Page 60 of Swallow Your Sorries

“I don’t want to hear any more of your fucking lies. I didn’t bring you here to hear them. I brought you here to torture you.” I use her neck to shove her back, and she stumbles, tripping over her shoes, and catching herself on her knees. “The only thing I want to hear from your mouth are pretty little whimpers of pain when I toy with you. When I pull that string on your back that makes you scream, cry and gag.”

She gazes around at the water, the greenhouse, the sloping hill. But it’s just her and me.

And there’s no escape.

“Gant,please.”

“Please what? Help you? That’s what I’m doing. I said you were mine. And I always take care of my possessions. Starting with keeping them clean.”

She eyes the water, her nails digging into the wooden planks of the dock.

“Then let me go shower.”

I shake my head slowly, sadly. “How would I know if you did it right?”

She gulps. “You could watch.”

It’s my turn to swallow, to be at a loss for words.

“We could go to my room.”

She’s trying to gain control.Why?

“Ms. Trix isn’t drunk enough yet, and it simply can’t wait.”

She licks her lips. “Your room?”

As if she’d willingly slip into my territory. No. She’s playing a game.

“Mr. Lexington does his job diligently.”

“What about the locker rooms?”

That snaps something inside me.

“Locker room?”I snort. “Feeling nostalgic about your first stint as an incestuous porno videographer?”

“Gant—”

“Right here will do. Strip.”

She gazes from me to the campus and then back again incredulously. “Anyone could see.”

“The greenhouse completely blocks the dock from view,” I say simply. “Don’t worry. I never share my toys.”

She freezes, her jaw growing slack. Then all at once she snaps it shut and lunges, trying to crawl around my ankles.

One step, and I cut her off easily.

Squatting, I take in the fear in her watery eyes. The fear that wasn’t there in the auditorium when we were nose to nose and she’d kissed me. Claimed me. She’d been defiant.

What’s changed?

“What did I tell you about listening to me?”

She hesitates and there’s that look of defeat in her eyes as she says, “Not listening will spark nightmares.”

So she remembers just as much as I do.

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