dinner to fuck you. These buyers are going to eat you up.”

I’m close…so close to climaxing until a vibration from my purse pulls me back to reality. My phone is ringing, and the limo comes to a stop.

We are at the venue…thank fucking god.

My heart is racing as Gabe presses his slimy tongue in my mouth, ignoring the fact we are here and there is a giant tent full of people waiting for us. My phone continues to ring, and I shift my body to answer it.

“Ignore it,” he growls, grabbing my hand and putting it on the bulge in his pants.

I grab the phone from my purse, remembering Sarah Crawley’s warning to be careful. Fucking Gabe right now is not being careful. I can’t let this happen. “I need to answer this,” I tell him, my chest heaving.

He sneers and leans back onto the seat, his erection stiff and ever so present under his pants, reminding me there is no getting away from him tonight.

The phone lights up from a text from an unknown number.

Unknown Number: Get him off you or I’ll blow his brains out.

My eyebrows crinkle. My eyesight is blurry, so I have to read it a couple times to truly digest the words.

Unknown Number: Don’t test me, wildling.

The contents of my stomach lurch to my throat.

Wildling…

I glance up at Gabe, whose eyes are piercing me. His lips are slightly curled. “Everything okay?” He slides his hand up my leg again.

I’ve had reporters calling me out of the blue. Some freak must have gotten my number somehow. “Yeah, everything’s fine.” I put my phone away and glance outside. “Let’s get this over with.”

A large tent covers the red carpet, and photographers are all over the place, flashing their cameras. Beyond the tent, it’s rainy and dark, but someone seems to have a clear view inside this limo even with tinted windows. Whoever is calling me must be here somewhere.

Gabe composes himself and gestures for me to go first by flicking his hand. He pulls out a small white vial and does a quick snort of something, while I adjust my dress and pull my panties back into place and crawl out ahead of him. His hand rests low on my back while photographers’ snap photos of us. I instantly regret taking whatever he gave me earlier to help me relax. It’s a circus here. Someone must have leaked that I was coming. My phone buzzes again. I shouldn’t check it, but I do. It’s the same unknown number as before, except this time it’s ringing.

Gabe brushes his hands through his greasy hair, adjusting himself as people call out my name, then he leans into me, squeezing my side harder than necessary. “Tell whoever that is, you’re busy.”

A gust of wind and a red dot appears on his forehead. I pause mid-step⁠—

“Layla, what are you doing? Let’s go inside,” Gabe grumbles.

I ignore him and walk to the side of the carpet, away from the chaos. My fingers tremble as I answer. “Hello?”

“Do you see the red dot on his forehead?” says a voice I recognize. A deep, sexy voice I only hear in my dreams.

“Who is this?”

“You know who this is, wildling.”

My stomach erupts with explosions, and flashes of him come crashing back. The nickname echoes in my head, as if it’s part of my ethos. It was his pet name for me…even if it was mocking me, and I liked it.

“Layla…I’m waiting,” Gabe growls. I suppress my annoyance and continue to ignore him. The red dot is still on his forehead. I frantically scan the tent, aware of every eye on me as I stand frozen in place. Does anyone else see this?