Page 16 of Outbreak

I feel like a kitten being cuddled by a grizzly bear—one wrong move and he could snap my little neck with the flick of his enormous hand.

I can feel how hard he is; his stupidly impressive bulge feels like a brick digging into my ass. My intrusive thoughts take over, and I push back into him. The feral groan he lets out startles me, and he grinds even harder into me as he tightens his hand around my throat.

“Don’t be a tease. If you want something,beg for it.”

He punctuates the last words by thrusting his hips into me. And as much as my body is screaming to push him until he just takes it, I willneverbeg for it. “In your dreams, assface.”

I pull myself as far away from him as his hold will allow, pushing myself into his hand that doesn’t release on my throat.

“Have it your way, baby girl.” He finally pulls away, flopping back down on the airbed on his back.

And because we’re still cuffed together, I’m forced onto my back as well. We both stare up at the roof of the truck. I’m trying like hell not to rub my thighs together to soothe the ache the asshole created there. I have no idea what’s going through his mind, but I have no doubt; I’m not going to like it whenI find out. So far this stranger has done nothing to truly harm me, and my spidey senses that pick up on everyone’s energy are telling me he won’t. But I don’t trust myself. Something is off—or maybe I’m off. I mean, he kidnapped me for fucks sake—drove a needle into my neck, and honest-to-Godkidnapped me!

I’ve got to get myself sorted out. Which means I’ve got to figure out how to get the fuck away from this man. I need my friends. I need to know they are okay. They are probably sick with worry. They don’t know the extent of my past, but they’ve known me long enough to know I wouldn't just disappear off the face of the earth. Surely they will call the police and they’ll?—

Oh fuck.That’s the last thing I need. What if they’ve already been looking for me—what if they know what I did?

“I need my phone. Where is it?” I sit straight up in a panic, pulling his cuffed arm with me as I try to dig into my pocket where I know I had it last.

“How would I know?”

“I’m not fucking around asshole. If my friends find out I’m missing, they will call the police.They can’t call the police.” My pockets are empty.Shit. When I start patting him down, trying to dig in his pockets, he captures my wrists in his and pulls them to his chest.

“Why can’t they call the police, Rue?”

“I– they– They just can’t. Trust me. Give me my phone. Let me text them that I’m okay and I’ll be back soon.” I can’t tell him what I did either. I don’t know him. I definitely don’t trust him. He might get his rocks off by turning me in himself. Though then he might have to explain that he kidnapped me, and I don't think he would be okay with that.

“What did you do?” His eyes narrow as he tries to figure out just who he kidnapped.

“No-nothing.” I stutter defensively.

“You’ve always been a shit little liar.” I’m so sick of his shit. He doesn’t fucking know me.

“You don’t know me, asshole,” I spit with as much venom I can muster. “If you did, you’d know exactly why my friends can’t call the police. If you did your fucking homework, you’d know… you kidnapped a murderer.”

CHAPTER 14

Ghost

“Who did you kill, Rue?” I ask, staring into her striking blue eyes that are swirling with equal parts rage and fear. What is she so afraid of? And who the fuck did she kill? She’s got to be lying to me. She wants her phone to try to pull a fast one on me. I’m not stupid. If she killed someone, I’d fucking know about it.

She did have pretty impressive blades strapped to her thigh like a sexy-as-fuck assassin.

“Like I’d tell you anything. Just text the group chat on my phone and tell them I’m okay.” She jerks her hands back out of mine, and I let her go. She pulls her knees up to her chest and hugs them.

“I don’t have your phone,” I lie. I’ve already texted her little group chat and pretended to be her. She’s currently on her way home after the events of the party scared her, and she wanted to be with her family. “I tossed it when we left.”

She doesn’t need to know that I still have it. I’ve shut it off and disabled the location tracking. She can earn it back when I can trust her. And right now, it’s not looking good for her.

“Well, you just fucked us both, buddy,” she sighs, hugging her knees tighter, her hair forming a veil around her face to hide her defeat.

I choose to ignore her little confession for now, because I really don’t believe this little pixie stick could actually hurt someone, let alone kill them. I might call herdeath,but that doesn’t make her a killer.

I’m a killer.But she doesn’t need to know that. Not yet.

“Time to go,” I say, digging in my pocket for the handcuff key. The relief in her eyes at being unlinked from me shines bright when she lifts her head, but quickly turns back to rage when she sees the collar and leash laying beside me. She can’t behave herself yet, but she will learn. You can always teach a bitch new tricks. I’ll have her kneeling at my feet, eager for any scrap of attention I’ll give her soon.

She doesn’t even protest when we get out of the truck and I attach the collar and clip on the leash. She walks ahead as I grab some napkins and doesn’t speak as she takes them, drops her pants, and relieves herself. I turn around and do the same, anxious to get on the road.

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