Page 45 of The Monster of Hotel No. 7
Before I can grow angrier, she does as I say.
I feel her muscles flex as she bends her knees, sliding the soles of her Vans along the bottom half of the chair, then drawing them up tight to her body.
She doesn’t spread her legs, though, instead keeping them tight together as I run my hand up the inside of one, trying to put distance between her kneecaps.
She resists, never looking away from me.
“Karia,” I whisper quietly, knowing Stein would have already punished me for this. And I could hit her or force her or something worse, but I have already done so much. Maybe I should just let her believe I am the worst kind of monster but there is a sickening sliver of me wanting her to think something more.
“I wanted you to touch me, did you know?” she asks quietly, disrupting my pathetic thoughts. “Growing up, I imagined you… all the time.”
I freeze with her words, my hand stalled on her thigh. The feeling of falling overtakes me, despite the fact I am sitting.
It’s how I felt when she called mehandsomeandgorgeous.
Liar.
She is a beautiful little liar.
No one has ever called me those things before.
And no one has ever imaginedmetouching them.
“I wanted to kiss you. I wished you were fucking me when it was Cosmo, or Von.”
My cock grows hard, hearing the words, and I try my best to ignore it. Stein would laugh at me whenever he saw me become erect, and although he never truly sexually assaulted me, the humiliation of his amusement at my body was painful enough.
“You saw me, the Night of Lies?” She swallows hard as my face grows hot. “You watched Cosmo touch me, didn’t you? Lick me? Fuck me?”
How could she know that?
I don’t answer her, unwilling to admit I stalked her the entire night to floor thirteen. I slipped inside after they did, and I crept around in the shadows while Cosmo made her another drink.
“Were you jealous? Did you want to hurt him?”
I wanted to do more than that. Decapitate him and fuck her next to his headless body.But I wanted to see her so badly, listen to the noises she made, I couldn’t stop it. Them.
“I wanted it to be you, Sullen.”
I shake my head once.You are full of shit.“I don’t know why you’re telling me this.” My heart is pumping so hard in my chest it feels like it might crack my ribcage, and that is not a good feeling.
I would know.
“You think this is torture, don’t you? For me?” She glances down, presumably at my hand cupped around her thigh. Then she looks up at me through her long lashes; I have each one memorized in my mind. “I’ve wanted this for a long time.”
“You are a fucking liar.” The words are a brittle snarl. I want her to stop.Don’t give me this jagged hope. It hurts.
“I’m not.”
“You are.”I grip her tighter.
“Bruise me,” she whispers. “Do it. Go on. I want it all.”
“Stop, Karia.”
“Hurt me. Break my bones if you want. Peel my skin. Pull my hair. Push me so hard I throw up. I want you to, Sullen Rule. I always have.”
“You are full of shit.” I release her, my fingers trembling as I hold them up, like I could stop myself from doing all those things she said. “You want soft and sweet and spoiled. You don’t know pain. You are fucking with my head.”
