“I warned you,” he whispers, drawing close. His thumb traces over my hip bone. “I warned you again and again, Piper. I told you that if you kept talking back, I’ll do what I’ve wanted to do since the moment we met.”
A chill races down my spine, but I’m so tired of being afraid. I’m so tired of feeling small.
“If you want to kill me badly enough, you’ll find a reason eventually,” I tell him. “So do it. Go ahead. Kill me.”
He looks at me like he’s considering it. Like he’s imaging exactly how he’d tear me apart, limb from limb.
Then his hand curls around to the back of my neck. He leans his head to the side and casts his eyes down to where his thumb is still caressing my hip. “What does this tattoo mean?”
His touch on my naked body is more than enough to scramble my brain. Throw in the
