Page 141 of House of Cards

We land with a jarringsplat. Her body lies sprawled on top of mine for a brief second before I roll, pinning her beneath me. My chest heaves against hers, both of us panting. Her brown hair coils like snakes across the wet floor, her eyes wide and bright with adrenaline.

And something else.

Rage? Fear?

Maybe both.

Her heart hammers against my chest, nearly matching the frantic beat of my own. For a moment, we just stay there, our faces inches apart, the night air cool against our heated skin.

I take in the state of her and realize she’s wearing clothes I didn’t buy for her. Not sure why that pisses me off, but it does.

“The fuck are you wearing?” It looks like a Devil’s Luck uniform, but not quite in her size.

“The fuck happened to your hand?” she bites back, eyes narrowed in challenge as she glances at the bandage around my knuckles.

I prop myself on one hand, grabbing her face with the other.

“You could have fucking died,” I grate.

She tenses, grabbing my suit jacket in both hands. Preparing to fight. But her searching eyes find something in mine, something that makes her slump under me, going limp.

Like Dylan had.

“You should’ve let me,” she whispers.

I squeeze her jaw until there’s a flare of pain in her eyes. So much better than the lackluster defeat I’d just seen.

“Wanna hear something funny?” I murmur.

She shows me her teeth.

“I was going to let you go.”

Her lips go slack.

“Yeah.” I huff through my nose, dropping my lips to her ear, my hand sliding down to her throat. “I was about to absolve your debt. Get you the fuck out of my life before you can do anymore damage.”

“Liar,” she says, her voice wavering. “You’d never do that.”

I push back, keeping my hold on her throat as I kneel, then dragging her with me as I slowly stand. “Is this some feeble attempt at reverse psychology?”

“It’s the fucking truth.” There’s a disgusted twist to her mouth. “You people don’t just get rid of pests. You either kill them, or keep them as pets.”

Youpeople?

Frustration flashes through me. Because I fuckingcan’twith this woman. I have her by the fucking throat, yet she still thinks she has even a sliver of control?

More than you’ll ever have.

Using the grip on her neck, I drag her against me, my other hand delving deep into her wet hair, wrenching her head back so the rain makes her eyelids dance.

“I have enough pets.” I glare at her through the water drops streaking down my glasses. “What I want is to know why you’re so fucking desperate to leave when all you have to go back to is a burned down diner.”

She stares at me with incredulity, eyes wide, lips parted.

The hands holding my wrist relax like she’s forgotten I’m seconds away from strangling her. She scans my face, stopping just long enough on my mouth to make my lips tighten. Then she looks into my eyes with a hard frown.

“It was you,” she rasps. “I thought Howler was the monster, but it wasyouall along.”

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