Page 38 of Dual

Finally, finally, his gaze slides to me. A slow smirk. Along with a deliberate nudge of my cocktail glass toward me.

Oh, games? We're playing games now?

We both know if I take one drink of that, playing is off the table completely tonight.

I cross my arms, slouching down in my seat like a brat, and shove the glass away with my foot. But then I see it—his glass, untouched beside mine.

So that's how it is.

Is he teasing me? Testing me? Is this a punishment? A promise?

Iam actually trying to play by their stupid rules. I didn't pretend to be Anna tonight. I'm just being my cranky ass self and not pretending to get along with anybody. My patience is hanging by a thread, my secrets stacked like dynamite, andsomething is going to explode—soon. And if it's not my back against a hard surface with my knees by my ears, it's going to be something much, much worse.

"Speaking of progress," Caleb interrupts, pulling Quinn's attention away before I have to cut the bitch, "we finally got the renovations done on the east wing. New bondage frames, better soundproofing—the works."

"About time," Marcus mutters. "Some of the old equipment was starting to look like a tetanus risk."

"Everything here meets safety standards," Caleb says staunchly. Fucker is always wiping down and sanitizing everything any second he's not at the bar even though he's hired people to do it, too.

Quinn snorts. "Tell that to my ass after that spanking bench collapsed under me."

Laughter. Talking. Useless fucking words. I barely hear them. My focus is singular. Domhnall. He isn't listening to them either. His eyes flick between his friends and me, darker by the second.

And then—oh. Oh.

He stands.

My pulse skyrockets, and my nails bite into my palms.

Does this mean he's decided the night's over and we're leaving or?—

He extends his hand.

"Would you like to play, love?"

My entire body goes tight, drawn to him like a star collapsing in on itself. The sheer audacity of him, to make mewait, to string me along, to act as if Iamnot already on the verge of tearing him apart with my bare hands and devouring every piece.

Oh, Domhnall.

You have no idea what you've just unleashed.

I leap to my feet, heat flashing through my body like a live wire.

Domhnall's fingers tighten around mine as he leads me across the club, weaving through the lazy Saturday night crowd until we reach the newest addition to Caleb's house of depravity—the Spider's Web.

Ten feet of polished black steel make a square with interlocking chains woven into an intricate, cruel web-like design. My breath comes sharp and uneven, my pulse thudding against my ribs. I'm all but vibrating in place.

"Really?" I breathe. "We get to try out the newest toy?"

Caleb just had it installed last week, and I've been staring at it ever since, imagining all the ways Domhn could use it to ruin me.

Domhn tilts his head, studying me. "That depends."

Oh, I know that look. My thighs clench.

"Have you been a good girl?"

My mind flickers to my secret headquarters, to the screens still aglow with the digital ghosts of my sins. I don't blink. Don't break from his stare.