Page 3 of Shades of Ruin (Sharp Edges Duet #2)
“Ahh, well that’s where you’re wrong,” I taunt, closing the small gap between us and letting him feel how much taller I am than him. “You and I could never be equals.”
“And why is that?” he asks even as he takes a step away from me and my fallen angel.
“Because only one of us could snap their fingers and have every single girl in here on their knees begging for a taste of their perfect, pierced cock, and it certainly isn’t you, Xander,” I retort, using his first name just to break any illusions he may have about being special in this club.
He splutters for a few moments, any clever retorts abandoning him like his mommy probably did as a child.
Then he backs off, pulling his masked friend along with him.
“Come on, Beck. There are much prettier girls to play with. This messy bitch does’t deserve a pity-fuck,” he snaps, the insult crafted to preserve his own pride at her expense. And I won’t fucking stand for it.
Without a moment’s hesitation, I lash out and grab the collar of his red coat, dragging him back toward us. “Apologize,” I demand through clenched teeth. I point to where the dark angel stands, an uncomfortable stiffness in her posture that wasn’t there a moment before. “ Now .”
“I don’t answer to you,” he chokes out, his rage muffling the words into a stammer. He tries and fails to jerk out of my hold.
“Did you say you’d rather apologize on your knees?” I ask as though I didn’t hear a word he said. “Happy to oblige.” I kick out his legs from under him and delight in his screech of pain as he falls to the floor in front of my girl. “Now, say you’re sorry like a good little boy.”
“I’m sorry,” he hisses like the words cause him physical pain as they wrench from his throat.
“See, that wasn’t so hard.” I shove his head so that he topples over onto all fours. “Now fuck off like you should have the first time I told you to.”
It takes him a moment to right himself, and a small crowd gathers to watch his humiliation unfold.
I cross my arms over my chest and survey his struggle with a smile on my face.
It doesn’t escape my notice that my angel’s sweet face mirrors my sadistic satisfaction at the asshole’s downfall.
Maybe she’s not such an angel after all.
Xander finally gets to his feet and brushes off his red suit before wagging a vengeful finger in my direction. “Satan will hear about this.”
Satan is the name the die-hard Pandemonium members have bestowed upon Finn since he lords above us all like a true Prince of Darkness.
“Fine, go complain to Hell daddy. I don’t give a fuck if Finn gives me a lecture and a slap on the wrist,” I retort with a careless shrug.
This display might earn me more than a slap on the wrist, but it’s still fucking worth it.
With a glare that promises retribution, Xander storms off with his friend following closely at his heels.
My dangerous, possessive mood is warning enough to everyone else in the vicinity to stay clear, so I finally have enough space to give the alluring girl in front of me my full attention.
Her light brown eyes roam over my body, taking stock of my appearance with an open interest that many subs wouldn’t dare.
She might not even be a sub. Perhaps she has something even sweeter to offer me than submission.
Judging from the look of her, I’d say she likes to find pleasure on the same razor edge that I do.
“Thanks for rescuing me,” she speaks at last, her voice low and sultry with a slight accent that sounds like she caresses her R’s with the tip of her tongue. There’s a mischievous glimmer in her gaze that leaves me wondering if her gratitude is more taunting than genuine.
“Oh, I didn’t rescue you,” I retort, the words deadly serious as I stare her down with an expression of pure wickedness. “I saved you for my own damnation.”
“You’re a bit of a bully.” She quirks one of her brows in defiance even as her soft lips curve into a smile. I don’t think she’s at all put off by her accurate assessment of my character.
“You have no fucking idea.”
I close the distance between us and dig my fingers into her ash-kissed skin.
She shivers at my touch, and I have to bite my teeth into my bottom lip to keep from tearing into that sweet pulse point thumping at a runaway speed on the side of her throat.
I want to feel every inch of her delicious body under my tongue and lap the sweat and blood and smoke from her skin.
I’m going to devour her sanity and leave her with nothing left but pleasure.
I’m close enough that I can smell her, my senses enraptured by the warm scent of cinnamon and chilies blended with bittersweet notes of dark chocolate.
I resist the urge to lean down and lick the length of her neck to see if she tastes as good as she smells.
My mind is already flipping through ways I could capture her intoxicating essence in a dish. Something spicy, sweet, and decadent .
There are singed feathers tangled in her thick mess of dark, caramel-dipped curls.
They ripple over her shoulders and flow down to brush the small of her back.
I can’t keep my eyes from traveling further down and appreciating the full swell of her hips and the curve of her ass.
It doesn’t escape my notice that her tits are the perfect size for my hands, round and plump like ripened peaches.
A body like this is meant to be worshiped, but she’s draped herself in charred tatters, blood, and ash.
Usually I like to be the one to ravage and destroy, but this girl is a gorgeous wreck already.
“Aren’t you the prettiest little ruin I’ve ever seen,” I purr, scraping my thumb over her mouth to smear her red lipstick even further across her cheek. “Did it hurt when you fell from Heaven, angel?”
“Like a bitch,” she breathes, her chest heaving a bit heavier than it was before. She leans forward and presses her body against mine, standing up on her tiptoes to brush her lips against my ear before whispering, “It’s a good thing I love the pain.”
I groan in surrender, the sound rumbling deep in my chest. This girl might ruin me right along with her. “Fucking hell, I think the devil must have crafted you just for me.”