His Trouble Maker

Chapter 121

JESSICA

They think I’m asleep.

Sedated maybe.

Like the wolfsbane’s enough to make me blind, or stupid, or soft. Fuck. I never thought my own brother would do this to me. He poisoned me. Can you believe that?

The chains dig in when I shift–just slightly–testing the cuffs again like I haven’t done it every ten minutes for the past however- many hours they’ve left me here. Cold stone under my back. Metal against my skin. Sickness rolling in waves through my stomach like I swallowed fire and it’s melting me from the inside out.

I need to get out of here as soon as possible.

I twist my wrist and it stings.

“Fuck,” I hiss, closing my eyes and trying not to make so much noise.

The cuffs bite deeper when I flinch. My shoulder’s out of place again.

“I swear to god,” I mutter, low under my breath, “if Pierce walks in here again acting like I’m the unstable one, I’m gonna rip his throat out with my fucking teeth.”

I breathe through my nose. Try to focus. One second at a time. One breath, then the next. Then I count. Not for calm. Just to keep track of time. I’m up to five hundred thirty–nine heartbeats since the last time Grayson stood at the door and didn’t come in.

“You coward,” I whisper, just loud enough in case he’s on the other side again. “You can string me up, but you can’t even look at

me?”

The chain rattles when I shift my weight. My ankle’s raw. I keep flexing it anyway. Gotta keep blood moving. If I lose circulation, I lose options. And I’m not planning to bleed out in this room like some feral kept on a leash.

1 twist again, slower this time, eyes locked on the door like I’m waiting for it to flinch first. Metal scrapes against skin and it hurts like a bitch, but I keep going. Can’t stop. Won’t. If I’m bleeding, I’m breathing.

“Fuck,” I mutter again, voice sharper now, throat raw from the wolfsbane but still mine. “Come on. Come the fuck on.”

are numb. My ankle’s fucked. There’s a ringing in my head like a warning bell that never shuts up. But none of it matters. Pain’s

chain rattling but Grayson is there, showing up just

once. Just enough. Just slow enough to make it look like I’m dazed, Head tipping back to the wall like the

beside me, touching the side

my eye. “I know,” he murmurs, eyes searching mine for the kind of hurt

want to–Pierce said-”

1/3

09:03 Tue, 2 Sept

Chapter 121

wrists tremble, my chin lowers. “You

90%

He just breathes, slow and shallow. Still crouched in front of me

the chain rattle, then wince like it

“I’ve brought you something.”

did not answer. Grayson looks so fucking lost navigating how to take care of a person. Well, at least he still

me. You fucking chained me.

tightens. “You have to eat,

voice hoarse and cracked. My eyes find his. “Just tell me the truth. Are you going to kill me or

up

He doesn’t blink.

bone. I want him to hear it. I want him

“Jess…”

to reach for me again. That pathetic

“Don’t fucking touch me.”

pauses, his hand suspended halfway and that look that he gives

move, Alpha?

“Tell me. What’s the plan, Grayson?

fast enough, and that’s how I

“Jess-”

shaking hard enough to rattle the chain. “You stripped me down, put me in fucking shackles, and now you’re dressed like it’s judgment day