Page 28 of Pastel Kisses

“I’m giving you anewcocktail tonight,” she chirps. “Jaxton’s coming over, and well…I want you to hear us.”

Ice fills my veins.

“This way, you’llknowI’m telling the truth—that he doesn’t want you anymore.”

My heartstops.

“I’mecstaticthat we rekindled things.” Shemoans, running a hand down her neck, playing out the scene in her head. “Wegave into our passion the other night when he stayed over.”

The oxygenleavesthe room.

“Hefucked me so hard.”

The cruelty in her gaze burns as she watches the pain flash across my face before I can bury it.

“Guess I haveyouto thank,” she muses. “He said he didn’t want to wait anymore—that life changes too quickly.Unexpectedly.”

My pulseroarsin my ears.

“Don’t worry,” she adds, “I’ll crack the door open so you canhear better.”

My mindfractures, trying to process what’s real and what’s manipulation.

Sheknowsit.

Sarah uses my stunned silence to close in, her hand snapping out—

A needle.

I lunge forward, fueled by pure instinct, but my body betrays me—clumsy, unsteady, as useless as a newborn fawn still learning to stand.

I swing, desperate, but my fist barely grazes her before my limbs falter, weakened by the lingering sedatives still dulling my reflexes.

“You should know better by now,” she tuts, her voice thick with mockery as she slams the plunger down, injecting another brutal cocktail straight into my veins.

Fire ignites beneath my skin, burning through my bloodstream like molten lava. I stagger, my legs crumbling beneath me as the world twists and contorts—a nightmarish kaleidoscope of shifting shadows and spinning lights.

And then, the world tilts—distorts, unraveling into a haze of chaos.

I barely register her next words.

“If you behave, I’ll make sure you get something to eat tomorrow,” she croons, her voice dripping with false sweetness. With unsettling precision, she arranges my limp body, stretching my arms and legs out until I’m sprawled across the bed like a starfish—helpless, exposed, utterly at her mercy.

She starts to leave—

Then stops.

Her body goes still, eyes locking onto my midsection.

I don’t understand—until she lunges.

She grabs my shirt, yanking it up with violent force.

Her entire expression shifts.

Pure rage.

Her lips curl back in an ugly snarl. “You fucking bitch.”

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