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“Are you done hurling accusations?” I hiss.
She whimpers, nodding and then gasping when I tug her bra down and pinch one of her nipples. My other hand wraps around the back of her neck as my mouth drops to her ear, and she moans again.
“Good girl.”
The mood shatters. Dahlia goes cold as ice. She freezes, every muscle in her body tensing as her legs begin to shake.
“Dahlia?”
She starts to tremble. Her shoulders cave, and her eyes bug out.
“Dahlia!”
She’s fading and blacking out the same way she did that night on the sidewalk of Central Park West. But this time, I’ve seen it coming.
This time, I’m not letting whatever this is shove her back into that deep, dark hole like it did before.
“No,” I hiss, grabbing her jaw and keeping her eyes trained on me. “Don’t you disappear on me again. Don’t you dare block me out.”
Her pupils dilate and go in and out of focus over and over, her breath coming short and quick as she starts to fade again.
I need to keep her right here with me. I need to force her back into this moment. I reach down and pinch her nipple, hard. Immediately, she yelps, ripping back into the present. So I do it again, even harder. And this time, instinctively, she winds up and does exactly what I need her to do.
She hits me.
It’s just a slap to the cheek, and it doesn’t really hurt me very much. But it has the desired effect: it focuses her. She blinks, sucking in a much needed lungful of air. Her eyes bulge as she sees where she’s just hit me.
“Oh my God—”
“Again,” I snap.
Dahlia blinks, staring at me in shock.
“Hit me again.”
She shivers, shaking her head. “No, I—”
I wind my fist back, as if to hither. I’m not going to in a million years, but her reaction is immediate. In half a second, she’s slapped me again, on instinct.
“Again!!” I yell in her face. “Hit me again!”
“Deimos—”
“Hit me,good girl,” I growl, carefully watching the way her cheeks go pale at the words. “Hit me, you fucking coward,” I snarl right in her face.
Something snaps.
Suddenly, she’s screaming and lashing out, striking me in the face again and again. I know it’s not me that she’s hitting. I can tell it’s another monster from her past. I can tell by the way she loses all control, tears rolling down her face as she slaps at me over and over, until I’m seeing stars and tasting copper.
She starts to spiral, and that’s when I grab her wrists. I yank her against me, pinning her hands against my chest as I cup her face hard, willing her to look into my eyes.
“It’s me, Deimos,” I hiss. “It’s me, and I’m here, and I’m not fucking going anywhere. Ever.”
All the panic and rage floods out of her stunned, wide-eyed face. And suddenly, she’s collapsing into my chest, clinging to me, sucking in air as she shakes and breathes against me while I hold her tight.
Finally, she takes one heavy breath and raises her tear-blurred eyes to my narrowed ones.
“Who hurt you,” I growl quietly.
