Page 8 of Saving You Losing Me

I have rich parents, no siblings, and a trust fund that ensures I will marry well and never have to work a day in my life. I am popular. Invited to all the right occasions and considered a person of importance.

That is the Clara Gladstone the public sees. I am the opposite of that.

I crave danger, excitement, and the unknown. I possess a desire to walk on the wild side and enjoy the anonymity I crave. I want to tread a dangerous path with uncertain pitfalls ahead where life is not mapped out for me. I want to feel alive.

That is why I’m moving stealthily through this house intent on winning the game.

My game, that is.

I don’t know why Atom chose me to play this with him. He says he waited for me. I doubt that. Men like him don’t wait for girls like me. They just tell them what they want to hear to add them to the notch on their bedpost and I’m more of a gouge on it.

Bed the protected virgin while flipping off the establishment who would hate knowing his hands were on someone like me.

Rub it in the faces of those more powerful than him, demonstrating he took something valuable and ruined it for any other man.

I’m guessing that is what’s driving this, but quite frankly I don’t give a damn because I am doing this for me—not him.

He will expect me to go upstairs to the furthest point. To hide in one of the bedrooms, hoping to find me hidden behind the door or in a disgusting cupboard.

Instead, I head to the rear of the house, where I’m guessing there is a door leading outside. He never stipulated I couldn’t leave. Just to hide.

“Time’s up princess.”

His husky voice is somewhere in the house and my heart quickens, causing me to move a little faster, while straining to detect his movements.

I am lighter than him on my feet and all the years of ballet have counted for something in the end because I fly across the creaking floorboards almost ghostlike.

I use the dim shadows to guide me and ignore any shapes that may hinder my progress.

His footsteps are gaining on me, and his husky whisper sends shivers of pleasure down my spine.

“I’m coming for you, princess, prepare to lose—everything.”

Fuck. Why does that turn me on so much? I want to lose my mind. That’s what this is about and he is the man to take it.

He is close in the next room and I edge against the wall until I reach a door handle, the light drifting through the cracks in the door accompanied by a soft breeze telling me this is my exit to freedom.

As expected, when I turn the handle, it is locked and the dull tread of his boot is coming closer causing me to think hard. One false move will alert him to my position and, for some reason, that brings a smile to my face.

I have never been so high on adrenalin before and it’s a natural high I wasn’t expecting.

He cusses in the next room as he trips on something and I use the noise to shove hard against the door, hoping it’s as fucked as I am certain to be if he catches me.

It groans under my weight but stands firm and I take a deep breath and wait, listening for any sign of him.

“You know, Clara–”

His soft whisper is closer now.

“I used to watch you in high school. You intrigued me.”

I press against the door as his voice wafts across my soul. “You could have had anyone in that school. All the guys wanted you. You were the prize—you still are, but you weren’t interested.”

He is getting closer now and whispers softly. “I liked that about you. You had a fuck-off attitude and didn’t play the usual game. No cheerleading practice for you. No position on the prom committee. No fucks to give. The ice queen if you like.”

He is closer and my heart thumps as I reconsider my position.

I must win. It’s crafted in my DNA and yet losing will be such sweet pleasure.

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