Pike (The Pawn Duet #1) - T.M. Frazier Page 0,23

still fucking crazy.

She’s also more. So much more.

I may be feeling off about killing her, and I will have to kill her eventually, but I can’t say the same about torturing her.

Torturing her is an unexpected pleasure. Watching her suffer only to steady herself and prepare for another round––it’s doing something to me.

It’s doing a lot more to my fucking cock.

Right now, she’s pretending to be brave when she has no reason to pretend. Most in her situation would be begging for their lives and pissing themselves right about now.

There’s something intriguing about her defiance. Something…adorable. Stupid as fuck for crossing me, but still…adorable.

I trace the slender slope of her neck with my blade. Her throat is calling me to wrap my hands around it again, and I’m not sure if it’s to bring pleasure or pain.

Possibly both.

It’s going to be a shame to have to take her life, but this is her doing.

No second chances.

No fucking bullshit.

Another session ends with Mickey passed out from the sensory torture and me exhausted and more turned on than I have been in my entire life from one single girl.

I leave the warehouse and exhale. Dropping into a crouch, I try and catch my breath.

What the fuck is this girl doing to me?

My intentions toward her back then had been innocent. Protect her. Help her.

Now?

They’re anything but innocent.

There’s a lot of things I want to do with Mickey. To Mickey.

But now, the only person she needs protection from is me.

My inner voice laughs. It knows a part of me still feels the urge to help her. To protect the innocent kid I first met.

Maybe, she was never that innocent to begin with. There was gunfire that night. Someone knocked me over the fucking head. I always thought they were coming after her, but I see now it’s more likely they were coming for her. To protect her. Possibly from me.

Fuck. When it comes to this girl, my instincts are at war.

One tells me to punish.

The other to protect.

Only one can win.

Four days and still no headway. I thought she was pretending to be brave, but if that were the case, she’d have cracked by now. She isn’t pretending. She is fucking brave.

She still insists I have the wrong person. That she’s not the one I’m looking for. That she doesn’t work for anyone. That she’ll never tell me shit. Blah. Blah. That she has a family and is on vacation. Blah, blah, blah. That’s what she told me years ago. Was it a lie then? I know bullshit when I hear it, but there is something about her that causes a little bit of doubt to creep into my otherwise sure thoughts.

She’s not the typical soldier I’m used to interrogating, and I wonder what her reasons could possibly be to get herself mixed up with whoever is hell-bent on destroying my life.

I almost admire her. The way she dares me to do my worst with those dark fucking eyes of hers makes my heart race and my cock pulse.

I get excited when I walk into the room, never knowing what ballsy thing she’ll say next. Her bravery is as erotic as it is maddening.

Mickey might take a little more finessing. I’ll have to find out her motivations behind her actions in order to before she’ll crumble.

But she will crumble.

They all do.

Chapter Nine

Pike

Nine looks up from his laptop as I enter my office after another disappointing yet entertaining afternoon with Mickey. He’s sitting at my desk, his fingers flying across the keyboard. It comes in handy to have a hacker as a friend. “I can’t believe you know that chick,” he says.

“I don’t know her,” I argue. “I met her once and drove her home.” I tug on a white tank top and sink down into the chair across from him.

“That was four years ago, you said?” He scratches his chin. “And that’s all you did? You just drove her home?”

I sigh, knowing what he’s getting at. “I might have kissed her.”

He snaps his fingers and smirks. “I fucking knew it.”

I roll my eyes and prop my feet up on my desk. “I did it to shut her up. She was rambling on some crazy nonsense, and then she looked scared and maybe like she needed a distraction, so I distracted her.”

Nine goes back to his laptop. “Maybe, if you do it again, it’ll get her to talk.”

I’ve thought about that. A lot. “Shut the fuck up.” I point to his laptop. “Are you