Page 25 of Callous Shot

My skin scraped against the rough stone, and I hissed, the sting joining the bruising already inflicted on my back. Then Lincoln was all up in my face, his hand wrapping around my throat in a tight, punishing grip.

I stilled, unwanted memories burning through my mind. His grip tightened, digging into my skin, and I gasped. “Can’t. Breathe.”

“Good.” He increased the pressure, and I did the only thing I could think of.

I drew back my hand and punched him with my brass knuckles.

The pressure was instantly gone as he flew back with a cry of outrage. Hopefully, there was some pain in there too. I wanted him to hurt.

I only had time to take one gulp of air before he was coming at me again. Too bad for him, my recovery time was fast, maybe even on the superhuman scale. So I was prepared, spinning and twisting, pressing him face-first into the wall and wrenching his arms behind his back to hold him immobile.

“Fucking hate you,” I snarled into his ear.

“Fucking mutual.” He bucked his body, swinging his leg backwards and catching me right in the shin. In the ensuing struggle, I lost my grip on him, our bodies too slick with sweat to get a proper hold as we grappled with each other, neither of us able to gain the upper hand.

Until he did. Somehow, he managed to pin me to the wall with his body weight, his thigh braced between mine and his fingers wrapped around my neck as our chests mashed together. Again. This position was becoming nightmarishly familiar.

I brought up my hand, pressing my brass knuckles against his throat. “Don’t even think about trying to strangle me again. Do you know what would happen if I punched your windpipe with this?”

He swallowed against the metal, leaning into the pressure. “Your little toy doesn’t scare me.”

“No? It should.” I dragged it over his skin, and his breath stuttered. Yeah, that was what I thought. Fucking liar.

His tongue swiped across his lips. “Explain,” he rasped.

“Explain what? I didn’t come out here to talk.”

“I want to know what the hell you thought you were doing, spreading that rumour. Why were you using Kimberly to get to me? Don’t bring other people into our shit.”

“Not everything is about you, Bellingham.” Leaning in, I pressed my mouth to his ear, ignoring the shiver coming from his body. I honestly might have hallucinated it. This fucking knobhead made my senses go haywire. “I’ll let you into a little secret. I was doing a favour for a friend, and her opponent was just a bonus. How was I supposed to know your girlfriend would be so easily convinced?”

His hand moved from my throat to grip my jaw, yanking my head back. Our eyes met, and my stomach jolted. “She’s not my fucking girlfriend,” he ground out.

“Liar.” My lips skimmed over his as I formed the word. I wished I’d imagined it. But no, it was my turn for my breath to stutter at the shock of his touch. Drawing back out of the danger zone, but with our faces still way too close and his breath hot on my skin, I inhaled sharply.

Then I immediately wished I hadn’t, because every single one of my senses was filled with Lincoln Bellingham.

Oh, fuck. “I saw you kissing her,” I bit out, rage filling me all over again at the vivid memory.

“She took me by surprise.” His thigh shifted, generating friction that had me biting down on my tongue, a gasp escaping from my mouth despite my efforts to silence myself.

Holding his gaze, I managed to speak again, savagely ignoring the heat of his hard muscle against my throbbing dick. “I had her first.”

“You said that before.” His mouth was too close again. “Don’t even fucking think about trying to give me another⁠—”

“Shut up,” I growled. “That’s never happening again.”

“Why bring up the fact you had her first again? I don’t give a shit who you stick your dick into.” His grip on my jaw tightened, his fingernails raking over my skin. “Want to know what I think?”

“No.” In retaliation, I pressed my brass knuckles into his throat. “I told you to shut up.”

“I think you care who I fuck. I think you can’t stand the thought of me having anyone you’ve had. I think it twists your mind, knowing that they’re interested in me, not you.”

My heart pounded against his chest, and I could feel his hammering too. I inhaled again, getting another lungful of him, and it was abruptly all too much.

A single word forced itself from my throat, dragged from the depths of my fucking soul. One word that condemned me to my doom.

“Please.”