My captor kept marching, my head and arms swinging back and forth as I laid heavily over his shoulder.
“Someone… is going… to come and find us.”
He laughed again, his hands clenching over my ass, his fingers digging in my flesh. That did it. I let out a shriek and started to struggle harder. My fists thumped on his back, but he barely even flinched.
Realizing my advantage in this position, I drew my knee back before slamming it forward between his thighs. I missed my target, but he hissed.
His hand came down on my ass, hard. He tsked, taunting me.
I was so close to bursting into tears, dread and horror filling every cell in my body. I continued to wrestle with him.
If I was going to die, I’d die fighting.
When my knee slammed forward again – missing its target once more – he finally relinquished his hold on me. My captor dumped me on the grass, without a care, like a sack of useless potatoes.
He had taken me away from the mausoleum and the haunted house and deposited me behind the school – where no one could see us, no one could come to my rescue.
I inched back, still on my ass. My whole body shook with tremors, and I finally faced him.
My chin wobbled at the sight of him, a deep sated fear instilled inside of me. I was going to die tonight. This man was going to hurt me. That’s it.
I survived on the operating table only to be left to die in the field behind Berkshire Academy.
His face was covered with a black purge mask, with glowing red LED lights. He had a dark hoodie on, with its hood over his head, and black ripped jeans.
The sight of him was right out of my nightmare.
He moved forward, and I put my hands out, as if to ward him away. “Don’t come near me. Don’t touch me.”
Please.
The pit of my stomach quaked, and I really thought I was going to piss myself in fear.
Purge mask man stalked me as I kept inching back. The cool wet grass soaked through my jeans, but I didn’t care.
He was having fun, feeding on my fear and silently taunting me.
He stopped a foot away and squatted down in front of me. His arm reached out as if to touch me, and I shrank away. “Touch me and I’ll break your arm. I’ll do it.”
He pulled his hand back, tsking again. He shook his head, as if he was disappointed in my threats. Slowly, he brought his hand to his face and pulled the purge mask off.
Uneasiness tickled down my spine, my body filled with apprehension.
The mask came off and dark blue eyes met mine.
Full smirking lips and a face I knew very well.
“Maddox,” I breathed.
“Boo,” he rumbled.
All the horror and confusion slipped away, replaced with anger. My jaw snapped together, and I clenched my teeth.
“Are you freaking serious?”
The previous chill running down my spine disappeared as my blood boiled.
“Why are you so set on terrorizing me?” I snarled. Jesus Christ, he almost gave me a heart attack. Fury rolled off in heated waves. Seething, I curled my legs from underneath me, sitting up. I still couldn’t stand up, since my legs were still shaky and weak.
He grinned, almost boyishly, except I saw the mischief in his eyes. I was dancing on the edge of danger with this boy. Against my better judgement, my gaze traveled the length of his body as he stayed squatting down in front of my kneeling form. He was hard and sculptured everywhere, in all the right places. Definitely not a boy. Man. Fuck. Whatever-he-is.
“It’s fun,” he finally said, snapping me out of my thoughts and forcing my eyes away from his body. I looked into his icy blue eyes instead.
I was stunned into silence for a second. “It’s fun?” I sputtered. “It's fun to scare the shit out of people? Was that your friend who took Riley away, too? This is not funny!”
Maddox shrugged like it was no big deal. I could feel myself glaring at him, my eyes turning into slits as I regarded my nemesis with utter distaste. If I could breathe fire, I would have fumes coming out of my nose.
My jaw clenched at the way he kept grinning. It made me angrier. It unsettled me. “What are you? A psychopath? Because that’s the only explanation. No sane person thinks it's fun to scare someone else to the point they thought they were going to die!”
I fought the urge to punch him and claw his beautiful eyes out. What was it about him that make me lose all my control?
Oh right. Maddox Coulter was an asshole.
He cocked his head to the side, one side of his lip turning up slightly. Maddox then released a deep chuckle, his wide chest vibrating with a decadent sound. “That’s new,” he whispered, his voice raspy. It made the tiny hair on my bare arms stand up.
“What?”
He was still smirking. Fuck you, I mentally slapped him. “I have been called many names before. Been swore at so many times, I lost count about three years ago. But being called a psychopath? That's a first.”
I gaped at him. Was this guy joking or seriously just insane?
Maddox brought his head closer to me, his body leaning into mine. He brought warmth with him, and I didn't like that. He wasn't supposed to be warm. He wasn't supposed to smell nice. He wasn't supposed...
“I like it.”
His lips were only an inch away from mine. His face so close I could feel his minty breath feathering over my skin. I stayed still, completely still. If I moved, our lips would touch.
My fists clenched, and I squeezed them over my thighs. “What?” I breathed.
“I like it. You calling me a psychopath. It’s new. It's different.” He was still too close. He was still grinning like a fucking loon. He was still so warm...he still smelled so good...
My body seemed to overheat with his presence. My heart thudded in my chest. “You are crazy,” I whispered.
His eyes glinted with something mischievous and roguish. “Wanna see just how crazy I am, Sweet Cheeks?”
9
Lila
There always comes a time in your life when your tenacity is tested, and when that happens, you have two choices: you either run away with your tail tucked between your legs, or you stand up for yourself.
Maddox has been playing me, pushing and pushing until I reached the end of my rope and snapped. He wanted to remind me he had the power to make me lose control.
He craved the hunt, to be the hunter – the predator, to be at the top of the food chain, doling out punishments as he deemed necessary.
Being an asshole was his way of living, I guessed he didn’t know how to be anything else.
He knew exactly how to make his victims feel small to the extent that all you can do is cower away.
My blood pumped hot. Shaking away the terror and fury coursing through my veins, I stood up. Maddox pulled away and came up to his feet, too, standing to his full height. The crooked grin plastered on his face infuriated me, but I channeled all my frustration.
“What do you want from me, Maddox?”
He raised one perfect eyebrow, without saying a word, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans and rocking back on his feet, quite nonchalantly.
“You’re the most frustrating person I’ve ever come across.”
“Why, thank you. I take that as a compliment.” He was still smirking.
My mother always told me to avoid trouble and look away. The least attention you give to bullies, the more disinterested they’ll become.