Page 246 of Lessons in Cruelty

For a complete stranger.

I try to pull my fingers out, but she grabs my wrist, keeping me inside.

I’m expecting her to say she’s not done.

But her eyes flash open, fix on mine, and go even wider.

“Kai,” she whispers, mouth trembling around my name.

Not surprised. Not angry. Just...relieved. Like she’d wanted it to be me all along.

“Slut.” I step back, wiping my hand on her trash bag, trying to get her off me.

My muscles tense, and I fight not to lock my hand around her throat. To force her to cum again, now that she knows it’s me. See if it’s different this time. Better. Worse. Angrier. Hotter.

“Kai!” Haven’s mouth moves, but it’s my brother’s voice I hear.

Jesus, now I’m hallucinating?

She frowns, then looks past me, and her face goes slack in shock. I turn, blinking hard until I realize the shape moving towards us isn’t a molly mirage.

“You know how long I’ve been looking for you?” Ezra says.

I frown at him. “The fuck you need me for?”

His eyes flicker past me, to Haven. When he chuckles, my whole body tenses. “Never mind. You found her already.”

“Found…?” I turn to look at Haven.

She throws me a quick, desperate look.

…save me, Kai!…

I saved her from one creep only to hand her to another.

Because this is what we do.

Save each other. Destroy each other. Repeat.

When I take a step back, she tries to grab onto me, but I knock her arm away.

Ezra smiles as he slides a hand onto her shoulder, gently pulling her away from the tree. “This guy bothering you, Haven? I can have him kicked out of the party, if you want.”

He starts walking back to the dance floor, throwing me a sharklike grin over his shoulder.

And she fucking goes with him.

I know she’s fucked on molly, but she just…

She just⁠—

I drag both hands through my hair, barely suppressing a yell of frustration.

Fuck it.

She deserves whatever’s coming her way.

Except…it’s fucking Ezra.