Page 39 of Taken Online

ASHER

Ishouldbeasleep.Ishould be curled against him, warm and boneless and content, the way people are supposed to be after sex. But instead I’m wide awake.

He’s next to me.

Blake.

His body is still warm from what we just did. His breath is steady. And mine isn’t.

I can feel him watching me from the corner of his eye. I don’t turn. I just stare at the ceiling like it has something to offer me.

Everything feels heavy.

My skin still hums from the way he touched me. The way he moved over me like I was something precious and ruined at the same time. He kissed me like he meant it. Fucked me like he owned it.

And maybe he did.

Maybe I let him.

But even now, as silence settles between us, I know something’s off.

“You okay?” he murmurs.

I don’t answer. My throat’s too tight.

He shifts slightly, reaches over, brushing his knuckles across my jaw like he thinks it’ll help. It only makes my chest tighten more.

Then he says it.

“Bambi.”

Soft. Thoughtless. Like it’s second nature. Like he’s said it a hundred times before.

I freeze.

“What did you just call me?”

Blake goes still. Completely still.

I sit up, slowly. Turn toward him.

He’s watching me like a man who knows he’s just stepped off a cliff.

“I—”

“No. Say it again.”

He doesn’t.

“Blake.” I straddle him, not to be close. Not to be sweet. I plant my hands on his chest and lean down, fire roaring through my chest. “How the fuck do you know that name?”

He says nothing.

So I slap him.

It’s not hard. Not yet.

But I want it to hurt.

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