Page 84 of The Deception You Weave

"You don't want me to be nice, do you, Princess. You want me wicked."

The entire length of her body trembles against me.

"You're a dirty little whore, Scarlett."

Her tremble is accompanied by a whimper this time and I can't fight my smile knowing that she can't see me.

We stand like that for long seconds, her increased breaths the only sound in the room.

It's not until I move my hand, splaying it across her stomach so that I can press myself harder against her, that she moves.

"Kane," she gasps, "What did you do?"

Her hands drop to mine and she lifts it, inspecting my busted knuckles.

"It doesn't matter," I mutter.

"Who did you hit? Did you have a job last night? My dad—" She panics. "Is my dad okay?"

"As far as I know, he's fine, Princess."

She relaxes a little in my hold. "He didn't answer his cell when I called him last night."

"He was probably just busy."

"I need to see him."

"No," I bark.

She uses my moment of distraction to remove herself from my hold and turns back to face me.

“No? I'm not allowed to go and see my dad? You need to leave," she says, throwing her arm out and pointing in the general direction of the door.

"Promise me something," I say, taking another step toward her and ignoring the 'leave me alone' vibes coming off her.

She keeps her arms wrapped around herself as I stare down at her.

"Promise you something? That's meant to be a joke, right? I owe you nothing, Kane. Nothing."

Ignoring her words, I continue. "Do not go to the Creek," I warn, my voice low and I hope it holds the seriousness in which I intend it to.

"It's my home, Kane. Why wouldn't I go there?"

"Because you know the truth now. Victor might have let you go, but he's not going to forget that you're aware of what your father does, and he has no reason to trust you. You want to stay off his radar, then you stay the fuck here. You want to see your father, I'll sort it out."

She shakes her head at me as if I'm talking nonsense.

"You go there and you could end up never leaving."

Her nervous swallow tells me that she's at least hearing my words.

"Now, are you ready to go to class?"

Her chin drops in shock.

"I'm not walking to class with you. I don't need a fucking bodyguard."

"You're safe here, and that's not why I was offering."