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But she’d surprised me. I came in to get Damon off her and found myself losing control as soon as she opened that mouth. She got smart, and she didn’t back down.
I saw the little monster again. The one who breathed fire and made people see her.
My friends—my brothers—were dead on the inside, and the more I thought about what she’d done to them—to us— the more I wanted to rip her apart.
I’d seen that look in her eyes long before I even noticed her face or her body. That look of something being contained and wanting to claw its way out.
“Hell,” he continued, a hint of a grin on his face, “I’ll do it if I have to.” Motherfucker. Her life was already as good as over.
He and Trevor would never get their hands on her. I’d see her dead first.
The law might have failed to protect me, but it also worked the other way around.
“When you want to make an impression and you think you’ve gone far enough, go a little further. Always leave them wondering if you’re just a little bit crazy, and people will never fuck with you again.”
When your enemies didn’t know your limits, they didn’t press them.
And the things that were irreplaceable in life were the only things of value.
No, I wasn’t happy at his house. Not without him there.
Being in his house when he wasn’t there was the loneliest I’d ever been.
What song described him? What band? That was like trying to pick one food to eat for the rest of your life. “Disturbed,”
I drifted off, peace settling over me as I looked up at him. “You’re in everything.”
“When we used to wear the masks,” Michael said, dropping his voice to a near whisper, “you liked it, didn’t you? It scared you, but it turned you on.”
What was I supposed to say? That the fact that they’d looked like monsters got me hot?
“Are you scared?” Michael growled low in my ear.
“They all thought I was a good girl, Michael.” I dragged his lobe through my teeth. “But there’s so many bad things I want to do. Do dirty things to me.”
“Such a beautiful little monster,”
I screwed up. I wanted her, and I wanted her to myself tonight.
Our scrapes and bruises, tattoos, scars, smiles, and wrinkles told our stories, and I didn’t want a pristine piece of wallpaper.
the fear in her eyes turning to lust, and I was knocked on my ass.
I’d never met anyone like her. She rose to every challenge.
“Because you can’t win if you don’t play.”
I’m going to make you scream.
“You may think I fuck with your head,” I said, looking down at her as I unbuckled my belt and unfastened my jeans, “but you don’t know what you’ve done to me all these years.”
Such a little monster.
She said she didn’t trust me, but I knew it was a lie. I’d be willing to bet I was the one person she trusted the most.
She wasn’t mine. She would never be mine. And I shouldn’t want her.
Fuck you. I can’t choose you. Why did you do this to me?
No. My brother wouldn’t have the slightest clue what to do with trouble like that.
you don’t have to live in the reality someone else invented.
Redefine normal. None of us know the full measure of our power until we start pushing our boundaries and pressing our luck, and the more we do, the less we care what others think. The freedom feels too good.
“How can I not?” I breathed in her ear, squeezing my eyes shut. “You’re getting very hard not to notice.”
“My brother thinks you’re his . . . and all I ever did was try to deny that I wanted you for myself.”
“Is that true?” I pressed. “Are you his?”
“I won’t touch you until you’re eighteen.”
She looked as desperate as I felt.
“And don’t compare yourself to them.” I took her face in my hands. “You’re different.”
“This is what we were built for, Michael. You and me.”
“And I do fucking want you.”
I would always circle her.
My body was always aware of where she was.
She was right. I was a coward. I wanted everything and to give up nothing.
She had too much power over me.
“Michael is currently in charge of everything until you graduate.”
There was no one. I had no one to turn to. Who was going to stop them?
“You like the sting. It turns you on.”
And then I opened my eyes, feeling a chest at my back. Michael took hold of my hair, and my head jerked back as he wound the strands around his fist.
Why did everyone try to coddle her? My mother, my father, Trevor . . . it only weakened her.
