Page 96 of Eternal

My fingers rest over Teal’s pulse, and her heart hammers. She struggles with sex, but she’s also fascinated by it. Whether it be porn or people fucking in public, she wants to associate it with good and not pain.

I’ve searched her phone. I know what kind of videos she fingers herself to in the middle of the night. She’s sick like me, but unlike everyone else in her life, I accept her for it without wanting to change her.

“You can watch them if you want. I won’t judge you.” I graze my thumb over her throat again, trailing down along her collarbone. “What are you imagining in that dirty little mind of yours, Teal?”

“I—” She swallows hard. “Nothing.”

“Don’t lie.” I lick the shell of her ear, and she shivers.

Her fingers grip my sides, clinging tighter when I turn her face toward the couple still fucking at the edge of the room.

“Do you like watching them?”

“Yes.” She bites her lip. “I don’t know why.”

“Because you like seeing her feel good.” I bury my nose in her hair and breathe her in. “It’s why you were so disappointed that night in the courtyard. He left her hanging.”

“How do you know that?”

“I know you.”

Teal wets her lips. “Well, I know you like it too.”

“I don’t mind groups,” I admit. “But I’m not sharing you. I meant it when I told you that.”

My hand clenches on her hip, just considering it, and it drags her attention back to me.

“I’m not sharing you either.” Her voice is tentative, like she’s concerned I’ll be upset about her admitting it.

“I know.” I drag a hand down her side. “I wouldn’t want you to.”

“You mean that?” Her eyebrows pinch.

“Mm-hmm.” I hum. “But you don’t mind the thought of him sharing her, right? That’s what you’re picturing right now.”

“How—”

“Because, like I said. I know you. I pay attention.”

The room throbs with the music and lights strobe in a rainbow of colors. But all I see in the galaxy of light is Tealene Donovan in the middle of it.

Her fingers twine through mine, and they might as well be fibers in a rope, twisting with my own. Binding us together.

Her green eyes meet mine, and a bubblegum-pink piece of hair falls over her eye. She drags me into her splattered mess. The chaos-ridden metal forest that she is, when I prefer order.

“What do you see when you look at me?” she asks.

I pull her close. “Everything.”

Tilting her head back, I claim her perfect ruby lips. I drink the scraps of heaven she offers, sinking my teeth into her lower lip to get a taste of her purity.

“Declan.” Her fingers grip my arms, and she groans as I lick the path I just bit, drinking the blood that leaks from where I cut her lip open.

She’s soft, while I’m sharp.

She bleeds life, while I drip death from every pore.

From the corner of my eye, I catch Jase watching us. His gaze is fixed on where I’m sucking Teal’s lip into my mouth and emptying her. Because everything she has is mine.