Free This Round I'm Yours by Clarise Tan, Marian Tee, The Passionate Proofreader

that again and I’m going to knock your head against the wall until you pass out.”  
    When she started to scream, his hand slammed against her mouth hard. “You wanna do this the hard way, do you?” Another hard knock against the wall made Lace’s eyes smart with tears. “You make another sound, I’m gonna show the world something you’d hate for them to see, something worse than you playing with yourself in the shower.”
    Grant swallowed. “Fred, I don’t think—”
    “Relax, Grant. We’ve got this all under control.” Alfred’s gaze swung back at Lace. “Remember that time, bitch? You think your video’s the only thing you have to worry about, don’t you? Well…it’s not. Remember that time you left your laptop in his room? My boy, he’s got all your stuff saved in a USB. You didn’t know that, did you?”
    The flushed look in Grant’s face told her every word was true.  
    “He gave it to me, told me none of it meant shit because he went through it, too. But I know a few tricks, and I got to hack not just into your account. Got to hack your friend’s account, too. The cute redhead. Katerina Chariot. ”
    Dread immobilized Lace the moment she heard KC’s name.
    “Thanks to you, I got myself more stuff to jerk off to.” He laughed. “I can see you don’t know a thing. She’s kinky, that one. Your friend’s got this video, doing all sorts of things. And she’s got another guy’s video. More kinky shit.” His voice dropped an octave. “Wanna be the reason all those videos come out in the open?”
    Her throat convulsed. The thought that this disgusting man saw something of KC he wasn’t suppose to see was repulsive, more so because she knew it was all her fault.
    Lace whispered, “N-no.” One word, and they both knew he owned her.
    He owned her.
    Until she could prove he was bluffing…until she could prove he really didn’t have those videos…until she could be completely sure her friend wouldn’t pay the price for Lace’s stupidity…
    This man owned her.
    “Then we have an understanding, don’t we, Lacey baby ?”
    Slowly, he took his hand off. “You won’t scream now, will you?”
    “ No .” She choked the word out even though she wanted so badly to kill him.  
    “That’s my girl.” He chuckled, and then he grinned at Grant. “Sorry, I meant, that’s your girl.”
    Grant returned the smile, but it was clear he was uneasy. Lace willed him to look at her, but he didn’t even turn her way, and she had a feeling Grant was now just as scared as she was of Alfred.
    “My boy and I, we’ve got plans that will make us rich. Real nice plans,” Alfred was boasting. “Lucky for you, it’s gonna be a breeze to do. You just have to live happy-ever-after with him in front of the camera. You see the appeal of it, don’t you? Grant as the next Kobe Bryant, then you and your coaching shit.”
    Crazily enough, she did, and that was what scared Lace. His idea of a show featuring her and Grant could work, and because it could, she also knew Alfred Cohen would stop at nothing to make it happen.  
    “The first episode, it’s going to be about tomorrow’s game. You could imagine my fucking surprise when we found out Northwest was going against you. Too perfect timing, and I kept thinking, well, Alfred Cohen, that’s your sign. This is your time to shine. The three of us…” He pointed at Grant and her. “We’re going to be so famous. And we’re gonna make that happen starting tomorrow.”
    Alfred smiled at her. “Ask me how it’s going to happen.”
    She made herself repeat the words, knowing that refusing would be pointless.  
    “I was thinking, you’re a really smart girl when it comes to this sport, so I figured tomorrow you could figure out a way to make your team lose. Make it all dramatic, but make sure CU goes down. And after that, Grant here comes to your rescue and says he wants you back. You do what you’re good at, play hard to get a little, ham it up for