Page 22

TWENTY-ONE

The sound of rain makes me take a deep breath. A woodsy, exotic scent fills my nose. It’s dark, and I sink into the mattress, not wanting to wake up from the peaceful sleep I’m in. It’s been so long since I’ve slept like this. The last time I can remember was in sixth grade, and my mother and I were still living in Boston.

The sound of rain stops, replaced by the sound of footsteps. My heart starts hammering away inside my chest. Not wanting to see what’s there, I keep my eyes closed. The sound of the drawer opening is unmistakable, followed by the metal handle hitting wood.

Someone’s inside the room, and it wasn’t rain that woke me but the shower running from the smell of soap I used earlier. Despite how warm I feel inside the bed, a cold chill rakes over my skin, hardening my nipples, reminding me I’m practically naked except for the tiny shorts that barely cover my ass.

Very carefully I peel my eyes open; the silhouette from the moonlight casts a shadow across Draco’s muscular back. His tattoos move under his hard, muscled physique, making my mouth dry and my clit throb. It scares me that I’ve never felt this way about a man before. This isn’t the boy next door. This is the man every parent warns their daughters about.

My eyes trail over the muscles down his back, noticing the towel wrapped around his waist as he rummages in the next drawer. His body is perfection. There isn’t an ounce of fat on him, probably from hours performing in the circus.

I should tell him to leave and kick him out. At least to give me time to get dressed, but words are clogged in my throat. My tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth, and I have to admit, there is nothing wrong with the view. But I know it’s just a matter of time for him to notice me watching him. I’m surprised he didn’t wake me up and tell me to leave.

I glance briefly out the window, and it’s still dark out. There is no sign that daylight is looming, and I’m afraid to move to check my phone for the time not sure how he will react.

Then I quickly remember that he didn’t want me here, and suddenly, my attraction vanishes, replaced by self-preservation.

“What are you doing here?” I ask in a tight voice, grateful it doesn’t waver despite the way my stomach twists when he stiffens.

He turns around and discovers that his front looks even better than his back. Ink covers every blank canvas on his skin, with the exception of his neck. His eyes narrow into dark pits. His muscles ripple when he arches his neck. My gaze travels down his torso to his ab muscles disappearing in a harsh V underneath the towel.

“What does it look like? I’m getting dressed.”

My gaze travels up when he steps closer to the foot of the bed. I see his face clearly. He has symmetrical lips, a straight nose with a small piercing, wet hair slicked back in the color of the dark sky, and a chiseled jawline. I can’t stop staring at him even when he looks at me with an expression that tells me he wants nothing to do with me.

“Does it have to be here?” I challenge clutching the sheet over my breasts like it’s going to save me from him.

His gaze travels down my neck, stops at my hand fisting the sheet, and backs up to my accusatory stare, hoping he doesn’t notice that I’m very aroused between my thighs.

“Well, you’re in my room.” He drops the towel, and I feel as though my breath stops.

I swallow, and my throat feels stuck. He’s stark naked. His cock is thick and huge with... are those piercings? My eyes quickly travel to his face.

He arches a brow before he grabs his boxers. “You’re also in my bed.” He bends, putting one foot inside his shorts and then the other. His glorious muscles were flexing. “You can go, or…you can stay.”

I should grab my shit and run out of the room, but I’m practically naked. It’s one thing to dance in a slutty costume in a club where rules are enforced, but those rules don’t apply here. I’m in his room, in his bed. I should tell him to fuck off. Hell, I should ask Kaden why he didn’t warn me, but now that I’m thinking about it, He said no one stays here. Usually.

“You could’ve woken me up and asked me to leave.”

“Now why would I do that?”

“I don’t know,” I say sarcastically. Perhaps it’s because you don’t want me here.

“If I didn’t, you wouldn’t be, Athena.”

The sound of my name rolling off his tongue accelerates the heartbeat between my thighs. It is not due to my heat that a drop of sweat drips from the valley of my breasts. The a/c vent is blowing directly on my shoulders.

“I said I didn’t want you in my family’s circle or living in my house. I never said anything about my bed.”

Tiny needles pierce my eyes, causing them to sting. Of course, how stupid I was to think I would be good for anything else. I dance for money. In his eyes, it’s a step down from selling my body. He gives me the impression that he doesn’t judge me for it, but his words and the way he looks at me tell me otherwise. He’s no different from the men who watch me. They all want one thing.

I lick my dry lips. “Right.” I glance out the window hoping the sun will be up soon. Then he returns to the bedroom door and returns to the location where he is grabbing a T-shirt, allowing me a moment to exit the expansive bed. I grab my bag and clutch it to my chest like a lifeline. With my other hand, I grab the clothes I wore yesterday, quickly get dressed, grab my phone, and open the bedroom door.

Fuck him.

“Where are you going?” he asks darkly.

“What does it look like? I’m leaving.”

“It’s not safe for you to be walking out there alone.”

“For me, the situation outside is the same as it is inside.” It makes no difference.”

“Don’t…”

I leave without waiting to hear the rest.

I’m tempted to stop and knock on Kaden’s bedroom door but figure there is no point. I have his number and can thank him later. I find the front door, and once I’m outside, I take a deep breath of fresh air, realizing I was holding it the whole time I was making my escape.

Despite the chill of the night coating my arms and legs, I ignore it and continue walking down the drive, unsure of my direction. I figured once I’m out on the main road, I can open the map on my phone, and it would give me directions.

When I locate the road, I understand that leaving the house without a plan wasn’t the best decision. The road is dark, lined with trees on the side of it.

Movement from the trees draws my attention. “Shit,” I mutter.

I’m afraid to pull out my phone to check which way I should go toward the motel, but I’m frozen. There is a car heading right toward me, blinding me with the headlights. I squint, turning my head away when it gets close and pulls over.

“Are you lost?” A man’s voice asks. But the way he sounds, he isn’t asking because he cares if I am lost or not.

Fuck, fuck. This is not happening.

“No,” I finally say, but the only thing I see is the bright lights from a van and the sound of my heart beating. My breath escapes in white clouds, lamenting the absence of the man’s face and the uncertainty of his companionship.

“I can give you a ride. It’s still dark out. You shouldn’t be out here walking on this dark road.

“I’m fine,” I tell him and keep walking, but when I’m about to pass the van, I hear the car door open.

Dread fills my belly, followed by regret for walking out of the house before calling someone to come and get me. I could have called Rose or Rachel, but I wasn’t thinking. I can’t think when I’m around Draco. There is always something he says that sets me off.

“All come on,” he whines. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

I could tell he’s full of shit just by him saying that. Whoever this individual is, he is not going to transport me to the destination I desired.

“Fuck off,” I spit angrily and turn around, heading back to Kaden and Draco’s house.

Suddenly, I hear footsteps and rustling of trees. I hear a loud thump—akin to the sound of metal hitting metal.

I turn around and see the man on his knees. The man’s stomach protruded over his pants, and his eyes bulged out of his skull. Draco glares at me, fisting his hair and pulling the man’s head back. I watch Draco slice the man’s neck with a wicked knife. In an attempt to breathe, the man chokes on his blood, splattering blood on the ground and dimming the headlights.

Draco releases his grip, and the man falls to the ground. “She said she didn’t need a ride.”

“Are you insane?” I screech in horror.

Draco looks up with the knife still clasped in his hand.

“Let’s go back to the house.”

“And you’re just going to leave him there?”

“Yeah. He was going to hurt you. I’m sure you’re smart enough to figure that out, and I’m also certain you realize it was best to stay in bed.”

“Your bed?”

“Why not?” He looks back at the man on the floor with his eyes pointing at the sky under the headlights. “It’s better than what he had in mind.”

“You just killed a man like it was easy.”

“Was it simple for you, Athena?”

My stomach feels like it’s been hit by a brick. Kaden must have told him. “No,” I say, shaking my head. “That was different.”

“Would it have made a difference if he put his pants down and showed you, his cock?”

“It’s not the first time, but that’s irrelevant.” The magnitude of what he just did starts to sink in. Draco killed this man like it was nothing. That makes him a killer.

Isn’t that what they say about you, Athena? He did it to save you.

He puts away the knife in a leather sheath and walks past me in the direction of the house. “Let’s go.”

“I don’t take orders from you.”

He whirls back around to face me. His eyes are dark like he’s possessed. I am stepping back. “I said let’s go.” He looks behind me. “Before someone comes driving down the road.”

As soon as the words leave his mouth, I speed walk past him.

“That’s what I thought.”

“I hate you,” I say over my shoulder.

I don’t hate him because he saved me, but I hate the way he makes me feel. Out of control. It makes me want and hate him all at the same time. Is everyone fucked up in this town?

“I’m the one that should be upset,” he says in a deep voice, hating the way he can catch up to me in a couple of strides. “I’m worn out and want to get some sleep. You made me run after you, slice a man’s throat who planned on kidnapping you, and now I have to take another shower.”

We make it to the driveway in silence, and it’s then I start to feel the guilt of what could have happened because of my own stupidity. He did save me, and I at least owe him my gratitude.

“Thank you. I’m sorry.”

He sighs and pauses just inside the door, giving me his back. “Next time, listen to me.” He turns his head to the side. “Go upstairs; there are some clothes you can change into in the left top drawer of the dresser closest to the bathroom.”

“Is there anything else, Your Highness?”

The corner of his mouth lifts in a sexy smirk. “I eat pussy in the morning before taking my morning coffee. I prefer black.”

I snort. “Yeah, and I like men to talk to me like I’m a human being and not some sex toy they want to play with.”

“Kinda tough with your crowd.”

I stomp my way up the stairs, hating that I have no choice but to go back to his room and change.

I storm into the bathroom, stripping off my clothes, turning on the shower’s water, stepping under the spray, shutting the glass door, and watching the steam coat the glass. My hands shake when I push the top of the soap dispenser and lather my hands with shower gel.

After I wash myself, I close my eyes and let the tears mix with the water running down my face.

The door to the shower swings open and I jolt. My eyes pop open, and Draco steps in stark naked.

I don’t look down. I don’t look at his body, afraid of the way my own will react. I should turn around and tell him to leave. I should turn around, but I don’t. My shoulders sag in defeat as he watches me. The pad of his thumb caresses my cheek.

“Don’t leave like that again,” he says softly.

I turn my face, but he cups my jaw firmly in his grip, keeping me still.

“It was stupid and reckless,” I admit.

But he surprises me with an apology. “I’m sorry for what I said earlier.”

I stare at the black marbled wall with gold flecks, trying to process his words and the fact that he killed someone. None of it would have happened if I had stayed. I could have gone to a different room.

“I’m not going to hurt you.”

“I know,” I say softly, but do I?

He could have done the same and left me out there with my throat slit, but he did not.

He turns around, giving me time to think. I watch him wash himself, the soap sliding off his perfect body. He has a tattoo on the back of his neck that reads, BORN TO SIN.

When he turns around, his pitch-black eyes meet mine, the dark water dripping like tears from the leftover makeup running under his eyes.

“Do you always wear makeup?” I ask.

“Most of the time. What’s a circus without clowns wearing makeup?”

“No circus.”

His eyes drop to my lips, making me feel things I shouldn’t feel, but my heart beats like I’m running. I sweat like I’m under the hot sun. My nipples are hard like I’m cold. I’m wet between my legs, ready to have sex.

He could do anything to me if he says the right words, and we both know it. It’s why he says the things he does to push me away.

At first, I thought it was because he wasn’t attracted to me, but it’s not that. I can see the hate in his eyes. He hates himself.

None of this makes sense. Him. Me. My life. Everything just happens without a warning or explanation.

He wraps his hand around my throat and pushes me against the tiled wall so quickly, the air is rushing out of my lungs. “What are you doing?” I say breathlessly.

He leans close, his lips barely a breath away from my ear. “Don’t move.” His hand has me pinned to the wall by the neck. His eyes find my mouth, and I can’t move even if I wanted to. The heat of his skin so close to mine is intoxicating. My nipples ache to be touched. My skin to be licked. My mouth begging to be kissed.

A grin plays at the corner of his mouth, aware of the power he possesses. But I wasn’t ready for what he does next, and I don’t think I would’ve ever been prepared when he takes my mouth in a punishing kiss, stealing my lips, my breath, and my tongue, marking me as his.

Because there is no way I could want anyone else.

I drown in his scent and his kiss. When he releases me, my hands find traction in his hair, allowing me to catch my breath. His mouth kissing my neck, biting the skin, replacing the pain with the softness of his tongue, lights a fire in his wake that not even the water from the showerhead can quench.

A moan escapes my lips when he takes one nipple and then the other like he’s taking me apart piece by piece as he snakes his way down my torso, leaving bite marks in his wake. My stomach, the shaved part above my pussy lips, the inner part of my thighs right to the center of my clit.

He bites it gently.

“Draco,” I gasp.

He responds with his tongue and spreads my pussy wide and eats me. He isn’t soft or even gentle. It’s borderline savage the way he fucks me with his tongue. He places my legs over his shoulders. My back pressed against the wall as leverage. His hands holding me spread open as his tongue…Jesus, his tongue fucks me. My pussy disappears in his mouth, causing my legs to shake. My body convulses as the first wave of an orgasm slams into me.

“Draco,” I scream. He laughs. His laughter resonates with me. “Please,” I plead, begging him for more.

Holy fuck.

My skin is on fire as I look down past the red marks on my chest, stopping between my thighs, gripping his head. I keep him in place, digging my fingers into his straight black hair as the waves of my orgasm dissipate, the pounding of my beating heart replaced by the sounds of his mouth sucking my pulsing clit.

I don’t think I can walk, but my thoughts vanish when his eyes flick up, and then, he tears his mouth with a smack from my cunt. He straightens, and I gasp as he whirls me around. My tits press against the tiled wall. His lips graze my ear before he whispers, “That pretty ass is next.”