I clenched my hands into fists, barely moving my lips my jaw was clenched so hard. “Let me go,” I said, glaring at him.

“No,” he said. “You owe me this. I deserve to know why you’ve apparently said yes to a shit-ton of other people but said no to me.”

“Like that matters?” Not that it was true, but fuck. “Because I have experience means I have to say yes to you whenever you feel like it? Like I’m some piece of fucking property?” I scoffed, shaking my head. “You’re delusional, Brandon. And legit effed in the head.” I cut my eyes to where his arms still caged me. “Move. Now.”

“You’re the one who’s messed up,” he said, sneering down at me. “You hide behind this blog. This poor excuse to validate that you’re just a big slut.”

I laughed darkly.

“You’re damaged,” he said. “No wonder no one else wanted to be with you.” A devious smile shaped his lips. “And now everyone is going to know the real you. Once I tell them all who you are.”

My spine stiffened, but I cocked a brow at him. “I fucking dare you, Brandon,” I snapped, stretching myself to be bigger, taller, wishing like hell I could match his strength and shove him out of the way. “You mutter one word, one whisper, and the next post will be complete with all those dick pics you texted me.”

He flinched. “You wouldn’t. You said you deleted them.”

“Did I?”

I had. Instantly. But he didn’t have to know that.

Something like fear flashed over his glazed eyes.

“More than that,” I continued, drawing on his one moment of weakness, “if I hear you’ve hurt someone else…like you did me? I’ll steal every record you’ve ever had and mar it. I’ll own your bank account and keep draining it to zero. Hell,” I said. “Maybe I’ll even sneak into UMass’s servers and turn whatever grants they awarded you into an actual rejection for admittance.”

“You can’t do that,” he said, but his voice was a whisper.

“You don’t really believe that, do you?” I folded my arms over my chest, holding my ground.

A blink and he gripped my shoulders too tightly. I tried to move, but he held me locked. “Don’t you fuck with me, Amber,” he snapped. “I mean it.”

“Or what?” I trembled in his grasp, struggling to free myself. The adrenaline rushing my veins was no match for his strength, but my threats were nearly as strong. “Keep touching me and see what happens. I won’t stop at where I said. I’ll ruin you, Brandon.”

His grip loosened, but he didn’t let go as the truth of my words caught up in his mind. He knew how good I was, even if he never acknowledged it.