Page 6 of Pretty Ruthless Monsters: Complete Series

QUINN

My heart kicks against my ribs. It’s him .

I recognize that voice, and the nickname that only he calls me.

The low, sensual growl belongs to a man I know only as Phantom, the one I’ve been meeting here at the club all these months.

My pulse rushes in my ears, adrenaline spiking higher along with my arousal. Just the sound of the sexual tension dripping from his tone and the feeling of his hands on me is enough to have me already getting wet.

“Hello,” I manage to say back, my mouth suddenly dry.

His grip on me tightens, his strong fingers digging almost painfully into my hips through my clothes.

The familiar scent of his aftershave—amber and bergamot—fills my nostrils, making me breathe in deeper.

He pulls me back harder against him, and I can feel the hot line of his cock through both layers of clothing, proof that he’s already hard.

I swallow, my entire body primed and alert.

“Did you come here for me?” he growls, his breath ghosting over the shell of my ear and making me shiver.

I nod, not bothering to deny it. The good thing about a place like this is that I don’t have to hold anything back. I can say and do what I want and get what I need in return.

“I was hoping you’d be here,” I murmur. “I was disappointed when I didn’t see you at first.”

Maybe I shouldn’t admit that. Admittedly it’s a little strange to be this desperate to meet up with a man I know nothing about. In all the time we’ve been having encounters at Le Bal Masque, I’ve never seen his face, and I don’t know his real name.

To me, he’s just Phantom, a man who comes and goes as he pleases and makes me feel like no one else ever has before. We meet up periodically here, ever since I started coming to this club a year and a half or so ago.

A satisfied noise rumbles through him, and I can feel the vibrations of it where my back is pressed to his chest. Before I can say anything else, he grabs my arm in a rough grip, pulling me along with him.

We move away from the main part of the club, leaving behind the thumping music and the grinding bodies.

It’s quieter in the little hallway that leads to the private rooms the club offers.

There are several doors along the hallway, each labeled with a number.

The rooms are soundproofed enough that the hallway is quiet, no hint of what’s going on inside each one.

Phantom slowly slides his hand down from my bicep to my wrist. He squeezes once, letting me feel the strength in his fingers, then he jerks his head down the hall.

“Eight,” he says, and I realize that he’s telling me which room to go to.

He pulls me closer and leans down, still holding on to my wrist. I can feel the mask he’s wearing brush the shell of my ear, the barest touch that still somehow manages to send fire shooting through my veins.

Then he says a single word.

“Run.”

He drops his grip on my wrist as he speaks, and I move on instinct. I take off, sprinting down the hall, not looking back. My breathing is loud in my ears as I run, and when I make it to room number eight, I yank the door open and throw myself inside the dimly lit room.

I turn, about to slam the door closed, but before I can, Phantom’s palm collides hard with the heavy wood, stopping me from closing it.

I push on it anyway, but it’s like trying to move a brick wall. There’s no give.

Phantom shoves his way inside, pushing me out of the way as if I weigh nothing. He slams the door closed, making the room grow even darker, then rounds on me, one hand darting out and closing around my throat like a snake striking.

My body responds to that, heat bursting through my veins at the pressure of his thick fingers around my neck. But it’s too soon to give in. I don’t just need the rough fuck, I need the fight . I need the surge of adrenaline and the rush of sensations that come with it.

He’s every bit the hunter here. The predator.

Which makes me his prey.

I have a safe word I can say to stop things if it goes too far, but I’ve never used it before.

And there’s no fucking way I’m using it tonight.

I manage to twist out of Phantom’s grasp, using my speed and smaller frame to my advantage.

My nipples are hard, rubbing against my dress as I move, making it harder to think.

The throbbing between my legs definitely doesn’t help either, and I have to fight not to moan as I put distance between me and Phantom.

He’s not fazed by me breaking away from him. This is part of the chase, and he knows he’s got me trapped. He stalks toward me, trying to back me into a corner.

“Where are you going, little siren?” he demands in that deep, intoxicating voice. “You can’t hide from me.”

His words send goosebumps scattering across my skin. I’m so wet by now that I can feel it soaking through my panties, but I just shake my head, breathing hard.

As he nears me, trying to pin me down in the corner I’ve ended up in, I dart sideways to slip past him—but I’m not fast enough. He catches me by the arm and uses that grip to reel me in, hauling me back toward him.

My body collides with his muscular frame, and then he spins me to face the wall and shoves me against it, making me gasp in shock and slight pain as he looms over me from behind.

He’s so fucking big, taking up so much space, physically boxing me in with his massive body. I struggle against his hold on me, trying to throw him off balance so I can slip away. But there’s no give. His grip is like iron.

Phantom laughs, but there’s no humor in it. It’s a cold sound, but one that still sends a shiver of heat down my spine.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asks again. “You’re mine.”

Oh fuck .

My breathing picks up as I claw at his arm, struggling against him, trying to get away. But it’s no good.

His free hand drags its way down my body, and he palms me roughly between my legs, stoking that fire inside me even higher.

“Fuck.” I whimper the word out loud this time, my muscles going lax for a moment as pleasure shoots through my limbs.

He chuckles roughly. “Where’d that fire go? I thought you wanted to get away. But instead you’re here, moaning like a whore, soaking wet from being held down. Is this what you want? You want me to force you to take it? To make you come right here?”

His words are as harsh as the way he grinds his hand against me. He doesn’t let up, pressing his palm against my pussy, grinding his fingers against my aching clit.

The arousal in me climbs higher and higher, until I’m panting for breath, little moans spilling from my lips.

“ Fuck ,” I say again. “Oh fuck. I?—”

I could come like this, with him rubbing me through my clothes, turning me on and giving me no room to deny how fucking good it feels. I’m already so close, the heat and sensations trying to crest and drag me under.

It’s such a far cry from having Emmett going down on me. With just this little bit from Phantom, I’m already so much closer to falling apart than I’ve been with any other man.

“Do you want to come?” Phantom asks. No, not asks. Demands . “Then beg me.”

“Fuck you,” I pant, thrusting back against his hand all the same, seeking out more friction.

His breath warms my ear, his voice like crushed velvet. “I know you do. I can feel how fucking wet you are. How you’re throbbing with need for me. I could push two fingers into your soaking pussy and you’d gush all over my hand, wouldn’t you?”

I don’t have the words to respond, but everything he says is true, and he knows it. I’m rolling my hips against him, squirming between him and the wall as I try to get even more pressure somehow.

“Too bad,” he tells me, dark amusement in his tone. “I’m not done with you yet.”

I groan in frustration, unable to help myself, and a moment later he takes his hand away, leaving me gasping at the sudden absence.

When his weight disappears from my back, letting me move away from the wall, another surge of adrenaline shoots through me. I shove against the wall and move to run again, but I don’t get more than a few steps before Phantom wraps an arm around my waist and drags me back in.

He’s toying with me.

Playing with his food before he eats it.

“I don’t think so,” he growls lowly. “I already said I’m not done with you yet.”

With that one arm, he lifts me up and off my feet, and I barely have time to orient myself before I feel the coolness of the floor against my back. He goes down with me, looming over me just like he did when he had me pressed against the wall.

“This is where you belong,” he says, sounding satisfied. “On your back for me, hair spread out, cheeks flushed. A perfect little slut who wants to get fucked so badly. You can run from me all you want, siren, but your body doesn’t lie. I know you’re desperate for this.”

My arousal is a haze in my mind now, taking over everything else. I can’t deny anything he’s saying, and when I try to scramble back away from him, he pounces on me, pinning me down again.

One of his hands grabs both of my wrists, and he pins them over my head easily. I feel almost delicate being restrained like that, not being able to get away. His fingers might as well be iron bands for how much I can move them, and when he shoves my legs apart, I whimper for him.

“Such a good little whore,” he groans, his voice dropping even lower.

He uses his free hand to grab my panties, ripping them off me with ease. My dress is short enough that without my panties, my lower half is practically bare, but Phantom isn’t satisfied with that.

He hikes my dress up, dragging it up beneath my ass and over my hips, exposing my entire lower body to him. Then he does the same thing with the top, pulling it down under my tits, leaving the skimpy material in a band around my waist.

I’m as good as naked, and his gaze burns as he looks me over. The mask he has on hides his face completely, but I can see his eyes glittering in the darkness as he stares down at me like I’m something he wants to devour.