Page 136 of Angelic Vengeance

He was so close, I wasn’t sure whose air I was breathing anymore.

My soft voice was filled with sarcasm, as I stared into his eyes. “I should thank you then.”

Smirking, he lowered his head. “You already did that night…” I felt his lips brush my ear before leaving a kiss on my neck. “Remember,hermosa?”

He didn’t let me get up again;only continued to lick me over the material of my panties,filling the room with my moans and his groans of pleasure. Every single one of his growls vibrated against me,making me roll my eyes to the back of my head and dig my nails into his forearms resting on my stomach. Before I knew it,I was shakingunderneath him in the aftermath of my orgasm. Zach didn’t stop,forcing me to ride it out until I was twitching and squirming away from him.

“I know you’re mad. You have the right to be.” My chest tightened at his words. “You can scream at me. You can hit me. And you can hate me. Because I hate myself too for hurting you.”

“Zach…”

“But you can’t leave me.” His lips brushed over my jaw.

“Zach.”

“What I did was unforgivable. So, I’m going to spend the rest of my life apologizing. I’ll do anything. You know I will.”

“Stop.”

He did immediately; pulling back to look me in the eyes. Whatever he saw, sparked panic deep inside him. “I won’t lose you, Maria.”

The silence was deafening.

I delivered my words with an angelic vengeance.

“You already did, Zach.”

I was numb walking the busy streets of Midtown. I was numb on the Line Six subway. I was even numb taking the elevator up to the fifty-second floor. But when door 111 opened and Natalia’s worried eyes met mine, silent tears began falling down my face.

Her arms were around me within seconds, holding me close as I cried in her doorway. I allowed myself to feel my emotions for once.

“What happened?” Her soft voice comforted me. We hadn’t grown up with families; all we had was each other. Natalia wasn’t just my older sister, sometimes she felt like the mother I never had.

I thought of an answer for a moment. All she knew was that I was seeing Zach. How could I possibly summarize what had happened in the last weeks?

“We broke up.”

The burn only seemed to warm me up for a moment before being muted by the icy loneliness in my chest. I barely ever drank, but tonight it seemed like a great idea.

I sat at the bar, admiring how similar the dark wood furniture was to Maria’s chocolate hair, though not quite the same. To my left and right, sat Trevor, Zane and Matteo. I couldn’t tell if they were talking to me or just above my head – but in all honesty, I couldn’t really care.

You already did,Zach.

I tipped my head back, draining another tumbler.

Although I forced myself to not follow her, I still had someone tail behind her to make sure she was okay. I didn’t give a shit if it was wrong, I needed to know she was safe. She could get all the fucking space she wanted from me; I was always going to be ready to protect her.

I was glad she hadn’t gone back to her apartment, but instead Natalia’s. I was glad she wasn’t alone.

Since no one except me knew about Trevor and Natalia’s weird relationship, he had to sneak out through the fire exit and climb down fifty flights of stairs when Maria showed up at Natalia’s unexpectedly.

“So that’s why you got that blurry painting hanging above your bed?”Guess Matteo was finally all caught up.“I don’t know if I should be impressed or weirded out, bro.”

Usually, I would’ve said something back; but not tonight. I felt them all exchange looks at my silence.

“No comment from Zach? That’s bad,” Trevor spoke as if I couldn’t hear him.

Matteo stood and slapped my shoulder, causing tequila to spill over the rim of my glass.Fucking idiot. “You’ll get over her, man.”