Page 40 of Pretty Little Threats

“Keep frowning like that, and your face will get stuck that way,” he murmurs. “Isn’t this what you wanted?”

“Things have changed.” For one, Eric is dead. There’s no immediate threat.

“Hardly. You’re digging around in my business, and what better way to keep my eye on you than to have you at my side?”

“My father will be pissed. He won’t just let you marry me.”

Dare chuckles. “And what makes you think I give a shit?”

I press my lips closed and look away, scowling at the walls as he carries me up to his bedroom. He drops me onto the mattress and I bounce. “A little warning would have been nice.”

Dare smirks before dipping into the closet. I glance around for any type of weapon. The lamp might work, but the slim rod won’t do much damage to Dare if I hit him with it. He’d probably think of it as foreplay. Maybe I should shove it up his ass and see how he likes it.

Reemerging, Dare tips his head to study me, clutching a black T-shirt in his hands. “You can plot my murder another night.” He throws the shirt at me, and I barely catch it before it hits me in the head. “Change.”

“If you think you can order me around—” Air rushes out of my lungs as my back hits the mattress.

Dare looms over me, eyes narrowed, mouth inches from mine. “Shut up. Change. Go to sleep.”

“Fuck you. Get off me. Go die.”

His lips twitch.

Bastard.

“Now, princess, are you flirting with me?”

What sort of unhinged monster considersgo dieflirty?

“Dare,” I try, reaching up to stroke his cheek. “Please get the fuck off of me before I find a way to make you choke on your dick.”

His nostrils flare. “Maybe you should be the one to choke on my cock.”

Heat blooming in my low belly, I hate that I’m intrigued by the idea. Hate that the person who makes me feel safe is the very person I should want nothing to do with. “Off,” I snarl and push my hands against his chest.

Dare rolls to the side with a dark chuckle that shivers down my spine, and then he’s up and out of the bed, storming into the en suite without so much as a glance over his shoulder.

My gaze strays toward the bedroom door. I could run. I should. But exhaustion has me rooted in place. Then there’s the fact that Dare has incriminating evidence he could easily use against me. He knows where Eric’s body is being disposed of too. A heavy breath rushes out of me.

I peel off my camisole, wincing when the bruise on my arm aches. Eric grabbed me hard. I scowl down at the deep purple and blue mark his fingerprints left behind. Phantom fingers grasp at my pants, and my heart skips at the memory of Eric’s fingers tracing down my back.

A shudder racks my body.

My throat goes dry.

Lungs clenching tight, squeezing until there’s barely enough air to breathe.

Dare finds me half undressed, staring down at my arm, frozen in place by memories I don’t know how to escape. The beast watches me for three beats, growls, and prowls toward me. My pulse thunders in my ears, and I press my eyes closed.

That only makes it worse.

You’re going to marry me.

“Princess.”

I waited years for this deal.

“Rose.”

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