Page 44 of No, You Hang Up

“But you were the one who wanted to take our game a little too far,” he reminds me, head tilting until his eyes glitter in the lights above us. “You didn’t have to do that. You could’ve just followed along with what I was telling you to do, Kai.”

“I’m not your pet,” I snap. “Not your puppet, either. Just…” I trail off, my heart racing so fast in my chest I worry I’m going to drop dead at any moment. “Just stop, okay? Let him go. For me. Let him run away, and we’ll talk or whatever, or?—”

Huxley snorts, but his grip on Eric doesn’t falter. “You want me to let him go?” he repeats, and something inside of me twists darkly at his tone and the excitement he can’t quite hide. “You want me to spare him for you?”

I nod once, the action jerky.

“Thenbeg.”

For a moment, all I can do is stare at him. Part of me wants to believe I heard him wrong. That he’s not actually telling me to beg like I think he is. The other, more rational part of me, knows he means exactly what he’s saying. My eyes dart to Eric’s face, and it’s definitely a good thing for him that he’s pretty drunk instead of just buzzed like me. He barely has an idea of what’s going on, and he’s just sort of babbling away and listlessly pushing at Huxley’s hands instead of really trying to twist free like he should.

Would Hux really kill him here?

It’s not private enough. Not isolated enough. Someone could walk through the door on the way to their car, or come out here to get some, like Eric and I did. Huxley shifts, and when my eyes find his, he does that thing where his brows rise. But this time he shifts, his free hand going to his hip, and the motion causes his shirt to ride up just enough that I see the hunting knife sticking out of his belt.

Try me, his level gaze seems to say.Try me, Kai. See if I won’t.

“Please.” The word is out of my mouth along with all the air in my lungs. “Huxley, please just let him go, okay? I’m sorry.”

“Are you?” His tone is casual. Bored, even.

I nod vigorously as my heart pounds in my chest, and I can feel my hands clammy with sweat as before I scrub them on my shorts. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, just…” I trail off, because I definitely don’t want to say the k-word in front of Eric. That will really freak him out, even through the alcohol. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what else you want me to say, okay?”

Huxley surveys me from eyes that are colder than they should be. He’s so still, so calm, even with Eric writhing in his grip as he watches me like a predator about to pounce on a meal.

But isn’t that exactly what he is?

“Will you make it up to me if I let him go?” The purred question feels intentional, and something in me wonders if this was his game all along. “If I send your pretty blond here on his way”—he shakes Eric by his shirt like he’s a terrier shaking a rat, and Eric would fall if Hux were to let go—“will you spend the night convincing me I didn’t make the wrong choice? The boring choice?”

“Yes,” I whisper without hesitating. I can’t even fake reservation, and the way heat pools in my lower body is definitely from something other than fear. But the fear is still there. Cold and strong and sending goosebumps up my arms.

Because Huxley isdangerous, and maybe that’s something I’ve forgotten about him in the weeks since I saw him last.

“Just let him go, okay? Let him go, and?—”

When Huxley releases Eric, he falls to the ground. An undignified sound like a yelp leaves him, as he crashes to the pavement on his bony knees. “What the hell?!” he protests, maybe not realizing Huxley has just done a very nice thing for him. “What’s your problem, my guy?”

“You can leave now,” is the only reply Huxley gives him, though he turns that cold, calculating gaze on Eric just as he kneels down to meet his eyes. “Seriously. Leave, little boy. Otherwise…” He leans in, and for one moment, I swear he’s going to kiss Eric. Especially when his hand comes up to delicately cup his jaw, and he draws the blond’s face closer to his.

“You won’t like how this game goes,” Huxley purrs against his mouth. When Eric nearly melts into him, I have to remind myself this is not a free show, and Huxley isn’t about to do something hot with Eric for my benefit.

Murder isn’t sexy, I tell myself.And that’s all he’s offering here.

But Eric doesn’t seem to get that either. He stares at Huxley like he’s having a bi-awakening, and I really can’t blame him for that. After all, Hux is apparently my serial killer sexual awakening.

When Hux looks back at me with hooded, narrowed eyes, he has a knowing grin curving over his face. I swear it’s for my benefit as he pulls Eric close enough that his lips graze the man’s jaw, and my heart stutters to a stop in my chest. There’s not an ounce of jealousy in me as I lean against the brick wall behind me so it holds my weight and I consider that all I feel is fascination and definitely a bit of arousal.

Well, that and a very healthy dose of fear.

Snorting, Huxley drags Eric to his feet and shoves him back toward the door of the club. “Go on, friend,” he tells him unkindly. “Go find someone else to take home. And learn to kiss better, because your personality isn’t doing it for you. Your face can only take you so far, I’m afraid.” He continues his ‘advice’ as Eric stumbles back into Revival Room with a look of utter confusion on his face.

And finally, I can let out a sigh of relief.

But the sound attracts Hux’s attention, and within seconds he’s right in front of me, leaning forward and pressing one arm against the bricks to cage me in place. “Andyou,” he purrs, leaning in close. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Kai? If you really wanted to beat me at this game…” His fingers trail up my body, twisting in the knot of my shirt before moving farther upward.

It’s so hard not to lean into his sweetness. His touch. It’s so hard not to beg for his lips on mine, when really, that’s all I could ever?—

I don’t notice his finger in the heart-shaped loop of my slip-choker until he jerks on it like a leash. With a gasp, I’m forced to arch off the wall, the chain tight around my throat.

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