Page 101 of Malice
Veering off the path, I weaved through the stones as I raced for the taller crypts, hoping to hide. I looked over my shoulder, but Jace was gone. Not seeing him was worse than knowing where he was.
“Ah,” I cried out as my left knee clipped a tall tombstone. I sucked in a sharp breath as the pain lanced through my leg and hobbled my stride. A flicker of movement caught my eye, and I looked to my left, staring at the long shadows cast by the moon and the tall crypts.
“Oh fuck,” I whispered as I spotted Jace’s shadow and quickly looked up.
“Where do you think you’re going, Peaches?” he asked, and even though I couldn’t see his face, I could feel the smirk. A shiver shot down my spine while the rest of my body heated with words that weren’t a threat but sounded like one.
“Leave me alone, Jace,” I panted out and darted away from the shadow of the crypts.
I didn’t make it three strides before I was hoisted off the ground like I weighed nothing. My back pressed into his hard chest, and my brain and body fought for control, each wanting very different things.
“Is that what you really want?” he growled in my ear as he hauled back into the dark shadows.
His arm felt like an iron vise squeezing the air out of my chest, and my brain screamed to fight, but the feeble smacks at his arm and wiggling were doing nothing. I needed to get mean if I wanted to get free. The question then became, why was I not fighting for my life?
With a spin and a hard shove, I was pressed against the cold wall of the crypt with my hands pinned above my head. Breathing heavily, I glared into Jace’s silver, seductive, and terrifying eyes that glinted in the moonlight. His other hand clamped over my mouth when I opened it to scream, and he shook his head.
“I don’t think you really want to do that, Peaches,” he said, his body pressing into mine and setting it on fire. I nipped at his finger, fully intending to bite him hard, but only hung on as his teeth grazed the soft skin on my neck, and I quivered in his hold.
I reluctantly let go of the finger, and he removed his hand. His lips hovered over mine, and the heat of his body pressing into me was a stark contrast to the cool wall at my back.
“You going to bite me if I kiss you, Peaches?” The tip of his tongue flicked out and ran across my bottom lip, and my eyes narrowed.
“Try it and see what happens,” I threatened.
His response was to rub his body against mine, and the desire I’d managed to kick down pushed my efforts aside. My eyes closed with a soft moan as he thrust forward with his hips, and I could feel the bulge of his cock pressing into me through his jeans. I knew exactly what he looked like with that silver ring pierced through the tip, and I still hadn’t gotten a taste. I’d watched Avro play with it, and my mouth was once more watering with the thought.
What the hell was wrong with me?
I tried to pull my arms away again, but he didn’t budge, and the only way out was to really hurt him.
“Fuck off, Jace.”
Jace didn’t even flinch as I tried again to free myself. Instead, he grabbed my lower lip with his teeth, and the aching between my thighs intensified.
“Let go, Jace,” I mumbled, sounding pathetic even to my ears.
Releasing my lip, he smirked. “Oh no, Peaches. I know you don’t really want that. You want me to rip these jeans off of you and fuck you right here. It’s morbid and sick, and you fucking love it.”
“No, I don’t,” I said, turning my head away so he couldn’t see the truth of his words lying bare in my eyes. “You’re the liar,” I spit out, using the only bullet I had.
“Oh really, and why is that?” he asked, seeming genuinely amused.
“You say that you don’t care about me, that you didn’t want any of this, and Avro is forcing it on you.” I turned my head to glare at him.
“That is what happened,” Jace drawled, cocking his eyebrow.
“I call bullshit. I’ve only been around you a few days, and I can tell you don’t want to go. You don’t want to leave Avro, but more than that, you’re different. Do you think I haven’t done my research on you? I’ve watched you at these fancy award shows and the social media posts. I’ve listened to the last few songs you’ve released, and they all have one thing in common.”
His eyes narrowed. “Oh, yeah, and what is that, Peaches?”
“They’re uninspiring,” I snarled. “They scream that you want out.”
Jace’s hands tightened on my wrists, and he made a growling sound that had a shudder ripping throughout my body.
“You don’t know anything.”
It was my turn to give him a cocky grin. “Oh, but I do. You’re not the only one who people-watches, Jace. I’ve spent my entire life sitting away from others with my eyes and ears open. Everything you do when you’re around Avro is different. You don’t want to travel the world. Maybe you never did. Deep down, you knew that Avro would break away from you. You knew he would do exactly what you told him not to.”
