Page 19 of Sadist

Her hand tightened around my wrist, her nails digging into my skin, and I pulled away from the touch, releasing her. She panted, her hand resting against her throat where mine had just been, but her eyes were telling me everything I needed to know. Her pupils had blown wide, her gaze locked on mine in a way that I knew she would do anything I told her to in that moment.

And fuck it…after the disrespect I had just gotten from O’Malley, I needed to flex the part of me that craved control.

“Take your coffee, do as you are told, and you can ask me questions while I finish my workout,” I said, still crowding her space.

Her hand brushed mine as she took the cup, never breaking eye contact.

“Okay,” she rasped, seeming incapable of the smart-ass comments she usually fired at me.

“That’s better,” I murmured, tilting my head as I let my gaze drift lower to linger on those beautiful god-damned lips. “Can you be a good girl for me?”

Her breath caught, her knuckles going white around the cup, but she nodded once, and I smirked, finally standing and giving her room to breathe.

Her eyes tracked my every move as I made my way over to the gym, the weight of her stare a near-physical caress over my skin.

But she sipped her coffee and sat there.

Quietly.

Perfectly.

Fuck,I was in trouble.

8

OCTAVIA

The low ringing in my ears hadn’t stopped since Theo’s fingers had wrapped around my throat. Or maybe that was screaming? Was I screaming? In a daze, I brushed my fingers across my lips to be sure, relieved to find that I was in factnotin full gay panic and losing all of my faculties. Some of them, definitely.

Becausewhat the hell, Octavia?

I took a sip of coffee, letting the aromatic liquid fill my senses, and tried to ignore the low ache between my thighs as I watched myabductorwaltz over to her weights like she hadn’t just manhandled me into a malfunctioning mess.

I took a larger sip as she lifted those things like they were feathers, the muscles of her arms flexing as she did. I nearly choked as my gaze slid to the mirrored wall beyond her, and she winked at me in the reflection. Turning my back on her as my face flared with heat, I stared at my cup, focusing on the tendril of steam dancing from it.

“How will this work?” I asked over my shoulder. “You’ll just let me go? I have trouble believing that.”

“That’s exactly how it will go,” Theo replied, grunting softly, and I risked a quick glance to see her lift the weights over her head. “As long as my employers get what they want, you will be returned to the Vanguard estate.”

“No,” I blurted, turning to see Theo regarding me with curiosity. “Just let me leave, and I will choose where I go.”

“Back to the quaint little hotel I found you at?” she asked after a moment. “I didn’t take you for a fool, Sweets.”

I scoffed. “It was a stop on the way to another destination. That’s all.”

“Oh?” She raised a brow as irritation began to simmer in me. I don’t knowwhyshe irked me so badly.

“I don’t owe you an explanation,” I snapped.

“You don’t owe me anything,” she agreed. “But what if I am curious?”

“So you can abduct me again when you want your next paycheck?”

She let out a soft laugh and bent to grasp the handle of another machine, aligning herself with it before pulling the long cord out, her shoulder bunching and flexing as she did.

“Octavia,” she scolded. “I already have you. If I wanted to keep you, I would. I’ll have no need to come searching for you again once your father has fixed his mistakes.”

Why, the fuck did that sting?I might need to check myself straight into a psych ward after this. Full grippy sock holiday. I was too busy being outraged with myself for a moment to catch what she had said.

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