Page 1 of Make Me Scream (Visceral #2)

PERIS

The screams resound in my mind.

Please don’t run… Please don’t run… not from me.

Not now.

My ears ring, a high-pitched drone that drowns out the sound of Ma’s voice over the racing of my own thundering heart.

“Peris!” Hands yank at my shoulders, and I jerk away from the unexpected touch.

“What?” I blink through the sting.

“What the hell is going on?” Her eyes are wide, and her forehead is beading with sweat that my own is mimicking with abundance.

“Why the fuck would I know that?” I’m shouting, my throat hoarse and burning with the strain. The knocking persists, and it grates on my nerves. I feel it igniting along my skin, prickling like live wires set to detonate at any second.

The path Abel took only moments ago still burns with the scent of his departure. It reeks of anguish and inevitability.

I can’t fucking stand it.

I start after him, jaw set tight, fingernails biting into my palms deep enough to gorge the flesh beneath.

Ma’s still speaking, but her voice easily obscures into nothing as I storm down the hall, following after my runt.

I fling his bedroom door open, only to stop short at the sight of his dark room and empty bed.

My heart kickstarts as I stare into the emptiness. Logically, I know he couldn’t have gone anywhere… but he could have. He could’ve fucking up and jumped out of the goddamned window, knowing him. Could’ve raced away and left me to deal with this chaos created because of him.

Fueled with a newfound fire, I spin around and march to my own door, some invisible force pulling me toward it.

It’s dark, the sun now nearly complete in its setting, but in the corner, near my desk, Abel’s feet stick out from the wall, this time bare yet still reminiscent of that night in the school locker room.

The reminder overpowers the angry relief at the sight of him in front of me, instead filling me with a revolting thrill. Heat churns in my gut, and without thinking, I’m over by Abel in three steps. I snake his braid-wavy, blonde strands around my fingers and yank him to his feet.

Wide, wet, silver eyes blink owlishly at me, that beautiful bottom lip of his quivering. “W-what are you?—”

“Shut the fuck up, pup,” I snarl against his mouth as I slam our lips together. His soft sniffles melt into a long, drawn out mewl that ignites my blood into molten glass—impossibly hot and so fucking fragile.

That’s what he does to me. Something so unthinkable and…

And beautiful.

I suck in air, taking Abel’s breath for my own at the disturbing realization. I fucking hate this. What he’s doing to me. How fast it’s all happening. What his mother showing up has done to me—to us. The reality of what this means—falling headfirst at the speed of a rollercoaster.

We could lose him…

I could lose him.

“I fucking won’t,” I snarl against his thick bottom lip before snagging it between my teeth and yanking.

“Won’t w-what?” Abel trembles against me, and I fucking love it.

“I won’t fucking lose you, runt,” I snap. My teeth sink into his flesh unwittingly, drawing a yelp from Abel as blood wells. Coppery iron caresses my lips, and I moan, my eyes rolling back as I taste him. My dick throbs, pressing against the soft concave of his stomach.

“Oh— mmm, ” he moans softly, and all of the tension drains from his body in an instant.

He melts against me, his entire body falling slack.

My hands wrap just under his ribs as I hoist him up.

His legs wrap around my waist, heels digging at the top of my ass, crotch pressing against my stomach.

He rubs against me, mewling like a fucking kitten as he attacks my mouth sloppily.

I swallow every desperate sound of his as we fight back and forth, swapping spit and hate and something we can’t name.

Abel rotates his hips, seeking friction, but his baggy sweatpants are bunched between us, preventing close contact.

He whines desperately, and the sound shoots straight to my balls.

I grip the hair at his nape and tug harshly, ripping him from my mouth.

He pops off with a gasp, silver eyes glassy with the kind of mindlessness I only ever want him to have for me.

“Off,” I demand, tugging at his sweatshirt. His sharp Adam’s apple disappears below the collar as he pulls it above his head and drops it to the floor. His pale, scarred skin glows in the dark, evening light, illuminated by the reddish, pink glow of my alarm clock.

Abel always looks so good in pink.

“Such a pretty puppy, ” I whisper in the darkness as I drag my index finger over his crooked nipple bar. He shudders as goosebumps pebble across his bare chest. I drag my blunt nail across a few scars, wondering how he received them. Wondering if he’d tell me if I asked.

Confused that I even want to know the answers. Wondering when exactly it all fucking changed for me.

Was it when I saw that photo, or that night in the car? Was it when I first saw his tears, or the very first time he ignored me?

Or was it tonight, the first time it all felt real…

Easy. Like more. And then, the possibility of losing him became real.

Tangible. He could finally slip right between my fingers like melted silver, falling to the floor at my feet to be washed away…

something I loathe to admit fills me with harrowing unease.

Abel undresses hurriedly, his narrow sternum heaving under the strain of his substantial breathing. When his— my —sweatpants pool to the floor around his ankles and he rights himself, it’s then I realize something’s wrong.

I reach out and clasp his throat, closing my fingers around it as tightly as I can, effectively closing off his airways. Abel gasps, eyes shooting wide, but seemingly surprisingly trusting of me… or maybe not so much.

“Listen to me, runt.” I slam my molars together and grate them as his eyes fix solely on mine, wide and searching like I’m the only fucking thing in his whole universe. I hate the way that makes my stomach capsize.

“You’re mine, yes.” It’s not a question.

He nods as best he can in my grip.

“Answer me,” I demand.

“Yes,” he squeaks, and I smile.

“Yes,” I repeat with heated venom. “You’re fucking mine, Abel Silver.” I reach down to swipe a few droplets of blood from his bottom lip. “Do you know what that means?” I ask against his mouth. He shakes his head minutely, small puffs of air fanning over my cheek.

“It means I’m not letting you go. For anything.” I pause, bouncing my gaze back and forth between both his eyes. “ Or anyone. ” His widen, realization settling in, and with that, I lose myself in him and all the messy fucking madness we are.

ABEL

Static fills my ears as Peris kisses me like I’m his. Fully and entirely his. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted, but I hate that it’s because my cunt of a mother showed up expecting me to just… upend my entire fucking life because she decided she wants to try and be a fucking mom now.

“Pup.” Skin connects with my cheek, bringing me back to the present.

“Stay with me.” My brows draw together in confusion as I blink up at Peris in the darkness.

His thick brows are furrowed, sweat dripping between them, and his hot breaths are fanning across my face.

It’s almost too much, but then, he cups the cheek he smacked and drags the pad of his thumb roughly over my chapped and split bottom lip.

“Don’t go back there with them. Stay here with me,” he pleads, golden-green eyes searching mine, and they’re so beautiful, and it’s all so foreign, I can’t help the tears that escape my own.

“Okay,” I rasp, leaning forward to press a kiss to his lips because how can I say no when this is who is in front of me right now?

This considerate boy who’s giving me everything I need.

I don’t really understand it. It’s disconcerting—us being who we always were to now this.

Not knowing if it’s going to last. Not knowing why it’s even happening… at least not for sure.

But I do know I’ll take Peris any way I can get him… even if that means losing vital pieces of myself.

Peris sighs, and I feel the tension bleed out of him, which causes my own to subside for the time being.

It’s still there, festering beneath every layer of flesh, waiting to ooze out of every inopportune moment, but for the time being, all that exists right now is Peris and his mouth and his hands as they render me completely and utterly useless with his mom in the next room, waiting for us.