Page 44 of Ruin

I storm off across the lawn, my heels slipping in the grass, rage and humiliation the only things keeping me warm. It’s fucking freezing, and I hug myself tightly, wishing I had thought to keep Tommy’s coat as I storm toward Lexi’s house.

As if I manifested it, the jacket falls around my shoulders, and Tommy falls in step beside me. I scowl at him but hug the jacket around me. “Go away, Tommy.”

“You’re mad about the suit.” His voice is low, creamy, repentant. If my bathing suit bottoms were not basically an icicle stuck to my ass, they would burst into flames.

My chest heaves. “You think I give a fuck about the suit?” I shove at his chest. It’s like shoving a wall. “Seriously?”

He looks genuinely baffled. “Then what—”

“That, Tommy,” I say, waving my arm back toward the pool. “Everything you just did. What were you trying to accomplish with that?”

His eyes narrow. “He put his hands on you, Giovanna. He’s lucky I didn’t kill him.”

My laugh comes out harsh. “Congratulations. All you accomplished was giving those girls a week’s worth of gossip. And for the record? Protecting me is not your job.”

His jaw ticks. “You texted me. You said you were upset. So I came.”

“I didn’t ask you to fix it!”

“Then why tell me?” He is legitimately confused, and it takes everything in me not to strangle him.

The cold hits harder now, and my breath steams in front of me. I clutch his jacket tighter. “Just go, Tommy. Please.”

“Not without you.”

Incredulous, I whirl on him. “Tommy, I don’t know how to say this to you nicely, but I’m not your girl. I’m not your anything. We are not together.”

He smiles, slow and soft, like I’m a toddler insisting the sky is green. He leans close, his chest radiating heat into the frozen air.

“I have no interest in saying this to you nicely. Giovanna, you are mine. But you’re right: we’re not together. Not yet. I’ll tell you when the time is right. Now get your ass in my car before you freeze.”

He clicks his key fob, and a blue Bugatti Divo lights up and turns on, its engines purring, the steam from the engineblowing pillowy puffs of white air.

“No fucking way.” I stumble faster toward Lexi’s house, heart pounding, heels slipping in the damp grass.

He catches me like it’s nothing, slinging me over his shoulder, laughing at me as I scream, pounding my fists into his back. “Put me down! I am not going with you, Tommy! I do not consent!”

“Oh, you don’t?” He stops short. “Then let me help you.”

He brings his hand down hard on my ass, a loud smack reverberating through the air. The sound echoes across the lawn as my breath catches in a sharp gasp.

Another smack. And another. Over and over until my ass feels like it’s on fire. I’m speechless, my pussy so wet, I can feel the heat echoing out to my thighs.

“How about now?” he murmurs with a chuckle. “Feeling more acquiescent?”

“What?” I gasp, my voice high and shaky.

“Do you now consent?”

I suck in a ragged breath. “Tommy, I’m not yours.”

“Really.” His voice is low, terrifying, and my heart starts pounding.

Before I can brace myself, he shoves my bikini bottom aside and slams two fingers inside me, rough and claiming.

I gasp and dig my nails into his back as I arch up. “Tommy!”

“Your pussy get wet like that for anyone else? Tell me again that you’re not my girl, Giovanna.” He pumps into me as he walks, steady and merciless.