Page 42 of Phantom Flower

“You’re doing this on purpose. You’re trying to scare me.”

Dimitri did not deny it. He just kept driving.

“You can only like it with me, little fairy.”

“The thrill of being forced and scared. Only I’m allowed to give that to you. No one else.”

I felt tears gathering in my eyes. The car was going too fast, but even now he was right. With Tyler I had been ready to really fight and do whatever it took to get away from him. But with Dimitri, even when I was defiant and pushed him away most of the time, I liked how he touched me. I was not really trying my best to stop him. He scared me and brought me to the edge of a panic attack, but even now I felt a thrill, probably because I knew there was no real danger.

“I hate you,” I said, my eyes watering.

“You can hate me, little fairy. You can fight me. You can run. But at the end of the day you’re still going to get in this car when I tell you to. And you’re still going to let me take you wherever I want.”

He glanced at me.

“And you’re going to like it. Even when it scares you.”

Chapter 12

Dimitri Morozov

My knuckles were split again, and the ache in my ribs felt good after I fought Alexei in the ring. The motherfucker had not held back, but that was good. I had not wanted him to.

Ilya was already sprawled across the bench, spinning that damn silver knife between his fingers. He never went anywhere without it. It was like a fidget spinner to him, some kind of stress relief.

Alexei leaned against the lockers, watching him with that blank expression, but I could tell he was annoyed. Probably because Ilya would not stop yapping.

“I’m telling you,” Ilya said, “if that whore shows up near my sister one more fucking time, I’m going to put a blade through his throat and watch him choke on it. He’s been sniffing around her like a stray dog. Every time I turn around, there he is. At the gallery. At that stupid café she likes. He even showed up at one of her exhibitions last week.”

Ah. “Whore” meant Kento Kurosaki. Ilya had deep beef with that one. They had been going back and forth ever since Kento joined the school at Goldcrest, where Ilya’s sister also went.

Alexei grunted. “You already threatened him once.”

“I threatened him twice,” Ilya corrected, flipping the knife faster. “The second time I told him if I saw him within ten feet of her again, I’d make sure he’d never be able to fuck anyone with whatever’s left of his dick. He laughed. Laughed. Like I was joking. I was not joking.”

“You were probably smiling when you said it,” Alexei muttered.

“I was being polite,” Ilya shot back. “Next time I won’t be.”

I dropped onto the bench beside him and started wrapping my hands again. “If you want him dead, just say it. I’ll handle it.”

Ilya gave me a grin. “Tempting. But I want to do it myself.”

Alexei rolled his eyes but did not comment. He knew better than to get between Ilya and one of his moods.

We moved into the ring a few minutes later. The gym was mostly empty this late. Just the three of us. I went at it hard with Alexei again while Ilya leaned against the ropes, offering commentary like the annoying little shit he was.

“Left hook’s sloppy today, Dima.”

“Fuck off.”

“Your footwork’s off too. You keep dropping your guard when you’re thinking about something. Or someone. A flower boy, perhaps?”

I ignored him and drove a hard body shot into Alexei’s ribs. He absorbed it with a grunt and answered with a straight right that snapped my head back.

We circled. Traded blows.

Until Ilya’s voice cut through it.