Page 151 of Dark Tangled Truths
“That’s what they want you to believe.” He lifts his hand and slides the back of his knuckles down my cheek and jaw. I control the urge to flinch and squirm and shiver, holding his gaze, trying to play the part when I want to curl up or run away. He wraps his hand around my throat, pushing me back against the wall. There’s a wildness in his eyes I’m not sure I can tame.
It won’t matter what I say because this is his truth. The monster holding me is the real Jackson.
“Damon took everything from me. He got hockey. He got into the USHL. He got the offer to go to Crowne Mawr.” His eyes drop to my lips and his hand tightens around my throat, making it hard to breathe. “He got you.”
“But you have me now. You got the offer to go to Crowne Mawr.” I resist the urge to grab his hand at my throat. He’s not choking me, not yet. I can’t give him a reason to. I don’t want to be his broken toy.
Broken toys can’t run away. My heart trips over itself. My hands shake, but I keep them hidden. They’ll find me. They’ll always find me, but I have to stay safe while I wait.
He shakes his head and lowers his forehead to mine. “Do I have you, pretty girl? Or are you just an illusion like the rest of it? You were mine years ago. I had you and let you slip from my fingers because I thought I wasn’t good enough for you. I saved you from that dumpster fire of an apartment. Made your mom think she wasn’t safe there. But I thought if I worked harder I could prove to you that I deserved you. But it wasn’t enough. I was never enough.”
I want to run. I want to knee him in his junk and bolt out the door and pray someone finds me before he does. But I know I won’t get far. To do this, I need to sink into what he needs me to be. That means I can’t be EvanAnn right now.
I close my eyes and pretend it’s Damon hovering over me, holding me like this. He’s done it before. My hand shakes as I bring it to his jaw and feel the rough day’s growth. I try to control the thundering of my heart.
“You’re enough,” I whisper. “I see that now.”
He releases his breath against my lips, and I realize I’m trapped. I’m sixteen again, held against the wall by a boy I thought I liked until he pushed me too far, too fast. I freeze, and there’s nothing I can do to stop this.
No mom to save me this time. I can’t. I just can’t.
“No.” It bursts out of my lungs.
He squeezes my neck harder, and I open my eyes to glare up into his.
“You don’t get to make me into who you think you’d like better,” I say.
He laughs, and the kind mask he wore slips away. A chill rolls down my spine. “I could have pretended for you, pretty girl. For a while.” He shrugs. “Guess I don’t have to now.”
He presses his face toward mine, and I sink my nails into his jaw, struggling to lift my knee between us. His hand tightens, and I gasp to take a breath, but his eyes meet mine as black edges around my vision.
“You don’t get it. You’re mine, Evan. No one’s ever going to take you from me again.”
Before I lose consciousness, he releases my neck and I drag in fresh air, too desperate for oxygen to fight. He lifts me and throws me over his shoulder. It knocks the breath out of me, and as the blood flows down to my head, the bump throbs.
He opens the door to the bedroom and tosses me on the bed. My head hurts so bad. I struggle to roll to the side before he can grab me. His hand closes around my neck again, but this time I dig my fingernails into his hands, prying them away.
He slaps me with his other hand, amplifying the ringing in my head. My vision goes black for a moment.
There are ties on my wrists before my head stops spinning. Fuck. He moves to my ankles and I twist and kick, desperate to get loose.
“Let me go,” I scream and buck and twist.
A blur of movement bursts into the room, and the hand on my ankle disappears, followed by a loud thud. I struggle to catch my breath and push my body toward the top of the mattress, pulling away from him and tucking into myself. My eyes aren’t focusing quite yet, but I see two of Jackson as he falls out of the room.
CHAPTER 47
Damon
I nearly kickedin the door when he carried Evan dangling over his shoulder into the bedroom, but I needed the element of surprise. I had to wait for the right opportunity.
When Evan screams, I see fucking red and jump him from behind, sending us both crashing into the wall. We fall out of the room and onto the floor of the dining room in a tangle of limbs.
We wrestle for a few moments before I drive my fist into Jackson’s gut. He shoves me away and jumps up, racing back into the room where he left Evan tied to the bed. I stagger to my feet and follow after him. In the doorway, I freeze at the horror show waiting for me.
Jackson smiles as he sits on the bed, holding Evan against his chest between us. Her hands still tied to the four-poster bed. He holds a knife with the tip pressed against her heart. His hair and eyes are wild.
“I’ve been expecting you.” He smirks like he’s won.
