Page 44 of Better Run
I glare at his blue eyes. “Did you brush your teeth this morning? Nasty.”
He crushes his mouth to mine. His lips are bruising, punishing. He bites at my lip, hard. I gasp and taste blood. He swoops his tongue into my mouth and licks along the tops of my bottom teeth. I taste spearmint and blood.
“You be the judge.” His eyes light with mirth. With the hand on the back of my neck, he shoves me toward the kitchen island. “Eat.”
I stiffly sit on the barstool. “I’m not going to, and you can’t make me. You starve one of us, you starve us both.”
Jayden sets a plate in front of me with bacon, scrambled eggs, and a pile of pancakes drenched in golden syrup. “We can and will make you. You aren’t going on a hunger strike for her.”
I shove the plate away. “Just what bad thing did she do? Break up with you? As a matter of fact, what bad thing did I do? I’ve never met you before, and I wish I never had, you evil, kidnapping mother fuck—”
Cole is behind me in a blink. He fists my hair and yanks my head back, laughing in my ear. “God, that smart mouth on you. I love it.” He digs his fingers into my jaw and I cry out from the pain of it. Something moves above me, and Jayden forks food into my mouth. He then clamps his hand over my mouth and pinches my nose.
I can’t breathe. I panic, thrashing back and forth, but Cole’s hold on my hair is hard and burns.
“Chew, swallow, and you can breathe again.”
I feel like I’m choking. I claw my hands at Jayden’s arms, earning me an eye-watering tug on my hair.
“Chew. And swallow.” Cole’s breath is hot in my ear.
I keep fighting, but it gets me nowhere. My lungs burn. Finally, I chew whatever is in my mouth. It’s tasteless. I swallow. It’s hard to with my neck cranked back.
They immediately let me go. I suck in deep breaths, the air sweet. I look at Jayden and his pupils are dilated.
“You going to keep doing that for every bite?”
“Fuck. You,” I say. But I grab the fork and stab it into some eggs.
“Good girl.” Jayden goes back to eating.
I don’t have an appetite anymore, but force myself to eat. The pancakes have a bitter taste to them, and I almost spit them out. “What’s in this?”
“No excuses, kitten. They’re fine. Eat.”
I try another bite, but they taste wrong. “Did you put too much baking powder in?”
“We can go back to feeding you if you like.”
“No. I don’t ‘like’.” I glare and force the rest of the food down. “Can I go to my room?”
“No.” The men start cleaning up breakfast.
I glare at them, feeling stuffed. They chat on about the weather and how it’s supposed to snow tonight.
A wave of dizziness passes through me. I blink.
“Gonna drop to the teens tonight too.”
The salt and pepper shakers start to wave, then return to solid again. Jayden stands behind me and wipes the table.
Warmth floods me. What is going on? I try to stand but it takes a long time for my legs to move. Jayden stays behind me, still talking to Cole.
“I—” My tongue feels fuzzy. I blink. When I open my eyes, I’m slumped over the table. I feel happy. Something tells me I should be upset. I just grin and look at the crumbs on the wood. Pancakes. The pancakes! They put something in my pancakes.
I try to get up, but now my legs really don’t work. Cole moves in front of me. Mirth fills me and I laugh. I have no defenses against them now. I just laugh harder.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
