“Kid, when will you learn.”“You’d be amazed the things I know.”“You might be able thrash your way out of a spider-web, but thrashing in quicksand doesn’t work. The harder you fight, the more ground you lose. Struggling merely expedites your inevitable defeat.”“Never been defeated. Never will be.”“Rowena was a spider web.” He touches my cheek with the hand holding the knife. The silver glints an inch from my eye. “Do you know what I am.”“A great big pain in my ass.”“Quicksand. And you’re dancing on it.”“Dude, what’s with the knife?”“I’m not interested in ink anymore. You’re going to sign my contract in blood.”“Thought you said it was an application,” I say pissily.“It is, Dani. To a very exclusive club. What’s Mine.”“Ain’t nobody’s. ““Sign.”“You can’t—““Or Jo dies. Slowly and painfully.”“Dude, why you still talking? Unchain me and give me the fecking contract already.”

“You might be able to thrash your way out of a spiderweb, but thrashing in quicksand doesn’t work. The harder you fight, the more ground you lose. Struggling merely expedites your inevitable defeat.”

“Ryodan doesn’t like Mac. He never has. She got between him and his best boy-bud. I give him a look. “I’ll tell you a secret, Ryodan. You mess with her, Barrons’ll kill you.” I drag a finger across my neck. “Just like that. You aren’t all that. Barrons’ll stomp your ass, hand’s down.”He smiles faintly. “I’ll be damned. You have a crush on Barrons.”“I do not have a crush—““You do, too. It’s all over your face. Anybody could see it.”“Sometimes, boss, you’re just wrong.”“I’m never wrong. You might as well take out a billboard. ‘Dani O’Malley thinks Jericho Barrons is hot.’ My offer to teach you is still open. Save you from future embarrassment. If I can see it on your face, he can, too. ”“He never figured it out before,” I grumble then realize I just admitted it. Ryodan has a tricky way of wording things that makes you say things you didn’t mean to say. “Maybe I’ll ask Barrons to teach me,” I mutter and turn away from the stairs, heading for his office. I run smack into his chest. “Dude, move. Trying to get somewhere here.”“No one but me is ever going to teach you, Dani.” He touches me before I see it coming, has his hand under my chin, turning my face up. My shiver is instant and uncontrollable.“That’s non-negotiable. You signed a contract with me that grants exclusivity. You won’t like it if you try to break it.”

“He was breathing heavily. “I honestly don’t understand what’s wrong with you,” he said. “You’re telling me to pack my bags, to leave our house, knowing you’re going to have a baby?”“And this surprises you why? Have you seen what’s been happening in our house?”“Stop talking to me like this in our bed, Tatiana. My white flag is up,” said Alexander. “I have no more.”“My white flag is up, too, Shura,” she said. “You know when mine went up? June 22, 1941.”

“It happens when I get really excited. The more excited I get, the more I vibrate.”“Now there’s a thought,” Lor says.“If you mean what I think you mean, you want to shut the fuck up and never think it again,” Ryodan says.“Just saying, boss,” Lor says. “You can’t tell me you didn’t think it, too.”I never understand half of what these dudes are talking about and don’t care. “You can touch me if you want to,” I say to Lor magnanimously. I’m so pumped on adrenaline and excitement that I’m feeling downright sociable. I poke one of my shoulders toward him. “Check me out. It feels really cool.”All heads swivel my way, then they look back at Ryodan.“He doesn’t own my fecking shoulder. Why you looking at him?”

“Listen to me. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know what any of this means. But I know this much. It doesn’t matter. You’re not one of them. You never were. You’re not theirs. You’re mine.”