Page 27 of Thirst Trap

You’ll be the death of me.

The message sent. A curse. A confession. A vow.

The bubbles appeared instantly. Her reply came fast.

From @booklover69:

No, sweetheart. I’ll be the reason you finally feel alive.

Lucas stared at the screen, pulse hammering. His jaw clenched, fury and hunger tangling in his chest. He should’ve thrown the phone across the room.

Instead, he typed back.

Because he was already hers.

Chapter 14

The Leverage

The blinds were drawn tight, the office swallowed in dim amber light from the desk lamp. Lucas paced like a caged wolf, jacket discarded, shirt sleeves rolled to his forearms. He hadn’t spoken to Maddison since that night in the basement since the kiss that ruined him, since her mouth, her hands, her control shattered everything he thought he was.

He’d been dodging her all day. No eye contact. No shared coffee breaks. He’d even skipped lunch just to avoid the possibility of her showing up at his table.

And now here she was.

She walked in without hesitation, her smirk still stitched to her lips, like she owned the tower itself.

“We need to talk,” she said.

“Maddison, I said ”

“No.” She cut him off, sharp as a knife. “I’m talking now.”

She dropped a folder onto his desk. Paper fanned out across the polished wood screenshots, captions, DMs. His words are in bold black type. His mask, laid bare.

One in particular stared back at him like a gun to his head:

I’d let her ruin me and beg for more. You know who you are.

Lucas’s breath faltered. His chest ached like it couldn’t contain the pounding of his heart.

“HelmetDaddy’s got quite the fanbase, doesn’t he?” Maddison said casually, leaning over the desk as if this were just another morning coffee. “It would be a real shame if the world found out who he really is.”

His jaw locked. His throat went dry. “Are you seriously blackmailing me?”

Her smirk deepened, cruel and beautiful all at once. “You think I’d spend years drooling over HelmetDaddy and let the real deal run away after one night?”

She circled the desk, each step measured, heels slicing through the silence. By the time she perched on the edge, she was close enough for him to feel the heat radiating off her skin.

“Here’s the deal,” she said softly, eyes locked on his. “We keep going. You keep letting me wreck you. Or I leak everything. You, the account, the moaning, the bike shots, the unhinged captions. All of it.”

Lucas swallowed. No sound came out.

She bent closer, her lips brushing the edge of his ear. “I’ll even lead with the one where you said booklover69 could sit on your face and ruin your legacy.”

He sat down hard, his body betraying him even as his mind screamed for control. His voice rasped, low and broken. “You’re insane.”

Her laugh was velvet and sharp. “You like that.”