by Mason, V. F.
She puts her hands on her stomach, arching her back and calling my name. “Eudard.”
I’ve already splayed her legs wide and settled between her thighs. I breathe in her scent before going for the kill. I push my tongue deep inside her and slide my hands under her ass then squeeze her hard while holding her in one position, with no way of escape.
She moans loudly. Her fingers grip my hair while the heels of her feet rest on my shoulders, giving me better access to feast on her flesh.
Licking all around her pussy, I trap her clit between my teeth, making her chant something incoherently. Then I go back to sucking on her skin right before I stiffen my tongue and probe it deeper and deeper into her. At this point, she pulls my hair so hard I wonder how she doesn't rip it out.
Shifting my attention back to her clit, I enter her with my fingers, stretching her for me. Then I remove them, diving for another taste while moans continue to come from her mouth. “Don’t tease me,” she begs, trying to pull at my hair to drag me to her, but I shake my head, placing my hand on her stomach, soothing her with my touch.
“I don’t tease. I deliver.” And then I go back to torturing her some more, sucking and licking her flesh until her breaths become raspier and raspier, and her pussy grips my tongue hard. Swiftly, I shift back, not wanting her to come on my tongue.
Dragging my mouth over her navel, I travel up to the underside of her breast, nipping on the skin before cupping it, giving it open-mouth kisses. I lightly graze her nipples and then repeat the same action with the other one. “Please, Eudard,” she begs, and then her hands palm my head, tugging me until our faces are on the same level. “End this misery.” She circles her legs around my hips, digging her heels into my back while her hand slides over my stomach, wrapping around my dick. She jerks it from the base to the tip, rolling her hips forward so the crown is at her opening. “Take me now. I’m burning without you,” she says.
And what sane man can resist such a request?
Positioning myself above her, I enter her in a thrust so swift and hard that it shakes the bed, causing the headboard to bang against the wall.
“There has never been anyone else,” I tell her, driving into her once again, and she gasps, shock along with pleasure crossing her face. “I could never have been with anyone else.” My words only get her hotter, because her pussy clamps around me, gripping me in such a tight fucking hold. “So mark me, stake your claim if you want, but no one has had this body but you.” I don’t count mine or her incidents, for those were not willingly given. What is important is that we are each other’s one and only, and that’s all that matters.
The past has no power to destroy us, not anymore.
“Yes,” she whispers and then cries out when I speed up, slamming into her harder and harder.
Her nails scratch my back so hard she leaves stings in her wake, but I don’t care. Instead, I capture her mouth with mine, connecting us completely while driving inside her. Her tight heat welcomes me each time as she stretches along my length, proving to me we were made for each other.
Her breathing intensifies, and by the way she continues to moan, barely returning my kiss and wrapping her legs tighter around me, I know she’s close.
I plunge into her harder, pushing in and out until she clamps around my dick, gasping then crying into my mouth, but I quickly swallow it down, not wanting to share her screams of pleasure with anyone.
The familiar tingling in my spine alerts me I’m getting close too, and with a few more hard slams, I groan above her, spilling inside her while she gives me the sweetest of kisses.
Breathing heavily, I want to roll to the side, but she doesn’t let me. Instead, I lower myself onto her. She hugs me close, resting her head on my shoulder. “We need to clean up. Plus, you’re tiny,” I tell her, but she only tightens her hold on me, and I chuckle. “Arianna.”
“No,” she murmurs sleepily and sighs in contentment. “Let’s stay like this just for a while.” She yawns loudly before burrowing her nose into my neck. “Just for a minute.”
When have I denied her anything?
So for a moment in time, we stay like this, basking in our love and ignoring the doom creeping up on us, surrounding us no matter where we go.
A monster who can’t rest until he destroys everything I love.
“It’s going to be all right,” she whispers as if reading my mind. “You and me against everything.”
“I know, baby,” I say, even if I have my doubts. But I don't voice them, deciding for the second time in my life to trust in love and believe that happily ever afters are possible for the likes of me.
And I hope, this time around, I end up right and don’t have to face the consequences of my wrong decisions.
Cassandra
Giving Eudard a kiss on the cheek, I get up from the bed, shivering slightly under the light wind slipping through the window.
Putting on the nearby silky robe, I tug on the belt and pad barefoot into the hallway, my throat begging me to drink some tea.
I must have caught a cold during all these activities. Otherwise, what explains the soreness? Not to mention I still can’t sleep after what Eudard shared with me. My mind is restless while my hands are itching to do something.
So instead of just rolling on the bed endlessly when Eudard is sleeping peacefully, finding solace in sharing his burden with me even though the danger is still not over, I decide to bake a cake for tomorrow’s breakfast.
A chocolate one, his favorite. Mom used to say we should hide all the chocolates when he’s around or the poor boy would develop a cavity.
He still managed to find them all though, because I kept spilling to him where they were.
Even back then, I was on Eudard’s side… always.
Without all the darkness surrounding us, everyone would have called our romance cute.
Friends to enemies.
Enemies to lovers.
Lovers to… lovers.
Smiling, I turn on the light in the kitchen and walk toward the sink to wash my hands, a cry stilling inside my mouth as a leather-gloved hand covers my mouth, pulling me to his hard body. I feel the tip of a blade grazing my artery, leisurely moving up and down as if the person holding it can’t decide if he should pierce me with it or not. “Shhh, Cassandra.” The deep, slightly rusty voice speaks, breaking goose bumps of disgust all over me. “I’m gonna give you a choice, because I don’t believe in kidnapping,” he continues to talk, breathing heavily in my ear, and I tense, looking around for anything to help me, but there is nothing in close proximity. “Either you are going to come with me willingly, or I’m going to blow up this entire house.” I still in his arms, fear rushing through me, because I know about all his bad deeds.
He is capable of doing what he says. “Let’s leave a letter for Eudard from your hand saying you can’t live with a monster like him.” He presses the knife harder, and I wince when it stings my skin. “Do as I say, Cassandra, and no one will get hurt.” His quiet laughter echoes in my ear while my heart bleeds at the prospect of deceiving Eudard.
I’m not sure what Liam’s game is right now, but it’s not like it matters.
After all, I’m used to being collateral damage in his plans.
And I have a feeling this time around he won’t let me live.
Chapter Seventeen
“When striking a deal with the devil, think wisely.
Don’t rush into anything blindly.
He has the power to mislead.
And when you least expect it, your heart will bleed.”
Eudard
Eudard, 17 years old
Storming past Levi, Lachlan’s butler, who opens his mouth as if he wants to say something, I kick open Lachlan’s office door to see him occupying his chair, cigar in hand.
His brows rise at my intrusion, and he lifts his whiskey glass in my direction, the ice clinking against each other. “Eudard,” he greets me, and even though his tone stays calm, I notice the silent w
arning there to tread carefully.
The devil hasn’t invited me to his hell, and in this, my presence here is unwanted and might have consequences in the future.
I don’t give a fuck.
“Where is Arianna?” I ask, steel lacing my voice while I breathe heavily, plastering my palms on his desk.
Lachlan stays unfazed, twirling the glass back and forth while regarding me through his unreadable blue eyes. “In the hospital.”
I grit my teeth from the ringing starting in my ears. Lately it’s present whenever anger spikes inside me, but I have to push it back in order to achieve what I want. “She is not there. I just went to the island town. Where is she, Lachlan?”
Instead of answering me, he asks his own question. “Remember our conversation on the phone? Right after you woke up from your incident?”
My eye twitches, and I crack my neck to the side, avoiding the growing headache. Sending me back to that day is not a smart idea; my blood still burns so much I sometimes think my body will spontaneously combust so I will disappear from here and never feel a fucking thing. “Yes.”
He leans back, taking a large sip, and then continues to talk, drawing out each of his words, which grates on my nerves. “You begged me to take care of Arianna until you could. No matter the cost. I agreed. On what condition, Eudard?”
I hate this question.
I hate it, because I called for help in a moment of weakness, and now he is using it against me, the man I trusted most in this life. I never thought that of all people he would put me in this situation. “That you will do everything your way, and I won’t interfere.”
He clicks his fingers. “Correct. So what the fuck are you doing in my office, barking orders and talking to me in this tone?” This time around, he doesn’t hide the fury in his words—not that it has any effect on me.
Instead, my anger lashes out, demanding I get what I came here for. “I didn’t interfere until I sorted out my issues. Where is she? She needs me, Lachlan. I can take care of her now.” I’m the only family she has left in this world, the only home.
Because everyone and everything else was taken away from her, even her beloved ice.
Throwing his glass to the side, it hits the wall where it shatters loudly. He pops up out of his chair, facing me with rage crossing his face. His energy hits me so hard part of me wants to step back, but I stand my ground.
I have more respect for him than anyone, but he withholds what’s mine, and in this he becomes my enemy. I’ll be fucking damned if I show my weakness to an enemy ever again.
“Your twin died a month ago,” he states. My hands fist, but my face stays blank, even if I want to scream in agony from the pain still shaking me every single minute of my life. “Your father died the next day from a heart attack.”
I close my eyes, the image of my father holding his chest when I told him the news about Eachann. The strong man I always knew crumbled in front of my eyes, chanting “no” and gulping for breath until he dropped to the floor.
The medics didn’t come in time—not that I expected them to.
Everything in my life is designed to bring me the most sorrow, so nothing much surprises me. The will was read, leaving everything to his kids.
Among his papers, I found documents from a clinic I’d never heard of. Apparently, Dad regularly sent it money for years until he stopped around six years ago. I decided to call our family lawyer to find out what the fuck was going on, only to drop to my knees when he informed me it was for our mother.
Turned out, she had a mental disorder and kept telling our dad someone would hurt us, but he didn’t listen to her. Due to her illness that only progressed with the passing years, he couldn’t trust her words, and I guess we never gave him a reason to question her family either. She became uncontrollable in her angry lapses, and it got worse after Laura’s birth. She was terrified for her kids, but anytime she planned to take us, Dad stopped her. So one day during the summer, when we were away, she took Laura and drove so fast she crashed into a tree.
Laura wasn’t hurt, but Mom… she survived but was brain dead. Dad couldn’t make himself let her go.
For years, he visited her, until one day he finally gave up.
So all this time, my father grieved his wife’s death while pretending to everyone for our sake that she ran away.
How he could have done this to us, I’ll never understand, because we, as her children, deserved to know.
My mom is one more victim of Liam’s family that destroyed my life as I knew it, taking all my loved ones away.
Patricia’s father became mayor and the town has slowly woken up from the tragedies. Everyone thinks Eachann ran away to Spain to be a priest because of a letter he apparently left behind. I still don’t know where Eunan hid the body, but I trusted him to do it with honor.
At first, I didn’t want to keep playing the role of my brother, hating the idea of people not knowing about his death and remembering him as the most kindhearted person in the world. My alter, no matter how much I like him, can never live up to Eachann.
But then I knew Liam was still watching and planning to attack when I was most vulnerable; he is a serial killer who plays with his favorite victim.
He won’t ever let go, so acting like I lost my mind and created Eachann from within me served as a good decoy for me.
And I knew it pissed him off that I didn’t mourn my brother in the open for everyone to see. I did it behind closed doors, drinking to oblivion while crying, cursing everything and everyone, because he had to die and not me.
I guess sinners and monsters are left to live longer in this world, because we have nothing to lose, while saints are taken away from us too soon, so they’re not smeared in the dirt of this world.
“I can take care of her,” I repeat, ignoring all the other statements, needing her to be next to me so we can ground each other in this life.
Besides Laura—who still wakes up from nightmares of that night but doesn’t want to speak about them or calls for Dad even after attending his funeral—Arianna is the only one I have left. They need to be under my watchful eye, because I don’t know when Liam will strike next.
Serial killers can hold on for a long time, usually only seeking the high of a fresh kill once the one from the previous kill wanes. Which means I have no idea when he will start the next hunt, but by the amount of the distraction he dished out, he won’t be able to hang on for long.
And this time around, when he shows up, I’ll be fucking ready to stab him with the same sword he killed my brother with.
I’ve kept it in the basement, still coated in our blood, for this specific occasion; so once I pierce Liam with it, it’ll be like both of us kill him once and for all.
Pleasure spreads through me at just the idea of such a future, and I will myself to calm down, because Lachlan holds all the power right now.
But he never breaks a promise or his word, and in such, he will give my girl to me. “You promised, Lachlan. We had a pact. You can’t break it,” I say and see his jaw tic.
Then he smirks, hooking his thumbs on his pants pockets. “You’re right.”
I almost sigh in relief, my insides soaring at the prospect of seeing Arianna again and giving her comfort. She must be scared with all these unfamiliar men around her after everything that happened.
“I never go back on my word.” He presses the button on his phone, ordering, “Arson, come here with Ian.”
My brows furrow. Why does he need them here? All I need to hear is her location.
“I promised to take care of her though,” he says, and I still, not liking where it’s heading. “Giving her to you now will be a mistake for both of you. You are not stable. She is still getting better from her plastic surgery.”
Fucking what? Her injuries were that bad?
My Arianna… will have a new face? He doesn’t let me digest this information for long.
“If she is with you, she will be forever Liam’s target.” Ou
r eyes meet, his cold and mine furious. “Do you know she wants vengeance?” What? “And I can’t stop her, because that’s the only thing keeping her here.”
“I will keep her here.”
He laughs although it lacks any humor. “You really think right now she will welcome you? You are an enemy and will stay one until she gets better. I’ll do what I promised. But you have to go.”
“You can’t keep her away from me!”
“Yet I will.” I want to dash toward him, but he wiggles his finger. “Let’s not forget if you kill me, you pretty much kill your chances of ever finding her.” The monster inside me screams from the injustice but also at the truth in his words that illuminate the threat separating me from Arianna and the risk of never seeing her again. “Fix your issue with Liam. Dedicate your life to it. I don’t care,” he says right when Arson and Ian enter his office, and he motions with his head.
The silent command makes them grab my arms. Even though I thrash trying to get free, their grips are too strong on my starved and sleep-deprived body. I can barely keep anything down since Eachann died.
“You won’t get Arianna. And that’s final. Don’t break our agreement.”
“Fuck you, Lachlan,” I say, twisting in their hold again. “Let go of me.” But of course they don’t, fucking assholes keeping their loyalty to Lachlan.
He comes closer to stand in front of me. “Snap out of your hysterics and think rationally.” He digs his finger into my temple while I jerk from his touch. “Use what I taught you to rebuild your life or you’re gonna end up dead from your recklessness.”
With that, he steps back, and the guys drag me outside as I scream, “You will pay for this, Lachlan! That’s my fucking promise to you.”
“When you come begging for help, I might consider it, Eudard” is all he replies with to my threat, shutting his office door in my face.
On that day, he kicked me out of his mansion and made me a persona non grata among the New York elite of serial killers.
