Page 149 of Cruel Pleasures

My obsessive tendencies have been different. Less practical, more fueled by passion. I’ve taken to watching her sleep. Watching her shower. Watching her in any private moment I can.

Taking complete advantage of any chance I’ve had to… experience her in a way I’d craved. Even if it meant just inhaling her scent or stroking her hair.

Like with Ryu’s machinations, Imani’s been oblivious to mine.

She’s sensed things have been off without being fully aware of why.

“Get out,” she manages after a moment of stilted breathing. “Both of you!”

“We won’t be going anywhere,” I say. “We’ve come to collect you.”

“Collect me?! What have I told you about treating me like a prize? I’m not your prize and I said that I don’t want to be pulled into your feud!”

“Listen,” Ryu says. “For once, stop reacting all at once. Just listen.”

She blinks, thrown by his command. “I don’t have to listen to either of you.”

“But you will, minx. We’ve given you plenty of time and space.” I stroll toward her, hands in my pockets. “We’ve taken into consideration everything you’ve said. We’ve discussed everything that’s happened, and we’ve come to a very important conclusion.”

“And what would that be?”

“You’re coming home with us.”

“H-home? As in… where?”

“You know where,” I say with a casual shrug of my arms. “You’ll be coming back to the isle.”

The stare she gives me is pure shock blended with confusion. “The isle? With both of you?”

“Minxy, it’s time you admit what drove you away in the first place. You couldn’t—and wouldn’t—choose between us, is that right?”

Her lips part to speak before the words seem to elude her and her brows knit closer.

“You were overwhelmed,” I say. “You had two men devoted to you, competing for you, who you wanted equally, and you couldn’t bring yourself to choose. So, for a woman like you, who prides herself on surviving on her own, you chose neither. You opted to run away from the two things you desperately wanted.”

“You have no idea what I want.”

“We know enough,” Ryu cuts in. “We know how empty you’ve been feeling. How numb and alone.”

She shakes her head in denial, though her countenance says differently.

“I’ve existed like you’re existing,” he goes on. He advances much like I have, so that now we’re both towering over her as she sits at the bottom of the staircase. “It’s no way to live. You know it’s not how you want to live.”

“Will you stop telling me what I want? Leave!”

Imani uses the banisters to pull herself to her feet and then turns to dash up the stairs. She makes quick work of them, hopping two or three steps at a time. We’re faster, leaping up after her ’til the gap between us is so short I could reach out and grab her by the shoulder.

I keep the charade going for a while longer. I let her make it to her bedroom as she rushes inside and tries to slam the door shut.

We’re too close behind.

Instead the door bangs all the way open at the force we use. Imani stumbles several steps back and her thoughts flicker over her face.

She knows she’s fucked.

There’ll be no escaping us. We’ve come to take her away tonight and we won’t be accepting no for an answer.

It’s in her best interest. It’s for her happiness and survival, even if she might be too fucking stubborn to admit it’s what she needs.