Page 142 of Unexpected Prejudice

I hated that he was bigger.

I hated that he was stronger.

But mostly, I hated that he wasn’t afraid of me.

While his idiotic friend, Andrei, was afraid of me for a while, this maniac wasn’t. Never once did he flinch with fear under my stare, and that pissed me the fuck off.

With his fingers still wrapped around my neck, he checked me out slowly, the disgust evident in his eyes. Tilting his head a bit, he took another hit from the cig. The muscle in his thick neck stretched with the inhale and then flexed as he blew the smoke in my face.

“Delete that recording.”

He huffed. “Nah, you’re not stupid enough to think I’ll delete it, are you?”

“So, what do you want?” I hissed.

“This.” He squeezed my neck harder, making me choke for a second before releasing his hold, but still not letting go. “To have you by the throat.”

I understood he was speaking metaphorically but fuck him. I moved my hand and punched the side of his body where he was bandaged. He gritted his teeth at the pain but only tightened his hold.

“You little fuck.”

“Who’s the bitch now, asshole?”

He smiled and moved a bit closer so I could smell the scent of his cologne over the reek of the cigarettes. It was strong, spicy, and, I hated to admit, arousing. Fuck this dude.

“Still you.”

“What happened to you?” My eyes darted down his body before looking back at him. “Someone stabbed you?” I grinned.

“Maybe.”

“Then they should have cut you deeper.” Speaking slowly, I made each syllable clear.

“And I should’ve choked you harder.”

I recalled that night in Pacific Green. Everything that had happened back then was still so vivid. His hot skin against my flesh. The way he forced me to the ground so easily. His hand around my neck, violently holding me back from breathing and the feeling of disconnection that came with it.

Numbness slowly crept into my body until I lost my grip on reality. For a moment, everything just went… quiet.

The memory made my heart beat faster and tighten my chest. My body took over as it craved to feel that euphoria again, and I parted my lips, almost begging to be choked.

Stunned by my own reaction, I froze and looked at him with terror. I expected him to mock or hit me, but instead, he stared right back at me with those dark eyes, and then, for the first time, I saw him flinch.

When the realization sank into him, he let go of my neck and left the room without saying so much as a word. I heard someone screaming, “You can’t smoke in here” from the hall before I let out a long-ass sigh.

Leaning back against the wall, I slid down until my ass hit the floor. I was laughing as I buried my face in my hands. “Fucking shit. I’m so fucked up.”

Not only did I reek of his cigarettes and had an injured hand for punching a wall, but now Diesel also had a recording of me admitting to planting evidence and extorting Ty.

Life just keeps getting better and better.

Peeling my pathetic ass off the floor, I got out of the room and went down to the parking lot. But as I left the hospital, a black car I knew all too well was waiting for me.

I froze on the spot and rubbed my hurt knuckles together, shrinking at the pain. Anything was better than the fear I was struck with at the mere sight of my father’s car waiting for me.

Knowing better than to walk away, I dragged myself toward the vehicle while trying to ignore Orson, one of the two men I feared most in this world, and who happened to be my dad’s personal assistant. Frankly, he was more than that. He was Dad’s right hand.

Opening the car door, Orson waited for me to get in. He didn’t say a word, but his frozen stare followed me like I was nothing more than a walking target. Most of the time, that was what I was to him—nothing but prey.