Chapter: CHAPTER 43EMERSONI shove two slices into the toaster with more force than necessary, then stand at the counter with my back to him, refusing to look at River Knight.Looking at him, in my kitchen before caffeine should probably be classified as a form of psychological torture.My sweatshirt is still damp. My arms ache. My patience died somewhere around the moment he decided my house was an acceptable place to spend his morning.Behind me, a cupboard opens.Then another.“Do you mind?” I ask without turning.“No.”Another cabinet door.“Where do you keep your beer?”I spin around.“You're looking for beer?”He glances inside another cupboard. “Yes.”“It’s seven in the morning.”“And?”“You haven’t even had breakfast and you want beer?”He glances over his shoulder, completely unbothered.“I’ve had a long fucking night. Some of us didn’t get much sleep because apparently you enjoy turning expensive cars into modern art.”I stare at him.“You blackmailed me, made me scrub your car at five in the
Last Updated: 2026-10-02
Chapter: CHAPTER 42**EMERSON**The ache in my arms makes me fumble with the keys, but I finally find the one that fits the deadbolt above the doorknob.Since the incident back at my old college, Dad’s been extra cautious—new locks, constant reminders, the whole overprotective routine. The deadbolt being locked means he must have gone out. Good. The last thing I need is him seeing me soaked, exhausted, and climbing out of River Knight’s car two houses down.I push inside, already halfway through shutting the door behind me—Footsteps.I only catch him out of the corner of my eye before I try to shove the door closed. Not fast enough.“Wait up, Wildcat.”“What the fuck—” I plant my shoulder against the wood. “Do you have a hobby other than following me, or is this just your full-time personality now? What do you want?”He wedges his body between the door and the frame like the lock was a suggestion. With a low grunt, he shoves hard enough that I stumble backward and nearly fall on my ass when the backs
Last Updated: 2026-10-01
Chapter: CHAPTER 41**RIVER**I pull out of the estate with her in the passenger seat and immediately regret every decision that led to this moment.Arms crossed. Soaked sweatshirt still clinging. Jaw locked like silence might kill her if she lets it slip.It lasts exactly forty seconds.“You realize I’m dripping wet all over these expensive leather seats,” she says, not looking at me. “So don’t blame me when your interior smells like a damp basement and regret.”I glance sideways, mouth already curving.“Relax. Wouldn’t be the first time a girl left my seats wet.” I let the pause stretch. “Difference is, usually she’s the one screaming for me to make her come.”Her face twists. “Eww. Please tell me you clean up afterward. If I’m sitting in the residual evidence of your conquests, I’m getting out at the next light and burning these clothes.”A real laugh breaks out of me—loud, short, unexpected.“Calm down, Wildcat. The seats get cleaned. I’m rich, not feral.” I tip my head, still grinning. “Usually.”T
Last Updated: 2026-09-25
Chapter: CHAPTER 40**RIVER**When she tries to break away again, I catch her arm and pull her in close.“Ow—it hurts!”I’m already pushing her sleeve up before she can stop me—And then I see them.Marks.Weeks old, maybe more—no clean purple left, just the dirty yellow-brown mottling bruises leave when they’re almost gone, mixed with the thin, silvery lines of skin that’s been broken and is still finishing the job of closing. A rough patch along the outer forearm where something scraped hard enough to leave a lasting shadow. A deeper stain near the wrist that looks like it took the worst of an impact. The kind of damage that should’ve healed quieter than this, and still flinches when gripped wrong.The sight of them on her arm turns my stomach.Suddenly I’m hot inside. Boiling. Ready to tear somebody’s fucking head off.“What the hell is this?”“Let go. It hurts.”I loosen my grip but don’t release her fully. “Who did it?”“Nobody. I fell.”“These don’t look like a clean fall.”She yanks free the seco
Last Updated: 2026-09-24
Chapter: CHAPTER 39**EMERSON**Two hours.That’s how long it takes before my arms finally stop pretending they’re capable of functioning.The Porsche is almost clean. Almost. A faint shadow of red still ghosts the edge of the hood if you look at it from the wrong angle, and there’s a stubborn smudge near the wheel well that laughs at every pass of the sponge. The rest of it—the X, the signature, the line across the black finish that felt so satisfying in the dark—is gone. Reduced to wet concrete, solvent smell, and a deep ache spreading through my shoulders.I drop the sponge into the bucket and straighten too quickly.Bad idea.My back protests immediately.“Fuck.”My wrists burn. My fingers ache. My entire body feels like it has aged approximately forty years since sunrise. And my sweatshirt is soaked. Completely fucking soaked. The fabric has gone cold against my skin, clinging stubbornly to my stomach and chest. I’ve spent the last hour pretending not to notice.River, unfortunately, has made pret
Last Updated: 2026-09-19
Chapter: CHAPTER 38**RIVER**I should be looking at the fucking car.That’s the whole point of this. The paint. The signature. The fact that she walked into a parking lot with a couple of cheap cans and decided the Trinity’s name was something she could rewrite in hardware-store acrylic like we were a joke she could tag and walk away from.I brought her here to watch her remove it. To make the lesson physical. Personal. To stand over her while she scrubbed away every trace of that stunt and understood, piece by piece, that she doesn’t get to challenge me without paying for it.So why the hell am I not looking at the fucking car?Why am I watching her?She drags the sponge across the hood, stubborn and methodical, mouth pressed into that same irritated line she wears whenever she’s trying not to say something that’ll get her into more trouble.Every time she reaches toward the top of the windshield, the hem of her sweatshirt rides up, exposing a narrow strip of skin above her waistband. She tugs it down
Last Updated: 2026-09-18
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