Page 70 of Captive Audience

I shoved at his shoulders, but he was too big. Too strong.

Then he trapped my wrists in one hand and held them between us.

Maybe it was the darkness of the room or the fact that I was barely awake, but I couldn’t stop the panic clawing up my throat.

Dread roiled in my stomach. A cold sweat broke out across my skin. I couldn’t breathe, could hardly see.

Suddenly, I wasn’t in Rook’s bed, and it was another man smothering me.

Pinned. Powerless.

Beer breath. Stale cologne.

No one around to hear my muffled cries pleading for it to end.

“Stop,” I said, my voice sharp with fear.

Rook released me instantly. It was enough to bring me back from the brink. To get air into my lungs again.

His eyes darted over me, looking for whatever had caused me to freak out.

“Easy, Wildfire,” he murmured as if soothing a nervous horse. “You’re safe with me.”

Rook might be manipulative, dangerous, and possessive to the point of obsession—facts I could never forget—but he wasn’t likehim. Both my gut and my head told me that.

“What was that?” he asked.

I blinked away the moisture in my eyes. “Nothing.”

“It was definitely something. You looked bloody terrified.”

“Maybe that’s because you’re terrifying.”

“Aye, but not to you. You’ve looked at me like you want to murder me plenty of times, but you’ve never looked at me like that.”

Words stuck in my throat. How did I explain this?

Rook tilted his head, narrowed his eyes. He looked deep into my soul, and I could’ve sworn he saw every horrid memory there.

Then he stilled completely except for a flexing at his jaw. Every muscle in his body tensed.

“Who?” he growled. “Who hurt you?”

“We’re not talking about this.” I turned my face away, not wanting him to see fresh tears forming.

He clasped my chin and forced my gaze back to his. “Tell me. I want a name and last known location. Photo if you have it.”

“Rook—”

“I’ll kill him for what he did to you.”

Of course he would. It was the only language he knew.

Maybe part of me wanted that, too.

And maybe an even sicker part of me was excited that Rook would deliver justice to my abuser in a way I’d only ever dreamed about.

But it wasn’t as simple as that.