Page 35 of Seduce & Destroy

I leaned back into my side of the car and held my index finger between my teeth as I watched her. Inappropriate behaviour, Kk.

She pulled away, violently, suddenly apologetic. “Sorry, sorry, sorry.” She muttered, becoming flustered but not in a good way. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

The resounding silence crushed me as blood pumped through my veins at the same rate as Laney’s rapid breathing. Lust wasn’t going to solve this. All my life, I trusted that in the wake of tragedy the dopamine rush from sex would heal the soul, or at least make me forget for a little while. But that wasn’t the case for Laney, I realised. That was likely her second or third kiss. The gravity of such a moment shouldn't taint the memorial of her best friend. I blew it.

Right person, wrong time.

What she needed now was what she had always sought for. Comfort.

The rest of the car ride was spent without a single word, but I extended an arm along the backseat and fiddled with a lock of her hair. We were close but not touching, and while Neenan and I seemed to grow more relaxed, Laney continued to writhe her hands together with her head down.

“Princess,” I whispered across the car. The snap of her head was an admission in itself as she looked at me. “Calm.”

“No, I–” Her tone screamed anxiety, my pulse thrummed by it.

“Sir Ravencroft will be waiting,” Neenan interjected.

“What? Why?” I asked them both but kept my eyes on Laney.

“Questions need answers in the Ravencroft family.” He said. He wasn’t the one I wanted these words from though, but he kept rattling on. “The Logan thing, the disappearing, the kiss probably.”

“Do not tell him.” I shot a glare at the back of his head. Nothing good could come from Richard Ravencroft’s involvement. His hubris alone would send me a thousand miles away from her if I dared to dip a toe in Laney’s personal life pool.

“Oh, I think he already knows.”

“How could he possibly?” I mocked. We approached the iron gates of the Ravencroft Estate, and dread began to set in.

“You don’t stab a man for no reason, Kenna. He wasn’t born yesterday. He had love too.” Had? LOVE?

I scoffed. “I’ll deal with him.” I’ll show him.

“Then, you don’t know where you fall on the pecking order.” He shook his head. And that was what I feared. I’d gotten too close and would lose it all. Mama forbade me from volunteering for this mission, saying that I was too involved to see through clear water, but I promised it was purely physical.

Getting my first taste of Laney further entrenched my obsession, but my timing may have ruined it all.

The car drew to a stop in front of the ivy clung manor house.

As I glanced to my right, I saw Laney’s eyes were sealed shut. “Okay,” she spouted all of a sudden, overcome with some new spark of confidence, but when she smiled, I knew it was faked.

She opened her own door and strode toward the front door.

When I got out of the car, Neenan came fast approaching and gripped my upper arm. “Do not hurt her,” He gritted out. His grip tightened at my silence. “Understood?”

I nodded.

“Verbal.”

“Yes. Understood.” But fear seeped into my heart as if there were vines wrapping around an intruding object. Even when he had let go, I was frozen in place.

I was going to hell.

?

Later that night, voices came through the bedroom wall. It was muffled but growing in volume as if it were getting closer.

“Divorce is not an option this time.”

“I don’t want him. Father, please.”