Page 3 of Creep (Vulture Hollow MC #2)

Angel

A hot, slick mouth sucks in my fingers.

I can’t move.

My brain jars as the unexpected touch blocks my thoughts, because what the actual fuck?

I don’t have a dog.

And I’m far too old to believe in monsters hiding under the bed, so… so…

The roar of an engine cuts through the silence, and I yank my hand back, wiping it on my thigh as I grab my pants and pull them up just as someone hits the brakes outside. I don’t even get the time to think before a fist bangs against the door, then opens it with a key.

My breath hastens, because this must be Adam. I did not want to give him a copy of my house key, but he wouldn’t stop making demands, and I caved. So damn stupid of me. I should have known better. Like juggling three guys wasn’t hard enough, I had to give him access to my home?

“I’m coming!” I yell in my sweetest voice and frantically grab a clean T-shirt off my chairdrobe.

I shouldn’t have been so snarky with him on the phone, but I’m tired, and I wanted to spend time browsing through the new collection of crystal necklaces online. Is a peaceful evening really such an unreasonable request?

Adam bursts into the room as I’m putting on my T-shirt.

“I fucking told you Wednesday is the only day I can do!” he yells, his face already beet red. Even that vein he gets on his forehead when he comes is out in full force.

I try to steady my breathing, because he is massive, and I already know that my best bet is to not show him any vulnerabilities. “I’m sorry, but I told you—”

“You’re clearly not busy,” he snaps, gesturing at the bed with a wet stain in the middle.

I can practically feel the temperature dropping when he notices its presence.

“Did you have another guy over? Did he fuck you with that?” Adam shakes me by the arm and points to the dildo, once more reminding me of the mouth sucking on my fingers. I must have imagined it, right?

I hate how vulnerable I feel next to a man his size, it triggers my fight or flight response as if I’m being held at gunpoint. A man like Adam doesn’t need a bullet to split my skull.

“N-no, I… I had another thing in town, and I only just returned,” I tell him. It’s a lie, but Domino left very clear imprints of his hands on me. Again. And I couldn’t deal with Adam’s jealousy today. As if I ever promised him exclusivity.

“Wednesday is my day, though. That’s when I see you, so unless you need to be in the ER with broken bones, you should have time for me!”

His dark gaze drifts from the fallen dildo to me, and I take a step back. “But the night is still young.”

Where do I find these guys? In the darkest fucking recesses of the trashiest online dating pools, that’s where.

“Look, Adam, we could see each other the day after tomorrow. I’m really tired—” I try, but he steps forward and shoves me onto the bed.

I’ve just come, but I might have gone with it to get him off my back.

Problem is that last time he saw bruises on my hips, left there by someone else, he choked me so hard I fainted.

I need to break things off with him. Of course.

But that’s not an option at this point either.

Like I don’t have enough trouble with Domino.

I was kinda hoping Adam would get the hint and move on, but it seems the bare bones experience I’ve been giving him lately wasn’t enough to make him look for someone else to hook up with.

“And I’m fucking horny, you boycunt, so the least you can do is suck my dick after I drove all the way here!”

Frost coils in my gut, but I guess I can do that and ponder my poor life choices later. At times like this I understand why my parents drank so much.

“Okay, just—”

Out of nowhere, a wire of some sort swings over Adam’s head, then tightens on his neck like a metal noose.

He tries to grab it but the loop is already cutting into his flesh, and he can’t slip his fingers under it.

Someone is behind him, but all I see is a pair of pale, veiny male hands tightening the wire.

Adam’s attention is instantly off me, because he’s fighting for his life when he grabs the other man’s wrists and pulls hard enough to get a breath in.

“Help,” he mumbles, bloodshot eyes on me as if he hasn’t just tried to force me into sex, but I’m one with the bed, my limbs heavy as lead as I watch his wide face redden even more.

For a moment, it appears Adam’s about to lose his balance and fall forward, but instead he launches himself back at the wall, and the dark silhouette hanging off his back collides with it, squashed between the wall and a man who’s taken so many doses of steroids I’m surprised he still gets hard-ons.

Choking noises fill my ears, and I bury my fingers in the bedding. Whoever Adam’s opponent is, he licked my fingers. He was hiding under my bed.

What is going on? I force myself to inch toward the edge of the mattress, but crossing the room to reach the exit feels impossible while the two beasts remain locked in a fight to the death.

When Adam spins with the stranger on his back, they hit my wardrobe and tip it sideways, blocking my way out.

The stranger has messy black hair, about shoulder-length, and it whips about as Adam flails around the room with him. One more hit against the wall elicits a pained grunt from the man, and the wire comes off Adam’s neck.

He turns to his assailant, about to stomp on him, but the other man yanks Adam’s leg from under him, making him topple in a show of strength I didn’t expect of someone his size. He must be ripped under those clothes.

Adam swears and lifts himself on his elbow.

It’s like watching a fight between a rhino and a puma.

Despite being hit several times, the stranger doesn’t waste time and grabs my Anubis-shaped lamp.

He bares his blood-stained teeth, and my eyes go wide when he brings the lamp down on Adam’s face without mercy.

I scream and back away until my back is against the wall and all I can see is blood. Each time the lamp hits Adam’s head, the light flickers as if the room is being struck by lightning, but I hear the squelch of blood, meat, and bone instead of thunder.

Heaving, the stranger throws his weapon to the side where its light dies. I think it’s over when Adam stops moving, but the man once again wraps the wire around his neck, then steps on Adam’s nape and pulls so hard something cracks.

I don’t dare move, because I’ve never seen anyone die before, and when this demon of a man pushes back his black hair, staring at me with eyes like two pieces of coal, I know I’m next, because he can’t leave a witness alive.

With my lamp as dead as Adam, I barely see the stranger’s features in the dim light coming from outside, but the distorted image is somehow scarier than complete darkness.

The stranger remains silent, like a wraith about to pounce and take my soul, cheek and tattooed arms dotted with the blood of his previous victim.

There can only be one reason for his presence here. With Adam visiting me every Wednesday, it only makes sense that whoever needed to take him down over some shady dealings worked out how easy that would be in this remote house. But if this man came here because of Adam, why would he… lick me?

The man hums and rubs his cheek, but instead of wiping off the red streaks, he ends up making them messier. “Hm… You’ll have to come with me.” His voice is like something from a crypt, a low tone meant not to disturb the other undead.

Oh no.

No. No. No . I might be terrified of this monster, but even I know the most important rule is to never let someone take you to a second location. Better to die fast in the struggle than let some freak rape and torture you for days.

I don’t try to protest or negotiate, just turn on my heel and dash for the window, because the damn wardrobe is blocking the door.

My fingers scrape over rough wood, but I manage to push the frame up.

The whiff of fresh air is like a promise of freedom, but as I raise my leg to roll to the other side, strong arms pull me back to the creature about to consume me.

“No, please no,” I cry, because yes, I’m not above begging.

“I won’t hurt you,” he says as he wrestles me to the ground, most definitely bruising my shoulder.

I don’t believe a word of it, not after witnessing the proficient way he handled Adam.

The only reason I’m still alive is because he wants to take his time with me, and that’s more terrifying than death itself.

I kick him, then slap him, but it’s like he’s used to this.

He doesn’t even punch me back, just grabs my wrists and—

He zip-ties them. When the plastic band tightens, I scream out as if someone’s flaying me alive, because I’m too young and pretty to die like this. I now regret renting a house so far away from my nearest neighbors. I wanted privacy. Well, I fucking got it.

He shushes me, his weight on my legs preventing me from kicking, and as I scream again, he stuffs a bundle of fabric into my mouth. I try to spit it out, but he secures it with so much proficiency I know he’s done this before. How many guys like me has this absolute psycho abducted and maimed?

Streaky hair falls over his face like a widow’s veil in anticipation of my death until all I see is the glint of an unnaturally long canine. I try to plead with my eyes, but just as my first tears fall, he blindfolds me, drowning me in darkness.