Page 10 of No Way Out
“Why are you so…” He paused, as if he was calculating his next word. “Anxious?”
My breath hitched and caught like a bubble in my chest.
I didn’t respond.
“Answer me, Camila.” His demand was laced with authority, even through the voice changer.
“You’re threatening me.” I couldn’t help the anger in my voice, the thought that just an hour ago, a stranger had witnessed me vulnerable, caught in a moment of complicated bliss and emotions with a man I’d admired as a mentor for the last two years.
A moment I had been secretly wishing for in the back of my mind even in a devoted, monogamous relationship.
He was going to use it against me.
“Did I say that?” He cut through my thoughts as if he could hear them.
“Then what do you want?” I snapped, my teeth clinking together in annoyance.
A dark chuckle filled the space around us, his hands releasing my shoulders.
“I want to play with my food before I eat it.” The voice lingered, suspended in the air, belonging to no one and coming from nowhere all at once.
What did that mean? What the fuck did he want from me?
“Run, darkling. Run as fast as you can,” he thundered in my ears.
A sharp scream filled the air in the distance, setting off a violent drumming in my heart.
My feet moved beneath me, no message from my brain to my body necessary. I ran, faster than ever before, only slowing down when the abrupt dead ends of the maze forced me to turn and find another way.
Where the fuck was Naya?
Where the fuck wasanything?
Sweat beaded at my temple before trickling down the side of my face, my stomach cramping from the most exercise my body had seen in at least a decade.
“Don’t be scared, little darkling,” his voice found me again.
“I’m not scared,” I lied. Iwasscared.
Scared of what he could do to Harkins’ career, my reputation.
Scared of a man? Of something made of flesh and bone and weakness? Not so much.
But this game, this chase, was igniting something deep inside me that my body so desperately craved.
The give and take, the control and surrender.
It could be addicting.
“Play my game, little darkling.” The scarecrow’s voice circled around me.
“What do you want?” I bit back.
“Run. Run until you make it out.” This time, his voice wasn’t masked by the voice changer, a hint of familiarity tugging at my brain.
“That sounds exhausting.” I said, not bothering to hide my annoyance. I shifted my weight again, “What happens if I get out?”
“Then your little secret…dies with me.” I felt his breath in my ear.
