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I blink the water from my eyes and stare at him through the downpour. For once, I’m at a loss for words.
His stare latches onto mine, burning hotter as it rolls over my soaked ponytail and down the length of my plastered T-shirt. He pauses at my breasts, running a hungry eye over my nipples.
“Get on your knees.”
My throat tightens. “What?”
He wraps his bloody fist around the base of his cock. It grows harder the longer I stare at it. “You brought me to my knees; now it’s your turn.”
I’m frozen, and not just because I’m drowning in a constant stream of ice water.
I don’t know this man. He isn’t the one who swoops in to steal a bite of my burger, or the one that kisses every mark he leaves on my body.
I don’t know him, and I don’t like being trapped between him and the cold shower wall pressing against my spine.
He takes a step forward and violence flashes in my veins. For a split second, the tiles are brickwork, the shower’s an alleyway, and he’s a man hell-bent on revenge. My hand shoots out and slaps him across the face,hard.
Rafe doesn’t flinch. “That all you got?” he says lazily.
So I slap him again. And again when his indifference doesn’t waiver. Anger roaring in my ears, I curl my hand into a fist, but as I draw it back, he ducks and, in one swift movement, sweeps me off my feet and lifts me over his shoulder.
Blood-soaked tiles, moon-streaked carpets. They pass in a breathless blur, until a sudden blast of ice water flash-freezes my skin.
It’s a million degrees colder than the shower stream. I gasp from the shock of it and instantly struggle to escape Rafe’s grip, but it’s unrelenting, and all I can do is scream as the carpet melts into the decking. He lowers me until wet metal touches the backs of my thighs and the wind lashes my hair.
There’s no time to gather my bearings because I’m falling backward. The sensation slows my perception of time, dragging my heart to my stomach, but it’s over as quickly as it began, because Rafe’s hand shoots out and grips me by the throat.
Wheezing, I sweep a panicked glance over my surroundings. I’m balancing on the railing that separates the bow from the raging ocean below. The only thing stopping me from falling into the abyss is the battered hand choking the life out of me.
I’ve always told myself I’ll stare death in the face when the time comes, not curl up into a ball like my father. One option I never considered was what I’m doing now; flailing my arms and legs, clawing at his inked forearm and screaming for mercy.
“Please!” By his blank expression, I don’t think he can hear me over the wind, so I scream it louder.
My stomach jumps to my throat when he takes a step forward, pressing his drenched forehead against mine. He smells like whiskey and looks like a man who has my entire life in his hands. Fuck, he had it anyway, long before he decided to hold me over the edge of a railing.
“If I throw you overboard, maybe this will all go away,” he growls. “Maybe I’ll get my luck back.”
I’m so cold I feel sick. So scared my heartbeat threatens to crack my ribs.
“You won’t!”I cry.
His hand slips around to the nape of my neck. I arch my back and press my body into his, feeling his hot, bitter laugh skitter down my throat. “I know I won’t. Can’t seem to hurt a fucking hair on your head, let alone end your life.” His squeezes, coasting his lips up to the hollow behind my ear. “You think I haven’t already tried, Queenie? I want to snuff the life out in you so badly, but if I do, it’ll go out inside me too.”
Numbness seeps into my skin and then freezes everything underneath it. I realize he thinks I meant he won’t kill me, not that he won’t get his luck back. It’s a crack in his demonic facade, and I dig my claws in.
“Please,” I whisper against his forehead. “I’m cold. We can talk about this inside. We can—”
He pulls back so suddenly my life flashes before my eyes. I grab onto his slippery bicep, my stomach muscles aching from where I’m trying to keep myself upright.
“I didn’t choose love!” he roars into the wind, eyes black and agitated. “I chose the King of Diamonds! I didn’t choose you!”
His anger sparks my own to life, and suddenly, I forget this man could end my life with a slip of a fingertip. “And I didn’t either, yet here I am, stuck in your fucking trap! Stuck so deep I fear I’ll never get out!”
His breathing slows, his eyes sharpening with clarity. I take advantage of it, putting my hand around his throat too.
We stare at each other. Him naked and bloody, me soaking wet and shivering.
We look nothing like the King of Diamonds and The Queen of Hearts.
