“Shit!”
Lacey tried to pull herself up and managed only to loosen what may have been one or all of the rusted brackets—she didn’t know because she couldn’t see a damn thing it was so dark. Something small and hard struck the top of her head. A screw, she thought, and then yelled, “Shit, shit, shit!”
The kitten darted over. Meowed. Licked her fingers and then stepped into the gutter. “Casper, no, damn it!” She may survive the fall if the gutter gave away, but the kitten wouldn’t—especially if she landed on him. “Shoo! Shoo!”
Plopping his butt down, Casper started washing his face. With a frustrated grunt, Lacey glanced down again. I’m gonna have to jump. The thought made her already fast-beating heart feel like it was going to shoot out of her chest. She squinted, but still couldn’t see a fucking thing.
How many feet between hers and the ground? Was she dangling over the porch steps? What if she landed wrong and broke one or both of her ankles? Legs? Cracked the back of her head against the hard earth?
Just do it...you have no choice.
Lacey took a deep breath. Slowly released it. Tried to let go. Her hands refused to open.
Okay, one more time. Deep inhale. Good. Slow exhale. Good. Now let go.
Nope.
A car door slammed, turning Lacey’s whimper into a sharp gasp, the air of which she used to scream, “Daddy!”
Feet pounded against the solid earth.
“Daddy, help!”
Large, hot hands slid under her pajama top to grip her waist. “Let go.”
Lacey went rigid at the husky voice that most definitely was not her father’s. Her heart did a nauseating flip, flop, plop sort of thing before resuming its hard, fast pounding. Her mouth went dry and her throat closed up.
“I said, let go. Now.”
And just like that Lacey’s hands released their death grip on the gutter. In what felt like slow motion, she was lowered to the ground, her head feeling like one of those spinning toys. When her feet touched the cool earth she stumbled back and against a hard wall of heat.
I fell, she thought as the warmth spread to her front. I fell and hit my head and I’m unconscious.
When she heard a low, deep growl, the fog clouding Lacey’s brain vanished instantly. She filled her lungs to capacity and then screamed as loud as she could. A hot hand clamped over her mouth and pulled her head back.
“Stop.”
Lacey eyes widened even more as they latched on to an all-too-familiar pair. They do glow, she thought, a second before a rush of adrenaline shot through her body, propelling her arms and legs into action. She flailed and kicked. Kicked and flailed. Until she was breathless and her limbs felt like soggy noodles.
“Finished?” he said in a gruff tone when her body went limp.
Lacey used what little strength she had left to nod, but when he didn’t let her go or uncover her mouth she found a little more. Her hand flew up to clamp over the back of his, her fingers trying in vain to peel his off. She sensed The Man’s smile a moment before she heard a soft chuckle that turned her ice-cold fear into red-hot anger.
“Apparently not,” he murmured, and then expelled a heavy sigh, his heated breath against her cheek making it feel even hotter. “Calm down, baby.”
I am not your baby, you stupid jerk! And don’t tell me to calm down!
Lacey tried to sink her teeth into his hand, but it was clamped too tight over her mouth. The Man pressed his lips against her ear. “Are you trying to bite me?” he whispered, sounding both shocked and amused.
She nodded.
He chuckled.
She seethed.
He cleared his throat. “Listen carefully. I drove by. Saw you. Stopped to help. Nothing more. Do you understand?”
Adrenaline zinged through Lacey’s veins, preparing her for what she was about to do. She knew it was insane, but she didn’t care. Payback was a bitch...and he needed to know that so was she.
Lacey nodded. After a moment’s hesitation, The Man removed his arms from around her waist, but didn’t step back. Good, very, very good. Turning around, she placed her hands on his chest and then slid them up to his shoulders, which she squeezed tight. Gotta align just right. At her touch, The Man growled low in his throat. The sound, which would’ve been terrifying had she not been fueled by anger, echoed through the silent night. Down boy.
Grinning devilishly at her inside joke, Lacey latched onto the only thing she could see in the blackness surrounding them—his eyes. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you stopped to help me,” she said in the sweetest voice she could manage. “What I don’t appreciate is being manhandled.”
Clenching her teeth, Lacey brought her knee up hard and fast. The Man’s ice-blue eyes widened and his pupils constricted a moment before he released a sound of pain and rage that turned her heated blood into ice water.
Lacey’s heart shot into her throat as she whirled around and bolted toward the house. Her foot caught on the bottom step and she pitched forward, elbows and knees slamming against the hard wood. A crawling-run propelled her across the porch, to the front door. She sprang up and grabbed the doorknob, turning and pushing at the same time. “I’m calling the cops,” she screamed as she flung herself into the house.
Slam, lock, run.
And fall.
Various horror movie scenes flashed through her mind as Lacey scrambled up the stairs, her loud, short breaths the only sound in the deafening silence. She sprang up when she reached the second floor landing. Flew down the hallway and into her bedroom. Slammed the door and locked it. Darted for the window and collided with her bed, falling face-down on it. With a flip-roll her feet hit the floor. She ran to the open window and thrust her head outside.
Lacey searched the darkness. “Here, kitty, kit—there you are,” she breathed when she spotted the fluffy ball of white at the far end of the roof. “Please, Casper, come here!”
The kitten took a few steps toward her. Stopped. And then jumped up. And up and up and—
With a sharp gasp Lacey pushed off the windowsill so hard she flew backwards several feet before landing hard on her ass. She wanted to scream and run but her brain was preoccupied with the question repeating inside her mind: How?
Ghostly, ice blue orbs appeared at the open window. They hovered there for a moment and them slowly came forward.
He’s going to kill me.
When she heard a loud click, Lacey’s eyes slammed shut and her arms flew up to wrap around her head.
He’s got a gun!
Holding her breath, Lacey waited for a loud bang followed by an explosion of pain.
And waited.
Waited some more.
Lacey forced her eyelids apart just a little. Beyond the black blur of her lashes she saw light surrounding her forearms like a golden halo. Was she dead? And if so, was the glow from Heaven’s sunshine or Hell’s flames?
Forcing her eyes completely open, she looked down.
Hell...definitely Hell. Heaven wouldn’t have worn-out floors with scrapes and gouges.
“Look at me.”
“I don’t want to,” she whispered, closing her eyes once again.
“Do it anyway.”
“No.”
A loud stomp made the floor underneath her vibrate and something fall. “One last time: Look. At. Me.”
Lacey shook her head—whatever he planned to do to her, she didn’t want to see it coming.
“Goddamn it.”
More loud stomps mixed with heavy breaths. Pain and heat in her upper arms. And then she was airborne. Her eyes flew open and locked onto The Man’s, who she was now face-to-face with. She looked down at the floor she was suspended above and then back up, pausing briefly on his curled lips before returning to his narrowed gaze. “Who the fuck are you?” he snarled.
Lacey’s mouth worked soundlessly for several moments before she managed to force out the word, “Nobody.”
“No,” he replied, his voice barely more than a whisper,
“you are, without question, somebody.”
A car door slammed. Lacey’s inhaled long and deep, but before she could scream her father’s name The Man spun her around and clamped his hand over her mouth again. “Listen carefully,” he growled in her ear. “I am not going to hurt you.” He gave her a firm shake. “Do you understand?”
Lacey nodded, not because it was what he wanted her to do but because she actually believed him, further proof of just how damn stupid she truly was.
“Now, I am going to release you. I request that you remain silent so that I may leave without further incident. Do you understand?”
Lacey nodded again...believing him once again.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
“I am trusting you,” he said, his ‘do not make me regret it’ tone rendering it unnecessary to verbalize the statement.
When Lacey nodded a third time, The Man’s hand dropped from her mouth. She inhaled and exhaled a few quick, shaky breaths, then forced herself to take deeper ones when her head started to feel light and fuzzy.
Only after she’d gotten her bearings did Lacey realize that the hot, steel band that was The Man’s arm was still around her waist. Turning her head, she tilted her face up. Her eyes found his void of the coldness and cruelty she’d expected, filled instead with what looked like a mixture of confusion and wonder…
Even so, she knew she would never be able to sleep again until she was convinced that he wasn’t a threat, and so she whispered, “I didn’t call the cops.”
“I know.”
Lacey was about to ask him how he knew that when she realized he was missing the point. “We don’t have a phone,” she continued. “I couldn’t call them even if I wanted to.”
The Man’s forehead creased ever so slightly as his head reared back. “Why are you telling me this?”
“My father is downstairs in his recliner, drinking whiskey and...” She stopped talking, listened intently for a moment. “I can’t hear it but I’m pretty sure he’s—”
“Listening to country music. George Straight’s Baby Blue to be precise.”
She blinked at that. “Are you part bat?” she blurted.
One corner of his mouth curled up, amusement lighting his already luminous eyes. “Popular misconception.”
“Huh?”
He shook his head, some unidentifiable but unnerving emotion transforming his gaze. “The answer to your question is no. I am not part...bat.”
No, that wasn’t just a tad bit creepy.
Lacey swallowed hard, silently cursing her body as it began to tremble. “What I’m saying is if you’re lying and plan to come back and kill me, you don’t have to wait until he’s gone.”
The Man’s mouth and the arm he had around her waist dropped. He stepped back, his arctic eyes probing deep into hers. “Do you wish for death?”
“Whether we want it to or not, it still comes,” Lacey replied, crossing her arms over her chest. “But most of us don’t get to request when and how it takes us.” Lifting her chin, she took a step forward. “Do it now and make it as quick and painless as possible.”
He stared at her, long and hard. “I am not going to kill you.”
The confession bolstered Lacey’s courage. “Then why the hell are you still here? Get the fuck out of my house.”
The Man’s jaw tightened, his eyes narrowing as his top lip curled back. “Careful,” he snarled.
Lacey’s heart jackknifed and then began beating so hard and fast she was sure it was going to explode. A series of chills, as if she’d been shot with thousands of tiny pins made of ice, turned her body into one giant goosebump. Her throat closed up and every drop of saliva in her mouth evaporated. “Stop trying to scare me,” she whispered in a strained voice. “It’s not working.”
With a smirk she would’ve found maddening had she not been on the verge of fainting out of fear, The Man placed his hand over his heart. He rapidly patted his chest in time to her heartbeat as he slowly backed away.
I know, is what his eyes told her. I know.
Reaching the window, he climbed out without breaking her gaze. After a short pause, he closed the window and then disappeared into the night.
Lacey’s legs folded like an accordion and her butt hit the floor hard. She inhaled until her lungs could hold no more and then forcefully ejected the air. With each breath the fuzziness inside her head dissipated a little more. She placed her shaking hand on her chest and swore she could feel her heart slamming against it.
Everything between the moment The Man’s hands had grabbed her waist to him leaving through her bedroom window came rushing back all at once, the scenes running through her mind like a movie on fast forward. She giggled. Replayed everything once more, only much slower this time. A second giggle turned into peals of laughter that had her rolling back and forth on the floor like a crazy person.
Which, considering what she’d just done, was obvious.
Call the looney bin, Clint, and tell ‘em to get my straight jacket ready. Won’t be long now.
By the time Lacey had sobered her cheeks were streaked with tears, she felt like she was on fire and her stomach hurt as if she’d done a thousand sit-ups.
And she’d never felt better. Never felt more…
Alive.
The water flowed over his head and down his body, washing away the gobs of hair conditioner and thick layer of body wash all at once. He took a deep breath and then cursed as the mystery girl’s scent filled his nose.
He could not get rid of it.
It is all in your mind, my child.
“No,” Zane growled, resting his forehead against the tiled wall. “No.”
Squeezing his eyes shut tight, he recalled just how close he had come to losing control with the girl. After what had happened to him physically, what she had made happen, the desire to feast upon her body had all but consumed him. The temptation to forcibly take her had been damn near impossible to resist. To silence her smart mouth with his own, ravaging it with his lips, tongue and teeth until the only sound that came from between her pink lips was a gasp for breath.
It is all in your mind—
“No, goddamn it!” Zane roared as he pounded his fists against the wall, cracking two shower tiles. “I know what I fucking felt!”
He looked down at his flaccid cock. Wrapped his hand around it. Squeezed and pulled as hard as he could. He felt nothing. Not a mother fucking thing. When he had touched the girl, however, he had felt a stirring in his groin that had been almost as painful as it had been pleasurable. And in spite of the fact that he had not been able to smell her blood or consumed with hunger and the anticipation of feeding, his cock had grown longer, harder and thicker than it ever had before.
“I know what I felt,” Zane repeated in a hoarse whisper as he turned off the water. “I know.”
My child—
Zane put up a mental block as he whipped open the shower curtain. A sudden thought made his arm jerk, tearing the black vinyl fabric free from the black rings attaching it to the black bar. He threw it on the floor, sat down on the edge of the bathtub.
The sensation of the girl’s knee slamming into his groin had been excruciating. Blinding. Nauseating. If she could cause physical pain, could she also cause actual damage? And if so, would it be limited to what she could do herself, or would a weapon wielded by her be as effective? He would have nothing to worry about if the former was the case, but the latter...
Zane raked his hands through his wet hair and then put his face in them. How was he supposed to learn the answers to those questions without putting him and his family at risk? He could not simply hand the girl a weapon and then attack, forcing her to fight in order to learn whether or not she was capable of harming him. And leaving town was not an option with the possibility that there was a human alive who possessed the power to actually kill him.
Zane’s loud, shallow breaths kept time with the hard, fast pounding of his heart. Leaping out of the shower with bellow of rage, h
e struck out as hard as he could, sending pieces of drywall and powdery residue flying into the air as his fist punched through the bathroom wall. He yanked out his hand and then whirled around and gave the opposite wall the same makeover.
For the first time in his life, he felt absolutely powerless. He did not like it...
At-fucking-all.
Chapter 23
Unable to move even though her arms were not bound, she could only watch as the gauzy nightgown drifted down her legs to pool at her feet. Her gaze shifted to the sea of orange circling the small pedestal of earth they stood upon as the man’s hands returned to her now bare breasts. She didn’t think the bubbling lava below would feel as hot as his touch.
“I will never let you go,” he growled in her ear as his thumbs and index fingers squeezed and pulled her taut nipples.
“Why...me?” she panted, her eyes rolling back.
He cupped her aching sex. “You are special.”
“No. I’m...nothing.”
“You are everything...to me.”
He slipped his long, thick middle finger between her plump, wet folds. She gasped, her knees buckling when he touched her swollen, throbbing nub.
“I got you,” he murmured against her neck as he tightened his hold around her waist. “Forever.”
“Forever,” she breathed as his soft, warm lips kissed a path up to her ear.
“Lift your arms and clasp her hands behind my neck,” he ordered before pulling her earlobe into the heat of his mouth.
She quickly obeyed, fearful he may stop touching her if she didn’t.
“Good girl,” he whispered in a husky voice. “Now look at me.”
Again she obeyed, her half-shuttered gaze slowly traveling up his bare chest, neck, face, to his lightning eyes. “Good girl.”
A bead of sweat trickled down the bridge of his nose and landed between her glistening, heaving breasts, its heat revealing its path down her tightly clenched stomach, over her mound and to his moving hand.
Let Him In (Let Him Trilogy) Page 16
