Tarnished Crown (Gravestone Elite #2) by Caitlyn Dare (books like beach read TXT) 📕

arches. “So you haven’t been sniffing around Quinctus? Around Cargill? You haven’t been asking questions? Playing detective?”

“I—” The words die on my tongue as his arm snaps out and grabs me, hoisting me up against his hard chest, making my heart lurch into my throat. “I told you, babe, I know everything about this town. All of its dark and dirty secrets.” His eyes pin me with a look of contempt. “I told you… and yet you still disobeyed me.”

“I am not yours to obey,” I screech, hammering my hands against his chest.

“Scream a little louder,” he chuckles. “It only makes it sweeter.”

“You’re sick,” I cry, unleashing all of my frustration and anger out on him. “You’re nothing more than a—”

He grips my wrists in a vise-like hold until I’m sure my bones will snap under the pressure. “Run, little mouse,” he snarls at me. “Run before the big, bad wolf catches up with you.”

I flinch at his use of Bexley’s name for me.

He knows.

Of course he knows. We should never have been so reckless, so careless. But being with Bexley is the only thing that made sense in this living nightmare.

A beat passes as I gawk at him, willing this to be some kind of sick nightmare. But it isn’t—it’s my grim reality. I shove him hard, taking off toward the woods. His dark chuckle pierces the air like gunfire. “You’re going to have to run faster than that.”

I kick off my heels and pump my legs faster. My heart races in my chest, the oxygen in my blood replaced with nothing but adrenaline and fear. I melt into the dense thicket, branches clawing at my skin and dress like monstrous fingers trying to claim my soul. The ground crunches beneath my feet, stabbing and cutting into my soles, leaving droplets of blood in their wake.

But I don’t stop.

I run and run and run until my lungs burn and the blood roaring in my ears sounds like a storm howling all around me.

Cade’s dark laughter trails behind me. “I know these woods like the back of my hand, mouse.”

I burst through the trees and find myself in the middle of a clearing. The moon shimmers overhead, bouncing off the trees, creating eerie shadows that seem to close in around me. I don’t feel so good, my mind swimming with confusing thoughts.

But I didn’t drink the toast Phillip gave me. I didn’t—

“Feeling okay, little mouse?”

“W-what did you do?” I rub my head, swaying gently. Fighting to stay upright, I find Cade as he steps out from darkness like the devil coming to claim me.

“Your dessert. I had it laced with a little something special.” He stalks closer. “Just for you.”

“B-but why?”

“Why?” he grits out. “WHY?” His hand flies out and grabs my neck, wrenching me forward. “Because your father has been a very, very bad man, Mia.”

I suck in a sharp breath as he confirms what my mind refused to believe.

“You see, Garth Thompson isn’t just head of security at the Town Hall. No, your father has a very special job for Q.” He cocks his head to the side. “But then, you already knew that, didn’t you?”

No.

No!

I press my lips together in defiance.

“It doesn’t matter.” His lip twists in mild amusement. He’s enjoying this. He’s enjoying every torturous second. “You’re going to pay for your father’s sins, Mia. And when Q finds you broken and ruined, they’ll realize what a mistake they made for ever trying to control me. I am my father’s son, and it’s time to honor his name.” He throws me to the ground and I land with a thud, pain shooting through my skull.

Cade drops to his knees, clawing at my dress, tearing it apart to get to my skin. He’s like a man possessed, his eyes feral and wild as he wrestles my legs apart and rips off my cotton panties.

“So innocent,” he snarls, “when we all know you’re anything but.” He spears two fingers inside me, pain lancing through me. I cry out but it sounds muffled, everything growing distorted around me.

Cade covers me with his big, imposing body as he keeps working his fingers inside me. “Your father is a murderer, Mia. Q’s assassin. He could have taken me out any number of times to save you from this fate… yet, he didn’t. He let things play out just the way Q wanted them to… and do you know why?” He stares down at me with fire in his eyes. “Because he’s weak. But I’m not weak, and I’ll show them. One by one, I’ll show them that they picked the wrong guy to manipulate.”

Tears stream down my face as I thrash beneath Cade, barely able to breathe. He backhands me out of nowhere, my head thumping against the hard ground, stars exploding in my vision.

Everything is hazy after that. I feel his hand between us, his fingers strumming that place deep inside of me. My body begins to melt at his touch, betraying me. He kisses me—hard, punishing kisses, pushing his tongue down my throat as if he wants to suffocate me. His teeth bite down on my bottom lip, drawing blood, before moving down my neck, sucking and biting, marking me as his hand squeezes my neck to the point where I can’t breathe.

My hand claws at his fingers, desperately trying to loosen them. But it’s no use. My limbs are heavy and drugged, the fight slowly leaving my body and turning into synthetic pleasure.

He plucks and strums my clit until I’m no longer thrashing but writhing under his touch, needy and desperate. Tears fall harder down my cheeks as I break for him, as I shatter and splinter into dirty pieces. Pieces I know will never be whole again.

Cade smirks against my cheek, “Good girl, baby. You make it so easy. Tell me, do you come so hard for Easton? Does he know how to fuck you just the right way to make you scream?”

Cade works his buttons open