Page 120 of Cross Checked
“Oh my gosh.” I stared at him incredulously. “You are genuinely insane.”
His expression darkened instantly, and there it was. The switch. One second calm and the next terrifying.
Luke moved so fast I barely had time to react before his hand closed around the back of my neck hard enough to slam me backward against the bathroom wall.
Pain exploded instantly through my skull.
“Luke—”
“Don’t.” His voice dropped lower, rough with fury while his fingers tightened viciously beneath my hairline. “Do not stand there pretending you don’t know exactly what you’re doing.”
The back of my head hit the wall again when he yanked me closer, fingers twisting the skin at the back of my neck cruelly until he was pulling the tiny baby hairs at the nape. Tears burned instantly behind my eyes from the sharpness of it, and pain shot down my spine. My breath caught hard, but there was no way Iwould give him the fucking satisfaction of seeing he was hurting me or scaring me.
The hallway suddenly felt too narrow. Too hot. His body crowded into mine while stale nicotine, expensive cologne, and sweat wrapped around me so thick it made nausea climb violently into my throat.
And somehow that smell still triggered panic faster than anything else, because it smelled like every bad memory I had. Every locked car or bedroom door. Every ignored no. Every apology I stopped believing years ago.
“You think I’m gonna sit out there and watch you flirt with another guy?” Luke hissed, face too close now. “In front of me?”
I shoved hard against his chest, fury burning hotter than fear for once. “Get your hands off me.”
His grip only tightened.
The skin beneath my hair burned viciously where he pinched and twisted it harder, forcing my head back against the wall while his eyes searched my face with that same sick possessiveness that always made my stomach turn.
“You wore those shorts for him?” he demanded quietly. “That little fucking tank top? Lip gloss? What, you wanted Mercer daydreaming about fucking you all day? In front of not just me, but your dad and brothers too? You are a fucking cock-teasing whore.”
Rage exploded through me so fast it almost drowned out the fear.
“You are a rapist and woman abuser. In my world—hell, the world’s definition of that is a coward.”
Luke smiled then.
That was always the scariest part. Smiling because the sick fucker enjoyed inflicting maximum fear.
“You think he actually gives a shit about you?” he asked softly, thumb digging bruisingly beneath my jaw now. “You’re a fun little distraction to a guy like that, Bliss. That’s all.”
“Move.”
“No.”
“I swear on my mom’s love I will fucking scream, Luke.”
Something flickered across his face then.
Excitement.
“Go ahead.”
My stomach dropped instantly as Luke leaned closer until his mouth nearly brushed my ear, his voice lowering into something almost conversational.
“Let’s tell them everything, baby.” His grip tightened painfully against the back of my neck again. “Tell your daddy all the filthy little things you begged me to do to you.” He laughed quietly under his breath. “Or better yet…”
His free hand slid into his pocket before he pulled his phone out slowly.
“Maybe I’ll show them.”
Ice flooded my bloodstream instantly.
