At least not until he’s inches from me.
I can smell his skin.
A rough kind of cologne.
It mixes with the smell of the lake water.
I feel even more intoxicated by this whole thing.
Like we’re hiding from the world.
Like nobody is supposed to see us like this.
“Are you deaf now?” I whisper.
“I hear you, sweet thing,” Archer says. “You think I’m going to stop?”
“You won’t kill me. You can’t kill me. Honor.”
“Maybe it’s time to sayfuck honor,” he whispers. “You die and I get what I want. I was just giving you the chance to figure it out. To see if you wanted to put up a fight.”
“Fight this,” I say.
I open my arms.
I have no idea why.
I’m offering myself to Archer.
Succumbing to him.
He lifts his right hand and shows off the knife.
“It already cut me once,” I say. “And I survived.”
“You think you’re untouchable now? Because of a title? You don’t even know who you are.”
“Oh well,” I say. “I’m anHeir.”
“Face it, sweet thing, so am I.”
“You chose to be aSavage. So you could kill me. Right?”
“Confidence looks sexy on you, Jaci,” Archer says.
Okay, he just said my name.
What the fuck…
My knees bend a little.
Archer touches the tip of the blade of the knife to the button of my jeans.
I look down.
“Did you really burn it?” he whispers.
“Yes,” I say.