Page 45 of No, You Hang Up

“You needed to have a stronger backbone.”

twenty

When he yanks upward on the chain, I yelp and go up on my toes. It’s uncomfortable, especially since he’s tall enough to really make me feel it. He wraps the chain around his hand, stealing the slack, until the cheap metal bites into my throat hard enough to almost be painful.

“Beg,” he sneers, inches from my face.

“For what?”

“Me.”

Something in me goes weak at that, and I stare up at him with wide, surprised eyes. “You?” I repeat, a little surprised. “You left me. Why should I beg, when you’re the one—” He twists his hand again, stealing a little more of the chain and causing it to dig into my skin. But that only lasts for a second before he gives the length back, and I’m merely in discomfort rather than in pain.

Huxley doesn’t speak. He just tilts his head expectantly and his brows lift as he watches me.

“You’re a jerk,” I say instead, and I wince, expecting him to tighten the chain like a choke collar.

But he doesn’t. His other hand comes up, and I hear him scoff under his breath as he pushes me back against the wall with a hand on my stomach. “Part of me is frustrated that you’re so damn difficult,” he informs me, leaning in until his lips are almost brushing mine. It’s immediately so different from Eric. He doesn’t taste like beer, for one.

For another, he’sHuxley.

My hands move without my brain’s permission until I’m digging them into his shirt, and my murderer doesn’t seem to mind.

“But the other part of me knows you’d be fucking boring if you weren’t. I think it’s what I like about you. And I think it’s what got us here, if I’m being honest.”

“What got us here was Mads forgetting to use the app she put on my phone before she called you,” I can’t help but argue stubbornly. The alcohol in my veins is lending me confidence I wouldn’t have otherwise, without taking me completely out of my head.

“You’re lucky I like you.”

“You don’t act like it.”

Immediately, he’s against me, pressing me into the wall with his entire body until his warmth is seeping into my skin. I shudder and suddenly realize how chilly I was until this exact moment. “You said this was over,” I remind him, and I hate the way it almost sounds like I’m whining.

“Because you don’t want me,” he retorts, letting go of my choker and making sure to loosen it so it’s no longer cutting into my skin. “You know what I am, Kai. You wanted me gone.”

“Actually, you never gave me a chance to say if that’s true or not.”

Surprise flickers in his gaze, but he hides it quickly, his eyes darkening as a low, hungry sound leaves him. “Fine,” he purrs, hand moving to tangle in my hair. “Then I’ll make it true.” I barely get to register the words before he’s attacking my mouth with his, kissing me like he’s trying to devour me whole.

Like he’ll really do it by taking one bite at a time with his almost too-sharp teeth that worry my lip until I’m yelping in protest. But he doesn’t stop. Huxley gives me no room, no moment to breathe. He nips at my mouth whenever I gasp for air, and when my lips sting enough to make me writhe, his tongue darts between them once more so I can taste the blood from my lips in his mouth.

But I don’t want him to stop.

Not when he bites down hard enough to make me cry out. Not even when his hands grip my hips so hard I know he’ll leave bruises.

How can I want him to stop when this is everything I’ve pined for since he left?

“If you’re going to make it true…” I pant when he finally pulls away. My lips are sore and swollen, and when I lick them, I can still taste the blood welling on my skin. “You’re going to have to try so much harder than that.”

“Careful, pretty girl,” Hux is quick to chide. He’s panting as well, with a hunger in his gaze that should feel dangerous.

Well, more dangerous. I can never forget what he does. What heisat the core of his being. He’s not a normal person, and I worry that if I push him too far, I really will regret it.

But I’m not nearly there yet.

“Why?” I taunt, the alcohol getting the best of me. “Will you kiss me again if I keep going? Will you?—”

He cuts me off by quickly looping his finger in the chain andyankinghard enough that it cuts off my air and my words as a sharp jolt of pain goes through me.

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