Dutch slows the car in a grassy lot overlooking the city and the violent surge that takes over my entire being makes it hard to breathe. How does a human kill a monster? Poison? Silver-tipped arrow? Holy water?
“Come to the front, Cadey.” There’s an edge of danger in his voice that says I might not like what happens if I don’t comply.
“If I call the cops, it’s over for you.”
Dutch keeps his attention straight forward, his mouth a cruel slash across his face.
“Call them. Go ahead.”
“Is that a threat?” I bristle.
“No, Cadey.” His jaw clenches. I can see the vein popping on his temple as if he’s trying to restrain himself and failing. “Out of everyone in this world, you’re the only one who can destroy me and I wouldn’t retaliate. Send me to jail if you want. But we’re talking first.”
My brows go up. “You’re such a good liar. Consider acting, Dutch. You’d win awards.”
His shoulders tense.
Silence reigns in the car.
I glare at the back of his head. Full blond hair. Muscles taut against his Redwood Prep sweater. White and gold. Preppy. Except the guy who’s wearing it looks far too dangerous to pull ‘preppy’ off.
“Come. To. The. Front,” he growls. “Or would you rather I go back there instead?”
At the threat, my brows go up.
“I get options?” My voice is thick with mockery. “Aren’t you going to just grab me by the hair and drag me over like your own personal plush toy? Why stop there? Why not order me to take my clothes off so you can have another round of unprotected—”
“Is that what you want?” His jaw ticks, and he looks at me like I’m the most unhinged person he’s ever come across. “Do you want me to drag you over my lap and screw you against the steering wheel instead of talking this out, Cadey?” He barks, his eyes two burning flames. “Because I can do that, but you’re not going to enjoy it.”
How does he know I won’t enjoy it?
My face flushes. When I close my eyes, I can feel the rough press of his body on mine, the brief pain and then the intense pleasure of him filling me up.
I hate myself for the thought.
Or maybe I just plain hate myself.
I know how dangerous Dutch is. I know he’s only using me. Just like Jinx. Just like Jarod Cross.
I’m their plaything.
I have been since I set foot in Redwood Prep.
But it doesn’t matter.
I’ll take from them. I’ll take just as much as they took from me.
“Why are you so damn stubborn?” The last word snaps in my face like a taut rubber band. “You know what most couples do when they have a misunderstanding, Cadey? They use words. They hash it out. And then they move on.”
“We are not a couple.”
“Then what the hell are we?”
“I don’t know, Dutch? You tell me! You’re obviously the one in charge here.” My hands are trembling so hard, I have to stuff them beneath my skirt and sit on them.
Dutch grits his teeth, more veins protruding in his neck. He wrenches his door open and pops out of the car.
At first, I think he’s going to stalk off and cool his head, but then I see him approaching the back door. I quickly slam the lock.
He pulls on the handles and arches a brow when he’s denied access.
I tilt my head to the side, smug.
Without any shift in his expression, Dutch digs his fingers into his pocket and uses the alarm to open the car.
I shriek when he yanks me out and pulls me around the car, and then he’s grabbing my waist and pushing me on the hood. My hands slide around his neck.
“What are you doing?” I scream, wrapping my legs around him to keep from getting burned. Most cars get extremely hot under the hood. Is he trying to melt my skin off?
But when Dutch drops me on top of his car, it’s not that hot.
“This is an electric,” Dutch says. Calm as a freaking bug. “You think I’d do anything that would hurt you, Cadey?”
“You can’t hurt me, Dutch. Not anymore. Not when I know the real you.”
His eyes narrow. He studies me with that hot, penetrating gaze. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m not discussing this with you.” I unwind my legs from his waist and move to hop off the car. Dutch slams his hands on either side of my thighs, caging me in.
Leaning forward, he grinds out, “You’re not going anywhere until you tell me what the hell you’re thinking.”
I scowl at him.
He looks right at me with those amber eyes of his, wraps his fingers around my ankles and jerks. I careen back, my elbows digging into metal as he drags me to the edge of the hood. With a snap of his wrists, he locks one of my legs around him.
My breath comes in sharp, hot spurts.
“What are you doing?” I squirm. The movement only causes more friction. “I thought you just wanted to talk?”
“We can talk like this.” With both of my legs secured around him, Dutch leans forward again. He gives me a pointed look that says you better give me what I want.
Fine. He wants to play games?
“Where were you at eleven last night?” I snap.
His eyes widen imperceptibly. It’s only a brief shock before his expression returns to its default setting. He doesn’t answer immediately, but I can hear the wheels turning in his head.
As the silence builds, so does my anger.
I fall into the fury all over again.
“I let you around my sister,” I hiss, my breathing erratic with anger at the mere mention of Viola. “I trusted you against my better judgement. And you were selling drugs, you sick piece of—”
“Your mother called me yesterday.” He’s watching me. Every flicker of my eyes. Every change of my expression.
“M-my mother is dead.”
“We both know that’s not true, Cadey.” He tilts his head slightly, looking down at me with that cold, calculating expression.
I suddenly find it hard to breathe.
“She asked to meet me alone, so I went. She said she had dirt on my father and gave me the address to find it. We met some guy who gave us a package, but it turned out to be useless.”
“I don’t believe you.” My voice is weak. I’m grasping at straws.
Dutch fishes out his cell phone and plays back a recording.
I pale when I hear my mother’s voice. “Forty-Sixth and third, Hamshire Street. Eleven o’clock.”
“If that’s not enough, I’m willing to take a drug test to prove that I’m clean. I meant it when I said I never touch the stuff. And I never will.”
My eyes widen.
He stares down at me, contemplative. “I thought I saw a motorcycle tailing us that night. Where did you get the bike? How did you know where we were going to be?”
I open my mouth and then close it.
Dutch leans in, his lips hovering close to mine. “Is this why you’ve been meeting my dad after class? Did he ask you to spy on us?”
“N-no.” I push at him, feeling too exposed.
I was so sure I was right.
So sure he was the villain he’s always presented himself to be.
But when there are villains everywhere you turn, no one can be trusted.
Dutch refuses to let me run. He bends all the way down, flattening my back against the car. His eyes are hot enough to brand my face. I clench my teeth, trying hard to fight the blazing connection between us.
“Don’t lie to me, Cadey.” Dutch nips at my jaw, his mouth grazing my cheek to my ear. “I’ll believe you.”
His weight on top of me snaps the bonds of my restraint and sends up flashes of desire in the caverns of my body. I feel like I’m suffering whiplash. Back and forth. Hate and misunderstandings.
But the only thing that’s remained consistent… is this blazing pull between us.
A tug of cosmic proportions.
An antidote to the numbness.
My hand slides up Dutch’s abs, feeling taut muscle under the fabric of his uniform. How fair is this to him? To answer his question about secrets and trust with lust and desire?
I don’t know.
I don’t know anything anymore.
Dutch’s eyes drop to where my hands are caressing him. Storm clouds slip into his amber eyes.
I grind my hips against his jeans.
He groans.
Yes. Perfect.
I’m reeling from my mother’s duplicity and unwilling to face what this means going forward. I need a distraction from the chaos. A way to sidestep all the painful, harmful truths that I can’t handle yet.
I reach for his face, bringing it toward mine.
“No,” he says sternly.
I jerk to a stop at the rejection.
“Are there any more secrets, Cadey? Anything else I should know about?” He grits his teeth. Hands on either side of me. Knuckles turning white. “Tell me now.”
Secrets?
Like the fact that I’m working with Jinx?
Like the fact that his dad has ‘evidence’ of him dealing drugs because of me?
“What about you?” I deflect.
His eyebrow jumps.
I clutch the back of his neck tightly. My thoughts return to the night in the treehouse. The food delivery the next morning. The fact that he hasn’t brought up any concerns about us skipping protection.
“Is there anything you’re hiding from me?”
“Yes.”
My heart ricochets. I can’t hide my surprise.
“But it’s not my secret to share.”
I stare at him in confusion.
With a stern frown, Dutch cups my chin with his fingers and lifts my face. “Is that all you have to say?”
I narrow my eyes at him.
He waits a bit. And then he shakes his head. “One day, you’re going to be honest with me, Cadence Cooper.”
“Why should I?”
He closes the distance between us and kisses me. His tongue practically burns as it slides between my lips, making room for all the lashing, uncontrollable emotions he sparks to life.
Fire races through my belly, making my sore insides demand more. Demand everything.
Dutch eases back just enough to whisper over my lips, “Because you and me, we’re—”
“Damaged?”
His fingers trace my lips. “Inevitable.”
Heat cascades over me, obliterating the crumbs of self-control that lingered.
I arch my back on the slippery surface of the car hood and bring his head down for an explosive kiss that rocks the soul out of us both, falling so deeply into him that I don’t hear the phone ringing in the backseat…
Jinx: As promised, New Girl. A secret for a secret. Attached is a video of the real culprit setting the fire. Surprised? The cat’s out of the bag and it’s too late to turn back. Once a secret rises from the grave, it can never be buried again.
