Page 36 of Peripheral Vision (Tethered in Darkness Duet #1)

Chapter

Twenty-Two

DYLAN

T he sound stops me dead in my tracks as I listen for any further movement.

The dim light through the trees is barely enough to illuminate my surroundings.

For a few moments, only silence greets me, but then from the shadows a hooded figure emerges, blocking my path.

At first I think it’s Fletcher, but the build isn’t right.

This person is too short, too thin to match the dominating presence of my stranger.

Callum? Maybe—but he should still be at work, I can’t imagine it's past two a.m. yet, but I could be wrong.

I square my shoulders before steadying my voice. “Who are you? Why are you out here?”

The figure tilts their head slightly, as if considering my question, and then they step closer.

Their shadow is cast across the ground between the gaps in the trees above, casting brief glimpses of their face beneath the hood.

But I don’t know this person. “Out here? That’s quite the question, and unfortunately the wrong one, as someone could ask you the same.

You should be at home at this hour, it's not safe.”

I take a step back, my stomach tightening with unease at the threat in his tone. “I asked first. ”

Chuckling, the figure takes another measured step toward me and instinctively I reach for my phone, only to realize once again, I don’t have it. “Let’s just say I’m someone with… a vested interest in you. Although they didn’t tell me you would be quite so pretty.”

My pulse spikes, nausea swirling in my gut. Run, my mind screams at me, but I can’t move. The danger in this individual is very real and very threatening, the opposite to what I feel about Fletcher. “Wha-what does that mean?”

“It means,” they say as they continue to close the distance between us, “that you’ve caught someone’s eye. Someone willing to pay a lot for you.”

The words hit me like a slap, keeping me frozen at the sheer weight of their implication. This isn’t random. This is deliberate. “You’re joking,” I manage to choke out.

The figure chuckles darkly. “Oh, I don’t joke about business.” Their hand dips into their pocket and the glint of something metallic catches the faint light, but I can’t make out what it is. “And tonight, darlin, you are business.”

This time when my mind tells me to run, I listen.

I pivot sharply, running back in the opposite direction.

My feet slap against the forest floor, the sound of theirs not too far behind me as I push myself to move faster than I ever thought possible.

“Don’t make this harder than it needs to be!

” they shout, their voice laced with frustration and amusement.

But I don’t look back, continuing my passage through the woods, unsure when I will come out on the other side, or if I will come out on the other side.

How could I have been so stupid to come out here by myself this time of night with no connection to the outside world?

With no way to call for help? Without knowing the layout of the forest?

I veer to the right, narrowly missing a fallen tree, but not noticing the additional branches that layer the ground before they trip me and I fall to my knees.

I’m just getting back to my feet when the figure tackles me from behind, holding my front to the hard ground.

I thrash wildly, screaming—trying anything to dislodge them from their advantage .

“Feisty. I like that. But I told you not to make this harder on yourself because it only makes me harder.” Whoever he is grinds his obvious erection into my backside and I have to fight the vomit threatening to rise.

“I don’t think the boss will mind me testing the product…

” My eyes widen in fear and I continue to try to get him off of me, but it’s no use when he grabs my hair and wrenches my head back, holding up the object he had pulled from his pocket earlier to my neck.

“Stop. Moving.” The sharp bite of the knife digs into my skin and I can feel a slight trickle of blood leaving me no choice but to listen.

“Attagirl... now if you behave, I might promise to only use one hole before we take you… home. Boss wouldn’t like it if I dug into the prize too much before he got his fair share.

He made it very clear he wants to be the one to break you in.

” A tear rolls down my cheek. This cannot be happening.

He lets go of my hair, keeping the knife angled at my neck as he starts to run his hand down my back and over my ass, before cupping me over my most vulnerable spot.

He toys with me there for a few moments before I find the courage to snap my head back, trying to dislodge him in his distracted state, but it only results in pissing him off.

He grabs the back of my head, removing his knife, and slams it into the ground, causing me to see stars before rolling me over to where he’s straddling my front.

“I was going to be kind and ensure you didn’t have to watch me take what you obviously aren’t giving away, but now I think I want you to remember my face as I fuck you to tears.

God knows I want to remember how I made two parts of you weep.

” My eyes are still blurry as they try to focus on his face, and I feel the knife once again pushed against my throat, this time more secure so that if I do move, it’ll undoubtedly nick me.

“You can scream too, if you want. Nobody will hear you out here.”

I hear the sound of him fumbling with his belt buckle before it comes free and he shifts down my body, shoving his hand down the front of my pants, violating me.

I try to clench my legs to prevent him from gaining access to me, but he digs the knife in, causing more blood to spill.

“I would hate to make a mess out of you. Boss won’t be happy that you’re bleeding, and I would hate to blame it on you.

So. Sit. Still,” he grits out, before forcing my legs apart and shoving two fingers inside of me.

I cry out at the invasion, fresh tears now falling in rivers down my face.

“Fuck, you’re tight. Boss won’t even know that I took from you because of how tight you are.

” He continues to pump his two fingers in and out of me before withdrawing and grabbing my pants, sliding them down my hips.

“Look at this…” I can feel him shift even further down, as though to position himself, when suddenly the weight above me is released.

It takes me a few seconds to register the sound of muffled fighting and crunching bones before I hastily pull my pants back up and scoot back against the trunk of a tree.

My hands are shaking as I press myself against the rough bark, my breaths coming in shallow, frantic gasps.

My mind struggles to catch up with what’s happening, but the scene in front of me demands attention.

My vision is still a little blurry but is starting to come back into focus and I recognize the figure who attacked me on the ground, writhing and clutching their ribs, their pained groans cutting through the night.

Standing over them is another figure, impossibly taller and broader, their silhouette imposing against the dim moonlight.

“Stay down,” he growls, and I would recognize the baritone of his voice anywhere.

When the attacker tries to crawl away, he stomps on their fingers, breaking them in one swift movement.

His scream echoes through the night as thoroughly as my own did.

I clutch at the tree, assessing my surroundings and planning my next move when Fletcher looks at me.

Anger flashes across his face as he turns back to the attacker, flipping him onto his back and grabbing him by his shirt.

“Who sent you?” he demands, his tone ice-cold.

But my attacker ignores him, groaning in pain.

“I won’t ask you again. Who. Sent. You.”

The man coughs up blood. “No one. Just a job?—”

“Wrong answer.” Fletcher’s fist connects with the man’s face, the sound making me flinch.

He rains blow upon blow on my attacker's face and it doesn’t take long before I can see the way his body goes limp in Fletcher’s grip.

He lets the body fall to the ground with a thud, breathing heavily, and I know without looking at him that the man is dead.

Fletcher keeps his back to me for a few minutes before turning around to face me.

His face is splattered in blood, an image of uncontained rage.

He steps toward me, hand outstretched, when I stand up quickly and bolt.

I have no idea what direction I’m going, only that I have to get away.

He saved you. He’s dangerous. He found you when it mattered most. He always knows where you’re at.

He’s Fletcher. He’s not the Fletcher I know.

My mind screams conflicting thoughts at me as I run.

I hear him call out to me from where he’s giving chase, just like I knew he would.

His steps are steady, controlled—he’s not chasing me at full speed.

He doesn’t have to, because he knows I’m at war with my own emotions over him as much as I do.

I can already feel my resolve breaking down the more I run, until eventually my steps slow to a halt.

He fought for me, has always fought for me—from skinned knees as a child, to play yard bullies.

Regardless of how… abrasive his methods have been the last few weeks, I know for a fact that no one will ever fight harder.

His heat wraps around me as he steps up to my back.

“I shouldn’t want this.” My voice is barely a whisper.

“But you do,” he replies, his tone steady.

My voice trembles as I take a deep breath. “I should hate you.”

“You can hate me if it’s easier, but I’d burn the world to ashes if it meant keeping you in the flames beside me. You have to know that by now.” He steps closer, his hand brushing against my arm, and I flinch.

“You scare me, Fletcher.” And it is true.

What he just did to my attacker, despite what he would’ve done to me…

it was violent, relentless. He killed a man with his bare hands.

But that isn’t the only reason he scares me.

“You scare me because I don’t know where this ends.

I don’t know if I’ll still have myself when it’s over.

I don’t know how to recognize the man who is standing in front of me anymore. ”

He grabs my arm in a loose grip, rubbing his thumb back and forth. “I’m still me. You don’t have to recognize the man you knew. All you have to know is that I’m still the man who would do anything to keep you safe. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but this will never be one of them.”

“This isn’t right…” I say, more tears threatening to spill over as he places a kiss below my right ear.

“It doesn’t have to be right to be real.

I figured that out a long time ago, little viper.

I figured out just how far gone I am, and yet you still have no idea just how far I’m willing to go.

For you. Because you are the only thing that matters.

If the world is the price for your love, then let it burn.

” His lips linger for just a second longer than they should before he turns me around to face him.

I take a step back. “Love? This isn't love, Fletcher. This is an obsession. Control. Fear. You don’t get to pull me into your darkness and label it love.”

“You’re wrong. This is love. The kind that’s raw.

The kind that doesn’t ask for permission or wait for you to decide.

It takes. It demands. It doesn’t care if you don’t think you’re ready.

I don’t care if you don’t think you’re ready.

But you are. Do you want to know how I know?

” He laces his fingers around the back of my neck and pulls me closer, but I already know the answer.

“Because you know I’ll do anything for you, including breaking every fucking rule just to make sure you stay with me. ”

I pull back and his grip loosens, but not enough to break it.

“You think you can walk away from me? You think you can escape this? You’re already drowning in it, in me, and you don’t even realize it yet.

” His words come out sharp, biting, as though he’s fighting to keep me from stepping out of his grasp entirely again.

His gaze is possessive, carnal, and I know this is no longer about just wanting me—it’s about owning me.

“You once said that if you were going to chase me, that I was going to enjoy it,” I say, recalling his words from our encounter in the alleyway.

I still haven’t entirely thought through what I’m about to do, but I know that I don’t want to leave what was just taken from me in my attacker’s now dead hands.

I’m going to take it back and it’s going to be on my terms. I take a deep breath as I hold his gaze.

“Then do it.” I rear my hand back and slap him as hard as I can, bolting into the darkness again, but this time, it’s because I want it.

And I know that this time, it’ll consume me completely.