Page 6 of Crave You

“You have the physique, but your face is wrong,” I comment. “How come you don’t have a boxer’s cauliflower ears and broken nose?”

She smirks. “Well, you’d have to get close enough to do that damage and I never let anyone near.”

“Cool,” I say, meaning it, and impressed despite myself. She is certainly not like the other lily-livered women that tend to hang around at Valens.

“So, if I knock you out in this test thing and you stay unconscious for the entire time, do I pass?” she asks.

I throw my head back and laugh. This girl is in for a rude awakening when we get in that room, but at the same time, I like her spirit.

“Technically yes,” I say. “But that’s not going to happen, so you may as well let go of the idea right now.”

We reach the room we will be working in. A Valens member stands at the door acting as a guard. He greets me and then smiles at Leona before he pushes the door open. Leona and I enter the room. There is a desk, with a wooden chair placed on either side of it, and that’s all.

“Your three minutes start now,” the door guard says and he slams the door shut.

That always gives away the most nervous candidates. They jump at the sound of the door closing. Leona doesn’t flinch.

“So, are you going to make this easy for yourself, or are you still planning on knocking me out?” I say with a playful grin.

Leona doesn’t answer, she just smiles at me. I guess she’s waiting for me to make the first move. Normally, with a female candidate, I would force her to do something sexually humiliating, however I’m curious about Leona and I want to come up with something new. She doesn’t know any of this of course, so I can still intimidate her with that kind of tactic, maybe just let her think I’m going to hurt her that way.

I move closer to her and then I grab her by the neck and throw her up against the wall. I can’t help but notice how smooth the skin of her neck is and for a moment I think about running my teeth across it and inhaling her perfume. I shake my head and brain back to the moment.

“Tell me the code,” I say.

She smiles and shakes her head. Her eyes are looking straight into mine and I don’t see a hint of fear in them. It’s almost as if she is enjoying this. I apply a bit more pressure from my body onto hers.

“Tell me the code,” I say again.

She shoves me and it catches me unaware. I stumble back a step. Before I can recover, she punches me hard in the jaw. It’s not hard enough to knock me out, but it’s hard enough to make me see red. Fuck the fact she’s a girl. If she can punch like that, she can take a hit back.

I’m glowering with anger as I stalk back towards her.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” I say, my voice low.

“I’m sorry,” she says. Tears form in her eyes. “Really. I’m sorry.”

I pull my fist back, ignoring her pathetic apology. “Last chance to tell me the code,” I say.

“Nine, three, four, seven,” she says quickly, the tears running freely down her face now. “Nine, three, four, seven.”

I lower my fist. I’m really surprised and a little bit disappointed that she has caved so easily. I go towards the door.

“Wait,” she says. I look back and she smiles sheepishly. “Look, I know it’s stupid, but my brother is out there and I can’t bear the thought of him thinking I gave in so quickly. Can we wait a bit? Let him think that I at least came close?”

“Sure, why not,” I say.

It’s not about her. It’s about my next candidate. I want to let him sweat for a bit and if he thinks that this one got through, he’ll be expecting me to be even more brutal with him. That will serve to make him a nervous wreck before he even gets in here.

“My dad is my brother’s biggest supporter,” Leona says, hopping up onto the desk and sitting swinging her legs as she talks. “With him, it’s always been “Ben this” and “Ben that” and “Ben can rule the world if he wants to”. Fuck the fact I get better grades than Ben, have gone further in sports than he has and have gotten offers from several of the best universities in the country. No, Ben will always be better. I hate it. I fucking hate it. And Ben loves it. He taunts me with it every day and that’s why I need him to think I almost passed this.”

“Will it matter though?” I ask. “If he passes and you don’t, having those few extra minutes isn’t going to mean much.”

“If that happens, then no it wouldn’t matter at all. But, I don’t think he will pass. The other tests were more up his street, but I don’t think he’ll like this one. He doesn’t like having some guy shouting in his face and torturing him for information isn’t something he can handle,” Leona says. She flashes me a smile. “I hope.”

I check my watch.

“OK, we’ve been in here for two minutes and thirty odd seconds. I reckon that’s enough time to show your brother that you’re not a pussy,” I say.

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