Lucifer's Game

by Rachael Tamayo

  “Look, I need to know if you ended it with Devin before I can do this. I want you so bad it hurts, but I can’t share you.”

  He still wants me.

  I turn, looking up at him. It would be so easy to lie, but I haven’t heard from Devin all day. I was so grateful to be alone that I didn’t call him.

  “No, I haven’t talked to him at all.”

  The spark in his eyes turns into something dark. “What? You didn’t tell him? After all that? Were you hoping that he would come back?”

  I step up to him.

  “Are you nuts? I just wanted to be alone for once. I needed to clear my head. I came out tonight because I was hoping….”

  “I should have just left with the redhead. God, I’m so stupid,” he groans.

  “What is wrong with you?” I shout.

  “What is wrong with me?” he echoes. “You’re what’s wrong with me! You belong to me and you are running around like I don’t exist. Like you aren’t wearing that ring.”

  “You left. When you come home, that’s when I’ll belong to you again.”

  He steps into my face.

  “The fuck you don’t. When are you going to stop throwing that in my face?”

  I blink up at him. My heart pounds. One thing that Andrew has never lacked, it’s passion. I’ve always love that about him. There is a fire inside him that never seems to go out. When he’s angry, happy, turned on… it’s always there. It’s always drawn me to him. Even when we fight.

  “Maybe you should have thought about that just a bit more. You just don’t know how much you hurt me, Andrew.”

  He narrows his eyes. “Hurt you? Sure doesn’t seem like it when I catch you fucking someone in a parked car, does it?”

  I flash back to him throwing that car door open and pulling me out of the car.

  My mouth goes dry. “Andrew…” I pause, scrambling for words. “I’m sorry it hurts you, but we… I….”

  He grabs my arm. “Stop. Stop sleeping with him.” His voice is thick, pleading. “It’s that simple. Promise me.”

  “I already promised you.” I swallow. “What, you want me to call him now? It’s almost one in the morning.”

  “I can’t do this.” He drags his hands through his blonde locks.

  “Don’t-”

  “You’re killing me.”

  Standing, we stare each other down for a long moment.

  Without a goodbye, he turns and walks out. My heart thuds and stops at the sight of his back walking out this door, again. Last time I didn’t chase him. Last time I just watched him walk away.

  This time, I won’t make that mistake.

  I follow him outside, standing on the porch as he walks down the stairs and into the yard.

  “Andrew,” I call his name with a broken voice. He pauses, not turning. “Two minutes from now, two days, two weeks, even years, the way I want you will never change. Ever.”

  I hope he will turn, he doesn’t. Simply standing in the yard.

  Defeated, I go back inside. Tears well in my eyes as I slowly lock the door. It clicks, sending another barb into my heart. I look out the small window by the door, finding him still in the yard, his phone in his hand. I take in a sharp breath, tears spill onto my cheeks. He must be calling for a ride.

  My God, how could I have screwed this up so badly? How could we have come this close, only to watch it fizzle out?

  His broad back to me, fists clenched at his sides. I watch him turn back towards the house, pocket his phone. With confidence in his stride, he crosses the yard, heading back towards the house.

  What’s he doing? I watch him climb the steps. My heart beats hard as I turn the lock, opening the door. His step falls heavy on the porch.

  I stand in the doorway, watching him cross the porch, his eyes on me. The closer he gets, the clearer I can see the wild look in his eyes. I’ve never seen this look before. I stand, my hand on the door, waiting, unsure of what to say or do. Then he stops. His chest heaves with a deep breath as his large, masculine body fills the doorway, eyes raking over me. The fire in his eyes holds me frozen.

  As I open my mouth to ask him what’s going on, he closes the gap between us, grabs me with both hands and pushes my back against the wall in the foyer. The open door slams so hard that the doorknob sticks into the sheetrock, the door stop having snapped off years ago. Unable to comprehend what’s happening, I stare up into blazing eyes, panting. He grabs both my hands in one of his large one and pins them above my head.

  “Damn it, Cora. You’re mine. You’re fucking mine. Do you hear me?” The words are gravely.

  He crashes into me, taking my mouth in a kiss that leaves me breathless. It’s hungry, territorial, yet somehow so full of emotion that my chest grows tight. I breathe in the scent of his body as his iron grip holds my hands tightly above my head, and his mouth ravages mine. His tongue seeking and stroking mine in a way only a desperately hungry man’s would. I groan, pushing forward, hoping for more, deeper, and he responds. His teeth nibbling my lips, his moan when I thrust my hips forward, seeking to feel his arousal against my body.

  He pulls his lips regretfully away from mine, panting.

  “Tell me. Tell me that you’re mine and it’s over with him.”

  I nod. “I’m yours.” My voice sounds desperate even to my own ears. Unable to move my eyes from his face, glorious and bright with passion, I take a deep breath, struggling to find words. “I always was. It’s over, he won’t ever touch me again.” I whimper, so fully turned on it hurts.

  “Thank God.” He releases my wrists, taking my face in both hands, pulling me into a kiss that devours me. His tongue seeks mine like a drowning man seeks a breath. Once discovered, he groans deeply, reaching down and grasping the hem of my shirt, breaking contact just long enough to rip it off me and toss it aside.

  He makes quick work of my bra. The warm night air hits my bare breasts as they tumble free. Gripping his shirt, I give a swift jerk, buttons pop off. I push my bare chest into his, wanting nothing more than I want to feel his skin on mine. A swear comes out of his mouth. Fast hands popping my jeans open, crouching to jerk them down my legs and toss them aside.

  I hold my breath when he looks up at me, desire heavy in his gaze. I watch as he plants gentle kisses on my thighs, my hips, dragging his parted lips slowly back up my body as he rises from his crouched position.

  Standing, he leans in, taking my lip between his teeth roughly, I groan.

  The sounds of tearing cloth tickle my ears as he shreds my panties.

  “Andy….” I moan his name, reaching for his belt with trembling hands. Together, our hands fly, opening his pants, exposing his thick desire. I suck a breath in, pushing his pants just far enough out of the way to give me access to what I want.

  He doesn’t waste a second. I’m heaved up on two muscular forearms, and he pushes into me roughly, watching my face as I gasp.

  He moves and I sink my hands into his hair, his eyes drift closed before he buries his face in my naked chest.

  “Fuck, Cora.” His words are a grumble as he thrusts for all he’s worth, his lips finding my skin.

  After a moment, his movements become slow, deliberate. The desperation melts into something sweeter and he lifts his face. I meet eyes, drowsy with lust as I grip hard shoulders and tightening my legs around his body as if it might bring him closer to me, to my heart. He looks at me as if it’s the first time I’ve been in his arms, as if I’ve never surrendered to him before and he’s drunk on it.

  Tears spring from my eyes as he places soft kisses on my shoulders, my neck, my ears. He tastes the salty kisses from my lips and looks deep into me with every slow, deep penetrating movement of his skillful hips.

  I feel whole again. He’s mine, he’s home.

  “I love you so damn much,” he whispers.

  His lips touch my tears as they fall from my eyes, drinking them in as if it might take the pain away from us both as he loves me, not just with his body, but his gaze.r />
  “I’ll never love anyone but you,” I confess, gasping as pressure starts to build deep inside me. “I don’t want to come yet.” I laugh, groaning.

  He grins at me. “We have all night. I want to watch you.” He nibbles my collarbone. “I’m never leaving you again.”

  He’s never leaving me again.

  I pull him into a kiss, only to go up in an inferno. He captures my groans and cries with his kiss, pushing me harder and harder until I stop quaking.

  “I didn’t get to watch,” he groans, smiling as he continues to stroke me.

  I touch his face; he turns to kiss my fingertips.

  Later, when it’s done, we haven’t moved. Forehead to forehead, jeans low on his hips, still inside me as if he doesn’t want to break our connection.

  “I’m so sorry I left,” he mutters, his body pressed firmly against mine.

  “I’m sorry, too.” I tangle my fingers into his hair.

  Movement catches my eyes.

  “Shit the door is still open.” I mumble to no one.

  We both turn. Devin is leaning on the porch rail watching us.

  Part Two: Obsession

  Chapter Fourteen

  Devin

  Now, under normal circumstances I wouldn’t care. Fuck all day long if you want to, that’s the name of my game. This, however, is different.

  Not only is Xander going to be positively enraged, but she’s mine. That decision has already been made. I won’t stand for anything less than her, with me, without him.

  I stood here for a while watching them, they didn’t see me despite the fact that I was in plain sight. I watched her make him come and now their souls are tangled again.

  I cross my arms and smile at her.

  “Hi, gorgeous.”

  Andrew leans in, his eyes on me, whispering something in her ear.

  She turns about ten shades of red as he pulls out, setting her down before zipping his pants.

  “What are you doing here? It’s the middle of the night,” she says.

  Andrew turns to her. “Go upstairs, it doesn’t matter. He’s not stupid, he sees that it’s over.” She looks at me one more time, trying in vain to cover her naked body, before turning the corner out of my sight.

  “I still need to hear it from her, stud.” I laugh at him. “Come on, man, I’m a man fucking a married woman. You think I didn’t think that this was a possibility?”

  She also thinks that I have feelings for her, which I is just what I wanted. I’d play the pissed off boyfriend, but frankly the calm pisses Andrew off so much that I can’t resist.

  “Just go, accept it. Now, I’m going to go upstairs and fuck my wife again, and you are going to go away or I’ll call the cops.”

  I stand, smiling as he shuts the door in my face.

  Now invisible, I follow him up to their bedroom. She sits on the edge of the bed, looking worried, covered with the blanket.

  “What happened?”

  He smiles at her, dropping to his knees at her feet. “I shut the door in his face. He’ll get the point.”

  He pulls the blanket away, pressing his lips to her thighs. She touches his hair.

  “At some point I’ll have to talk to him, tell him.”

  “If he doesn’t get it, he’s a moron. Just leave it alone.”

  “Andy?”

  He pops his head up.

  “Are you home for good?”

  His eyes soften and he catches her face in both hands.

  “I’ll never leave you again. We will find a new doctor, take this diagnosis there, and make our baby. All this is over, and forgotten.”

  She nods. I can see that inside, he’s still sick over it. He still imagines me with her, and it makes him crazy, and I can see the doubt in her. She’s scared to death to get her hopes up.

  I’m sure not going away, she’s mine, until I’m done with her. If I could, I’d just reach over and break his neck, but The Father forbids it, so my hands are tied.

  He leans into her, kissing her deeply, running his hands over her body.

  I can’t let this go on. My blood surges in my veins as he bends her back on the bed, his mouth on her body.

  Turning my back, I head down the stairs. Scanning the room, I find a lamp that is on and reach over, touching it. It throws sparks, the couch and the curtain start to smolder.

  “You let this happen?” His voice makes me jump. I turn to see Xander’s face. Eyes illuminated with rage, the growing fire flickers in his pupils. “Why weren’t you with her?”

  “I sent that redhead to him, it didn’t work.”

  He gets in my face. “You better do everything in your power to stop this. You know what I will do to you.” He spits in my face when he talks.

  I take in a breath, unsure of what to say.

  The wall catches. The flames start to lick at the ceiling.

  ***

  Andrew

  I’ve missed her so much these last few months that the hunger created in me is stronger than it’s ever been. I press my lips to her hot flesh; she giggles and makes room for me on the bed. I can’t deny, there is also a part of me that’s eager to have her in hopes that it might make the memory of him fade just a bit faster.

  “Again? Already?” She sighs, falling back as I crawl over top of her.

  Her skin smells of her body wash and perfume. When I lifted my head to gaze at her, I catch another scent. “Do you smell something burning?”

  She sticks her nose in the air. “Maybe a little. It’s kind of hazy in here too. I’m sure it’s fine. Don’t stop.”

  I smile at her. Crawling, I lower my body to hers, relishing the contact of her skin on mine and the heat it stirs deep inside me.

  “I missed you so much.” I look down into happy eyes, brushing hair off her face. “I’m so sorry for everything.”

  Her eyes mist. “Me too. I feel so bad. I don’t even know what came over me.”

  She tries to blink away tears, but they fall anyway. It still makes me sick, but I don’t want to be angry anymore. It’s eating me alive. It might be a while before I can trust her, but that will never happen if I don’t do something.

  The burning smell gets stronger, the air even more hazy than it was before. I sit up, ready to move to check the door.

  “Did you ever replace those batteries in the smoke detector?” I ask, remembering the three o’clock event in which the thing started beeping and we ripped it out of the ceiling, promising to replace them later.

  “No.”

  I get off her and move for the door. When I open it, I’m hit in the face by a wall of black smoke. I start to cough, and slam the door shut.

  “Shit,” I cough.

  “There’s really a fire?” She scrambles off the bed in search of clothes.

  Still in my jeans, I move to the window to check just how far the drop is. We’ve got to get out of here without breaking our necks in the process. I cough, the air getting harder to breathe by the second. She finds yoga pants and a tank top in a drawer and turns to me.

  “How do we get out?”

  I look towards the window. “Didn’t you get that ladder thing when we bought the house? Where is it?”

  She stares at me blankly for a moment, then snaps her fingers and runs into the closet. There is a crash, sounds like she’s pulling stuff out of the way as she digs for it.

  “Why did you bury it in the closet?” I ask, pulling on shoes. She emerges, tearing open the box of an emergency rope ladder.

  “We can talk about that later, don’t you think? Call the fire department!”

  She opens the window and secures the ladder.

  “My phone is downstairs.” It’s getting harder to breathe, and hotter in here by the second.

  She looks up at me, as if the reality is hitting her. Brown eyes grow terrified.

  “Mine, too. Let’s just go.”

  By the time we get to a neighbors to call the fire department, the place is an inferno. Cora sits on the curb across
the street, sobbing into her hands as our entire life together goes up in a blaze, leaving only the clothes on our backs. I pace back and forth in the street, watching firemen scramble, bark orders, doing what they can to save what is obviously a lost cause.

  We got that house just two months after we got married. Everything we own is now soaked in water, burned black, or so smoke damaged it’s beyond repair.

  “We will have to start all over,” I hear her cry from behind muffled hands.

  Her friend crosses my mind. Would he have done this? The idea chews on my brain to the point that I approach the man that looks like he’s in charge because he’s barked out the most orders.

  “Excuse me, can you tell the cause of this fire yet?”

  He turns to me. “Sorry son, not yet. Investigators should be on the way. We will probably be here for hours. You two might as well make other plans. We will be in touch when they find anything. You two have a place to stay?”

  I shove my hands into my back pockets, quiet rage flowing within me over so many things that I can’t quite pin a single one of them down.

  “We will get it worked out.” I realize that I don’t have my wallet, my keys, nothing.

  Shit.

  “Cora.” I walk up to her. She looks up at me with a puffy, pink face. “I need to get to a phone to call Eric and my boss. We might as well go. They will be here for hours.”

  She nods and I glance over at her as I approach one of the gawking neighbors and ask to use the phone.

  We spend the next day calling the bank, the insurance, getting the cars re-keyed, shopping to replace the clothes that Cora lost. Most of mine were still at Eric’s house. We are too busy to talk about the last few months, or really touch on anything emotional. That evening, by the time the Fire Marshall calls us, we are both emotionally drained and sitting silently on my cousin’s couch watching the TV without really seeing it.

  “He said that it looked electrical,” I say, hanging up the phone. So I guess that rules out the pissed off boyfriend. I guess that’s something, knowing that he’s not a raving madman.

  “So what happens now?” she says, without looking at me.