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“The dead could’ve heard you picking the lock,” I reply while relief washes through me. I did indeed gamble correctly.
Amusement flickers in his warn brown eyes before his gaze lands on the book that’s still in my hands. While keeping my wrist trapped against the doorframe with one hand, he uses the other to pluck the book from my grip. Another burst of amusement blows across his face as he holds it up and arches an eyebrow at me.
“Seriously?” he says. “A book?”
“Aphysicsbook. I was kind of hoping that it might have its own gravitational pull that would make it hit your face even harder.”
A laugh rips from his throat. A genuine laugh. He seems almost startled by it, because he blinks as if in surprise. It makes me feel weirdly smug that I manage to draw such a sound from him.
Then he clears his throat and at last releases my wrist before setting the book down on my dresser. I pull my hand back and rub my wrist with my thumb while studying his face. All previous traces of amusement are gone. Replaced by only grim determination.
I see his move coming, but I slow my reaction enough to make it seem like I didn’t. He lurches forward as if to grab me. I leap back, making him barely miss me. But that was of course why he executed such a dramatic move. While I’m deliberately off balance, he darts forward and gives me a shove. I topple backwards, landing on top of my bed.
The mattress bounces underneath me as I make a show of trying to scramble backwards. He grabs my ankle, yanking me back, and then climbs onto the bed.
Once more, I find myself lying on my back with Rico straddling my hips. This time, however, he grabs my wrists and pins them to the mattress on either side of my head.
My heart thuds hard in my chest. And it’s not just from the brief burst of activity.
Having him dominate me like this, in mybed, makes my mind drift back to what his commanding hands did to me in that shower room. Heat pools in my stomach, and my clit throbs in response. And I’m suddenly desperate to feel like that again. To feel alive like that again. I wonder if he felt it too, back then.
And because I can’t help myself, I make a show of trying to wiggle out from underneath him while very deliberately grinding myself against him.
His eyes shutter for the briefest of moments, and he clenches his jaw.
Shock and amazement pulse through me. He felt it. He must have. Is he actually as desperate as I am for anything that will make him feel alive? Anything that will make him feel real?
No, he can’t be. Because as opposed to me, he is already a real person.
I try to search his eyes, but there is no trace left of that brief flash of heat. It must only have been a purely carnal reaction, one that most humans would have in a situation like this. Nothing more.
“You’re going to answer some questions now,” Rico says, keeping my wrists in a firm grip while he locks commanding eyes on me. “Or this is going to be a very long night for you. Understood?”
“Yes,” I breathe, adding a hint of worry to my voice.
“Six years ago… Why did you do it?”
My heart lurches into my throat, but I keep a confused mask firmly on my face. “Six years ago? Six years ago, I was in high school! I did a lot of stupid shit. Just like everyone else. Why did I dowhat?”
“Fucking hell, Isabella!”
My name on his tongue sends a ripple through my body.
“Enough!” he snaps. “Enough with the lies. Enough with the pretense. I’m so fucking tired of it. Just answer my bloody questions.”
“You’retired?” I yell back. “I’mtired! I’m tired of constantly being ambushed and attacked and threatened. I’m tired of you harassing me every single day and bombarding me with questions that I don’t even understand. I’m tired of you calling me a liar and trying to force me to tell you something when I have no fucking clue what you’re talking about!” My chest heaves in anger as I stare up at him. “I’m so fucking tired, Rico!”
Deafening silence rings inside the room following my outburst.
Rico watches me, and for a single second, doubt blows across his features.
At last. At last, he is starting to doubt whether he’s right about me.
Then he wipes all traces of it from his face. Releasing my wrists, he reaches behind his back and pulls something from his belt. It clanks metallically as he shifts it in his hand. Light from the lamp above glints in a pair of handcuffs.
“Hold out your wrists,” he orders.
I slowly lift my hands from the mattress and hold them out above my chest. Rico quickly snaps the handcuffs shut around them.
