by R. Scarlett
The man shook his head, the tendons in his throat clenching and unclenching as he tried to breathe through the pain, his body twisting, struggling with the pressure I continued to apply on the shard.
“You fucker—” he snapped, his face turning red and purple in pure pain and rage.
It was then I noted dark ink on his collarbone and moved forward, tearing open his jacket to reveal a delicate ‘A’ inked into his skin. It only took a moment to put two and two together.
Mother fucking Ares.
“You’re a little while away from home, friend,” I said, standing up. “How’s Boston nowadays, uh? Sad you won’t get to see it again.” I shrugged, flashing my teeth. “Have a bitch at home? A kid?” I looked up in Steel’s direction. “Ever been to Boston, Steel? Now might be a good time to visit, his bitch might have a cozy place to accommodate you.” When the bastard stayed silent, I smirked. “Nothing to say? Well then, better get down to work.”
And I did.
His screams echoed through the Pit. Blood and pieces of flesh decorated the floor at our feet. Knife glinting, blood spilling, I was enjoying myself.
Sloppy fucking artwork, indeed.
Sad the fucker was already too dead to admire.
I shoved through the back doors of the Pit, livid.
Lex hadn’t waited for me and she had left already. I cursed under my breath, kicking at an empty soda bottle.
I didn’t waste time and jogged to the street and my heart stopped. A tiny figure walked alone in the middle of the street.
Picking up my pace, I marched after her. The clicking of my shoes overpowered hers and she paused, glancing over her shoulder. Her eyes widened at the sight of me. All I could hear was the blood rushing in my eardrums, the rage biting at my senses urging me to go and find any of those cowards who had just attacked us. But I told myself to forget it. Lex needed to get out of here. Far away from this hellhole.
“I’m fine,” she said as I came to her, but I didn’t give her a chance. I gripped her wrist and started walking, pulling her along.
For once, Lex was silent. Maybe the events weighed heavier on her chest than I would have guessed.
I wanted to snap. I wanted to turn around and curse her out for not waiting for me, but I kept walking, marching into the dark streets of the Queens.
The cool autumn air barreled down my throat, but the chill of it was not enough to calm my anger. A few men leaned against a brick wall, watching us pass by, the cigarette smoke making me crave a hit of belladonna. To take the edge off.
My beast twisted inside me, stuck on the image of that man touching Lex.
“You should have stayed where I left you, Alexandra,” I hissed when I had a better hold on myself. On my control and fury. “You shouldn’t be at the Pit at all.”
“Why?” she snapped back, trying to jerk her hand away from me, but I didn’t let her go. I kept pulling her along in the night. “Because of the fights? The violence? Because there are drugs? Because there are sleazy men that would gladly touch me without my consent?”
“For fuck’s sake, you’re eighteen, Lex,” I said, pressing my thumb harder on her wrist bone. That was a mistake though. Because I could feel just how wild her pulse was. Just how wild she was.
She huffed, jerking her hand and this time I let it go. “Why do you keep saying that? I’m legal. I’m an adult. I’ve been through things that people twice my age haven’t dealt with, Beau. I’ve tasted filthy souls, I’m not the pure girl you need to protect from the ugliness of our world. I know that ugliness as much as the next fucking low life. I was born in it.”
I clenched my jaw and slowly turned to face her.
The confidence in her baby blues faltered at the sight of my expression and I watched in appreciation as she scanned my torso. I both liked and hated the way she looked at me. In hunger, her need so visible on her delicate features it would make the noblest beasts want to dominate her.
“I’ve tasted you,” I said, lowly, voice deep in my throat, thick and challenging as I scanned her flushed features. “I’ll be the judge of how pure you are.”
She was wise beyond her years by living through so much horror and filth, I could give her that, but her body—her body hadn’t been ruined. Her soul hadn’t been touched yet, hadn’t been destroyed. And that was what the beast in me yearned for.
Her lips shook at my words and I knew she wanted to snap back at me. Her dark locks curled just underneath her dainty, pointed chin, a few strands curling up to her bottom lip. So dark and harsh to her porcelain skin and eyes so violent and vivid she probably had drowned a thousand men with them.
“I’m taking you home,” I told her, ignoring the stir of arousal deep in my abdomen, fisting my hands on either side of me.
Instead of anger, her eyes widened in fear. “No!”
I frowned at her, face half-turned. “You don’t get a choice in the matter. Now move.”
Her eyes shook, and she looked behind her back, toward the darkness of the street. A street lamp was blinking in and out above us. Alexandra Harvey was in my blood, inked into every fiber of my being, into the shell of my bones, and the longer I watched her, cloaked in the warm darkness so deceiving one could easily drown, the more I wanted to feed her my poison.
I stepped closer, invading her space, towering over her and she shivered, her nipples two hard stones through her t-shirt. “Should I tell my brother? Tell him about your late-night activities when he returns?”
She tilted her head back to glare up at me, but it only made my length harden in my slacks. “Fine.” She pushed by me, her shoulder brushing across my chest.
I clenched my jaw and followed after her. Like a shadow, tracking her every move into the night.
I studied her profile, watching her features melt between anger and frustration and then sadness. I focused on the area we were in as we continued walking. It seemed to be nothing but old factories that had been abandoned and now sat in ruin.
Our feet crunched leaves and stones and then Lex stopped.
We stood in front of a red brick apartment building, at least five levels high, with broken windows and crumbling stone. A car alarm blazed close by.
I curled my hands into fists at my side.
“Why the fuck are we stopping here?”
“You walked me home, you can go now,” she snapped, walking toward the building.
I gripped her forearm, stopping her from going any farther and forced her to face me.
“This is where you fucking live?”
Her eyes wouldn’t meet mine though and the answer dawned on me.
She wasn’t giving me attitude because she was angry.
She was embarrassed.
That calmed me instantly, bringing my rage to a low simmer instead of the explosion it had threatened to become mere moments before.
“Show me,” I said, my voice commanding, but gentle.
She hesitated, but turned, guiding us through the rubble and in through a bottom window. I watched as she moved carefully without touching the broken glass on the edge of the windowsill and disappeared into the building. I followed after, having to bend low due to the fallen floor from above.
She walked into the next room and I stopped in the doorway. Unlit candles littered the rotting hardwood floor, a blanket laid out in the center. The constant sound of water dripping echoed in my ears as I moved farther in.
I bent low, nudging an old backpack with my booted toes.
Lex stood by a corner, an arm wrapped around her waist, head bowed.
A thousand words stormed my mind. I bit my tongue, trying my best to ignore the anger inside of me. She was living here. By herself. In an abandoned apartment building that should have been demolished.
An eighteen-year-old girl.
Unprotected.
Unsafe.
If someone had found her…if someone took advantage of her…
I dug my nails deep into my palms, feeling the rush of blood seep out.
“If Tensley knew…” I whispered, my teeth grinding together.
“I can take care of myself,” she snapped back, her head still bowed. “It’s as good of a place to live as any other. All that matters is that I have a roof over my head. I don’t need much to survive.”
I tsked, shaking my head. I kicked at her candles, watching them roll across the unbalanced floors. With each step, the rotten wood squeaked in horror, so close to breaking under my weight. This place was a danger hazard.
“This is not like any other place, Alexandra. The fucking ceiling could collapse at any moment,” I told her, my anger filling the room and I knew she tasted it by the way she shifted, her breathing picking up. I wanted to rein it in, but seeing this, seeing where she lived, angered me. If she hadn’t been here, I would have destroyed the place. “Fuck.”
“I’ve been looking after myself for years now, Beau,” she said. “I’m fine here. I can handle myself.”
When I looked back at her, her eyes fell again to the floor. There were too many risks, too many dangers here. Of other demons, of criminals using this place to hide out, of even the building collapsing on her. I raked my fingers through my thick, tangled hair and swore under my breath again. What I should do was call someone. For someone else to look after her. She wasn’t my responsibility.
She folded her arms underneath her chest, one of her legs shaking. She probably didn’t even realize that it was. I traced her tiny frame, her skirt hiked up, exposing her firm thighs.
I glanced back at the room and slowly, my stomach dropped. That backpack. That dirty, blue backpack seemed to be what contained her whole life. I frowned.
“That’s everything?” I asked, nodding to the backpack.
Lex still didn’t look at me and I watched her closely as she licked her top lip. “Yes.”
I sucked at my teeth, again surveying the room, but my eyes always came back to her. I didn’t need to see her face. I could feel her pain—thick and heavy on my chest. A girl so young shouldn’t have to carry so much sorrow. I saw myself in her. Alone in the dark world with no one to help me, and that made my brows fall into a deep scowl.
Lex was a girl who had to grow up too fast. No one held her hand in the darkness, through her pain and loss. No one had wiped away her tears, no one had held her tight when she’d needed it.
She had grown up entirely by herself.
I sighed, bending down and picked up the tiny backpack, swinging it over my shoulder.
When I looked up, Lex’s baby blues were on me, wide and wet. Her mouth fell open.
“You’re staying with me tonight,” I told her, my voice leaving no room for argument. “We’ll find you somewhere else to live.”
Beau Knight’s apartment was pitch-black when we entered. Slowly, my eyes adjusted, taking in the high-end steel kitchen and the smooth leather sofa. A few feet away stood a large black bed. It was like a bachelor style apartment, in hues of rich browns and black.
Everything was in one big room, which left little to no privacy.
I walked inside slowly, eyeing the full-length windows at the back of the apartment. I knew Beau had a good wage from Scorpios for patrolling us low bloods, but I hadn’t expected such a clean, modern apartment. Of course, from the money he made at the Pit, that probably gave him a decent amount of cash to live off.
The comparison between our two places made my stomach drop. He had seen my life. Everything I owned fit into one tiny, dusty backpack. My neck flushed at the thought.
Beau moved past me, shrugging out of his leather jacket and tossed it on the back of the couch. With just his t-shirt on, I could see his back muscles twisting underneath the fabric.
And my heart squeezed tight at the memory of his dark features when he saw me, pinned down, helpless.
Anger and power had radiated off of him as he stormed the Pit and made his way toward us. Those same emotions still clung to him like a heavy cloak.
I swallowed thickly, the hunger for more of his essence aching deep in my chest. I brushed it off. I usually was able to go for weeks without feeding off of someone’s soul, but since I tasted Beau’s, the need had grown and intensified. His soul had been too much, too powerful as if my body had already chosen to anchor itself to it with one simple taste.
“I’ll take the couch,” I said, walking around the leather sofa and sitting down.
“Fuck no,” Beau said, turning to face me. “Take the bed, I’ll take the couch.”
My lips parted, the desire to refuse, to argue with him strong but I straightened and stood, his dark, heated eyes on me the whole time.
I moved past him, making sure our bodies didn’t graze and walked to the large bed. I stared at the black sheets, crisp and clean. I sat down on the edge, letting my fingers spread over the covers. The mattress was firm, not soft—just like Beau.
“The bathroom’s there,” Beau said, gesturing to a door in-between the living room space and the bedroom area. “Use whatever you need.”
I thought of showering, of washing the man’s hands off of me made me shiver but seeing me naked…all the bruises on my body would hurt me. Another monster who had touched me, who had beaten me. Did I attract these men? Did I deserve this? Was this some kind of punishment?
“Lex?” Beau’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. “Did you hear me?”
I had been staring at my fingers, tracing the smoothness of his sheets.
I nodded, unable to speak as I watched him sit down on the sofa and untie his black boots, his inked fingers skillfully, aggressively pulling at the laces. I followed the curve of his back, his black t-shirt riding up to expose his tanned, tattooed skin. It was a large, horrifying skull. His dark hair swept to one side, rich and thick. Something to hold onto.
I swallowed thickly at that thought and my mouth watered.
I could taste his soul now and it still was tinged with anger. It always would be I figured, but now it had the heaviness of bitter honey. Rich and thick.
My hands went to my thighs and I rubbed my knees vigorously, trying to get ahold of myself.
“I’m hungry,” I whispered, ignoring the flush to my cheeks.
Beau kicked off his loose boots, not bothering to look up at me. “There’s leftover pizza in the fridge.” I watched him grab a joint of belladonna and light it, a thick cloud of smoke escaping his sinful mouth.
I paused, letting a shiver run through me. “No…I’m…” Beau’s dark eyes glanced up at me, his head still tilted downward. “I need to feed.”
Understanding what I meant, Beau’s nostrils flared, and I noted his hands rolling into fists on his legs, his knuckles turning bright white.
“Fine,” he hissed out through his teeth, the belladonna still in his mouth. He gripped the joint and puffed out another few drags. He leaned back into the leather sofa, his thick thighs spreading wide open. “Come feed on me, cucciola.”
I took a deep breath and stood, my legs weak, my hands shaking as I neared the beast lounging in all his sinful glory.
He blew out another puff, his chin tilted back, two inked fingers at the base of the joint and I breathed in the belladonna. I stood in front of him, unsure what to do next as he considered me.
“Sit,” he ordered, his free hand leaving his thigh, indicating to sit on his lap.
I swallowed, rolling my bottom lip between my teeth and slowly, moved over him, my knees on either side of his strong thighs.
I glanced up through my lashes at him, his eyes heavy and heated to the point I felt like he was burning me with his stare.
“Simply platonic,” he whispered. Clouds of smoke blew from his mouth and entered my parted lips, coating my tongue with the rich essence of belladonna. He took the joint out of his mouth and let it rest between his inked forefinger and middle finger.
I leaned in closer, allowing my chest to graze his. Slowly, carefully, as my mouth neared his, he blew out the rest of the belladonna and I closed my eyes, soaking in its high.
“I used
to fear you,” I whispered into my own darkness and invading his own. All I heard was his heavy breathing, low and steady. “But I still imagined how it would feel if you touched me.”
His body grew still beneath mine.
“I always wondered how your hands would feel on me.” The tip of my index finger caressed the underside of his hand. “Hard, warm and rough,” I muttered, opening my eyes to take in his full mouth. “I wondered if you’d be prone to oblige by your instincts. If you’d dominate me. If you’d take and take and take—and how I’d probably let you.”
My top lip met his bottom one and I sucked it in, letting myself savor the sweetness of him there. He didn’t touch me, he didn’t move, but I so badly wanted him to be rough. To flip me over and use me.
But we both knew so far, I’d been the one doing all the using. And he was letting me.
I moved closer, letting his bottom lip go, a gasp leaving my own mouth as I pressed it to his. My fingers trailed up his chest, feeling the ridges of his steel body and up to his neck, tangling in his dark, thick hair.
I wanted him to react. I wanted him to be unable to not touch me back.
I nipped at his mouth—not sweetly and opened my eyes to see him glaring down at me.
I licked his bottom lip gently and deepened the kiss. My tongue met his and just like that, his flavor overwhelmed me again.
It was the elixir no one had warned me about before I’d already poured the whole damn thing down my throat. The kind you got addicted to with a mere sip. But I hadn’t just taken a sip, I’d gulped it down like the depraved souleater I was. And now, here we were.
Both of my hands cupped his jaw and I sucked at the bittersweet power of his chaotic soul.
I was using him. I was feeding from the very mouth of a god and I wanted more. I drank his poison and I let it burn me. His sins. His demons. Everything toxic and powerful about Beau.
I rocked once—and he moaned low in his throat, his hands going to my hips to stop my movements. I pushed against his hold, managing to rock again only to feel his hardness against my inner thigh.