Page 36 of Sticky Fingers

This little minx has some kick. I feel her bringing up her elbow and pushing back against me, momentarily knocking the wind out of me.

“Stop trying to get away!” I hiss as we grapple, but she continues to struggle to get free.

Her small body feels almost fragile as I pin her tightly.

After a protracted back and forth, she begins to settle.

I take a moment to take stock.

She’s huffing and puffing and gasping, trying to regain the breath I knocked out of her.

“Jesus Christ,” Sonia says, whipping off her mask. “You almost killed me there.”

I stare at her blankly.

“You can’t do that to me,” she exclaims, clearly caught off guard by me expecting her and overpowering her.

Sonia’s voice is dripping with frustration, but not actual fear. So, she knows I wasn’t going to hurt her.

“Let me take a moment to understand what’s going on here,” I say slowly, my voice getting louder. “You broke intomyapartment!”

She looks at me like I’m speaking a foreign language.

“Can you please get off me?” she asks.

“Why? So you can steal something else?” I snap back.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Malcolm. Don’t flatter yourself,” she huffs. “I’m not here to steal anything.”

“Then why break into my house?” I ask.

That got her. She’s sputtering, trying to come up with an explanation.

None comes.

Finally, she falls back on a tried and true tactic.

“Whatever.”

I groan, and she rolls her eyes.

Well, if that’s the way she wants to play it.

I flip her into a sitting position and rip her shirt up from her waist, splitting it up the front.

“What are you doing?”

This time, her alarm is genuine as I pull her arms tightly back, using her own shirt to secure her. She’s as good as handcuffed.

I have to admit…I’m a bit disappointed she’s wearing a sports bra.

“Relax. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Fuck that. I might be a lot of things, but a monster is not one of them.

The lights are dim, so I tug her up by her arms and down the hall towards my bedroom.

“Where are you taking me?” There’s still a bit of alarm in her voice, and she twists the bindings a bit to test them.