The next several seconds felt like they lasted a lifetime.

Jared moved differently now, the lazy amusement completely stripped from his face and replaced with something far colder and more deliberate.

He wasn't playing anymore. Every strike he threw came faster and heavier than the one before it, each one designed not just to hurt but to dismantle me piece by piece, and the worst part was that I could feel it working.

I shifted to a defensive stance and tried to absorb the blows instead of ...