Page 17 of Manic

Did he have me pick out my own fucking books for entertainment because he’d planned on kidnapping me? He was a psychopath. What the fuck was wrong with him?

I fisted my hands as a fresh wave of anger consumed me. The car jolted over a bump when we crossed a bridge, sending the book beside me skidding closer to my thigh. Before I could second guess the terrible idea, I hurled a hardback at Manic’s face with a growl.

He let out an oof, and I was hurling another one.

Two hit him before he shot across the limo and gripped my throat, seizing my breath. He growled and his knee pressed between my thighs, driving into the bench seat.

“Do I need to stop?” Grave asked.

I blinked, my lips parting because I almost forgot he was there. More lights flooded the cabin, enough to catch Manic clenching his jaw as blood slipped down the bridge of his nose.

Good, I hoped it hurt.

Then his expression softened, his jaw smoothing out.

“No,” Manic told Grave, but his hand tightened around my throat, and I whimpered. “Don’t make this hard, Sutton. I need your cooperation. I won’t hurt you.” He pulled back to look at me, brows creasing, and loosened his grip. “I won’t hurt you, but you need to cooperate. It’s only for a little while.”

“Fuck you,” I managed, writhing beneath him. His features hardened again. “You’re a fucking psychopath. If you think for one second I won’t put up a fight, then you don’t know me at all. You’d think after almost five years of pissing me off at those stupid events, you would have picked up on something by now.”

He shook his head, disappointed. “That was the wrong thing to say.”

I cried out from the sting on the side of my neck, and my hand flew to the wound. Did he just drug me?

Dizziness clouded my vision, the drug encompassing my entire body within seconds. My eyelids turned heavy, then my arms went limp, falling to my sides. Manic’s whispered apology brushed my ear as my head fell back. And for a brief, flickering moment, I believed him right before my eyes drifted closed.

5

MANIC

As I stared at Sutton lying in one of my guest bedrooms, something unfamiliar settled beneath my ribs. A dull, aching thud.

I balled my hands into fists.

I left her unbound, a mercy I didn’t give others. She’d be grateful when she rose, because she would come to realize that what I did was for her own safety. It was for her safety.

Though tonight wasn’t what I expected, it was the only way we could make it seem as if she’d left willingly.

Moonlight caught her hair, pale against the sheets as the curtains swayed beneath the ceiling fan. Her chest rose and fell in steady, drug-filled breaths. I lingered two seconds longer than necessary, transfixed on her delicate frame, before scanning my thumb over the digital lock.

Grave approached from down the hall, his polished Oxford shoes echoing a steady beat. He shoved his hair back before smoothing his suit jacket.

“I’m going to take off and dump the car,” Grave said with a convincing smile. “The team will splice the footage after I leave. You good with her for now?”

“She’s going to be pissed when she wakes,” I said.

“No more pissed than she will be after finding out what Daddy’s been doing behind the curtain,” he said, and a beat of silence passed between us. Then he added, “Are you really planning on leaving?”

“Better than staying.”

Grave scoffed and pulled out a pack of smokes from the inside of his jacket. He tucked one behind his ear, then clapped my shoulder and grinned. “Big brother, if there’s anything you’re good at, it’s poker, killing, and fucking. I think you’d miss ruining people's lives too much.”

“I can find pussy and poker anywhere.”

Relationships of any kind were not my strong suit, including women. But if I had needs, I typically found a woman when I played poker at the club. It was never personal—no kissing or exchanging of information—just a transaction long enough to satisfy me.

Grave chuckled as his phone buzzed and pulled it out. The screen lit up the rugged lines of his cheekbones before he slid it back into his pocket. “Down for some cards tonight? The club could use a drop in from you.”

I shook my head.