My eyes rolled. Whatever. I’d play his little game. “Fine, I want to seethem.”
“Don’t get snarky with me.” Preston tsked while wagging his finger. “You, of all people, should know how important a proper vocabulary is. It’s so easy to misconstrue things. Take the scars we hide. One might think that would apply to physical marks. But not all scars are visible, are they, Little Bird?”
“A scar is defined by a mark left on the skin or within the body tissue where a wound, burn, or sore has not healed.”
“Body tissue includes the mind,” he argued. “And your’s has been scarred for a long time, hasn’t it?”
I pushed back the voices threatening to haunt my thoughts and crossed my arms. “Are you going to take me to see my sister or waste my time with a philosophical debate?”
“I told you, your sister left.”
Not this again.
“Fine then, the person I care about.”
Preston cocked a brow as if he was the one waiting for something.
“Are you just going to stand there?”
“You know how this works.” He lifted his hand to drag a finger down one of the bars circling me. “Nothing is given for free.”
I should’ve known.
“What do you want?”
I was tempted to jerk away when he grabbed my chin, but I liked how his thumb swept over my bottom lip.
“I want your mouth, Little Bird.”
What? He didn’t mean…
Preston leaned in and growled, “I want to see tears stream down your face while you choke on my cock.”
That should not have sounded as enticing as it did.
“And if I refuse?”
“I guess you don’t want to see your loved one that much.”
It was his vagueness that made me curious. Preston was very careful not to use a name or a pronoun. “I could always bite your dick off.”
“You could.” He shrugged. “I could also go downstairs, slit your loved one’s throat, and fuck your face anyway. Either way, I get what I want.”
This son of a bitch.
I couldn’t believe he was actually going to make me do this. Well, I could, but normally I could figure out an alternative. This time, however, there seemed to be no other option. If I wanted to see Trina, I’d have to bend to his will—this time.
As much as it pained me to do so, I slowly sunk to my knees, making sure Preston could see the contempt on my face the entire time. I hated him. Sometimes, I wondered if I loathed anyone more, but then my father’s voice would enter my mind. If I had to save one of them, it wouldn’t be my genetic relation.
What did that say about me?
My knees landed on the soft cushion as a huff pushed past my lips. Maybe my father was right, and there was something evil inside me. Why else would my core tingle when I looked at Preston? Sure, he was handsome with his angular jawline and a light dusting of whiskers on his face that gave him a five o’clock shadow, but he was a bad person who did horrible things.
Mind you, he was protective of his family, and he did push me away from a raging Parker. My tailbone still hurt from that. Chairs weren’t meant for soft landings. But the way he looked at me yesterday…my entire body lit up when he touched me, and his masculine scent seemed to linger everywhere I went.
He wasn’t empty and void. There was life inside him. I’d seen it. I might be the only person who had.
“Come, Little Bird. I don’t have all day.”
