Page 56 of Liars and Liaisons

Desire swells in my chest, pushing up into my throat and constricting air there. “And if I wish for more?”

Her eyes narrow. “Like what?”

“More than what I got the other day.”

Unease skates across her features. Her breaths grow shallow, and she casts a quick, nervous glance at the water, perhaps contemplating if death would be a more viable option.

It wouldn’t. I’d drag her corpse out and bring her back, just to keep terrorizing her.

Since she secretly likes the fear anyway.

She swallows, her throat bobbing with the effort.

My teeth grind together with the movement.

“You want to touch?” she breathes. Just barely.

I shake my head. “I want to taste.”

18

A partof me is very aware of my limited options here.

I think if I keep denying him, he might toss me into the lake. At least, that’s the reason I’ve convinced myself that he brought me out here.

Then again, he really hasn’t pushed me beyond my means. Hasn’t forced himself on me even if the coercion strips me of the real choice. I can’t help wondering if he’d really make me do something if I said no.

If that were the case, if he were a monster without an ounce of control, wouldn’t he have already taken by now? Especially since we’ve already crossed that line once?

Instead, he seems almost desperate enough to beg. Like the idea of seeing me naked or of being with me in an intimate way is vital to him. Like oxygen he needs to breathe.

The look in his eyes confirms the compulsion. His gaze is chaos and anguish. Heat and yearning.

It isn’t like I didn’t know this was a possibility, given how all of this began. The fifty-five thousand dollars I sent to my father hadn’t magically appeared.

I earned it. Sort of.

Plus, we’ve already done this. Presumably. I can’t remember that night, but doing it again—as a refresher—wouldn’t be betraying Nate any extra.

A pang of guilt flashes like lightning through my stomach, and I fold my arms over it, wondering if I’m not as good of a person as I’ve always liked to believe. Maybe genetics have more to do with my soul than I thought, and Kal and I aren’t actually so different after all.

Clearing my throat, I jut my chin at Grayson. “How much?”

He runs a hand through his brown locks, scratching the back of his head. “You set the price.”

I swallow, my eyes darting to his hands and those long fingers. “A hundred grand.” That might put my father in the clear, and maybe I wouldn’t have to stay so hidden anymore. Maybe I could go home.

He doesn’t even blink. “Done.”

This is wild.

Beyond wild.

It’s irresponsible. And yet a small thrill shoots down my spine like a firework, setting my nerves ablaze. My hands tremble, and I press them into my thighs to hide it.

My parents used to do whatever they needed to for money.

“It makes the world go round,” my father would say, although I didn’t know back then that he’d make it just to blow it all away in a weekend.

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