Awful Intentions: Friends-to-Lovers Romance (The Celestial Bodies Series Book 2)

by Elena Monroe

  One I didn’t know he’d get.

  Falling down into the covers on my bed, the silk felt cold against my skin, and the towel didn’t do much to dry any of me, just sitting around my waist.

  Laying down and looking at the ceiling, I saw the glow-in-the-dark stickers stuck in the shape of the constellation of cancer. It matched the same one Luna put up back at Arcadia.

  For the lonely boy who would never be alone again.

  “So what if I am? What does it matter? Eventually it won't be a choice…”

  Luna came out of the bathroom, but I didn’t hear footsteps, only the door, which meant she stopped, suddenly wondering why my dad was here just as much as I was.

  “You needed a queen, and now you have one. It’s no longer a choice, Nyx.”

  Sitting up, leaning back on my palms, I watched Luna give him her hand with my ring uncomfortably large on her finger. I knew she was trying to keep it on.

  I watched my dad unclip the necklace hidden in his shirt when my mom’s unmistakable ring made an appearance.

  The metal daisy with the pearl in the center of it.

  He had it specially made for my mom after he met her in the Fields of Endless Spring, and becoming so obsessed, he decided to kidnap her to the Underworld.

  She loved him so fiercely you’d think she’d follow him wherever he went.

  “A beautiful girl like you deserves to have a beautiful ring, Little Lamb.” Tossing my mom’s ring at me, he strung the empty chain around my ring and leaned into Luna, helping her clasp it shut around her neck. “Be a goddamn gentleman, Nyx. Meet me downstairs in ten minutes. We need to talk.”

  Waiting for the door to shut behind him, I waved Luna over to my bed while my eyes didn’t leave my mom’s ring.

  “I guess it runs in the family. I never thought about it ‘til now.”

  “What does?”

  “Picking daisies… Innocent women for wives…” I held the ring carefully between my fingers. “He’s right; you deserve this ring.”

  “But it’s your mom’s.”

  I took her hand in mine, “No, it’s the Queen of the Underworld’s ring. Yours.” Taking her hand into mine, I slipped the ring onto her ring finger. Perfect fit.

  Her eyes welled up again. Leaning into her, I pushed my lips gently to hers with the same intention to fix her, even though she didn’t need any fixing either.

  “I’ll be back. I gotta deal with him too.” My exhausted body almost gave out as soon as I stood up. I felt like I was sleeping with my eyes open, but somehow I made it far enough to pull a drawer open and pull out some jeans and a ripped up Snoop Dogg shirt.

  Nyx

  B y downstairs, my dad meant the garage where he was leaning against the giant SUV behind him, with a blunt hanging from his lips and his gun in his hand, out in the open.

  Opening the door, he waved his hand with the gun. “Get in.”

  With a heavy sigh, my shoulders raised and fell before I climbed into the car. Kicking my boots up on the center console, I leaned back, closing my eyes.

  “Do you know what it means, being king?”

  I didn’t know what anything meant right now… except sleep. I knew that temptress well.

  After not answering, his hand slapped the side of my thigh, “It’s what you do.”

  “Do you know what I do, Nyx? What balancing my brother’s pure heart means?”

  “Less speeches? Less whatever the fuck this is. It’s been a long fucking day; can we do this after I sleep?”

  “Being king doesn’t stop because you’re tired. I have business, and you’re going to understand what being king means.”

  “Keep the reigns… I’m good. I don’t want it,” I bit out, just hoping he’d give up on me.

  “Doesn’t work that way, kid. You choose a queen, and you have to take the throne. I’m only sorry it’s this throne. It’s gonna chew at your soul if you don’t pay attention.” Opening the door before the car stopped, I followed him before he could bitch about it.

  Zipping up my hoodie against the morning chill, we were in front of an apartment building ten times worse than the one I used to live in with the rest of the circle.

  Paint chipping, doors disintegrating, and a seedy crowd on the stoops up the street were outside, like the cold was better than the inside.

  Tucking his gun in the back of his leather pants, I watched my dad’s movements closely, as his loyal followers led the way into the apartment building, with their guns not at all hidden.

  “Crime, punishment, bad habits, and bad behavior… that is what we are meant to bring into this world. Influencing the bad, while Zeus influences all the good from his high horse.”

  “I don’t like heights.” Thick in sarcasm and sass, I felt like Arianna.

  Hades laughed, throaty and genuine, as he climbed the stairs in front of me, and he didn’t stop until his loyal followers did in front of a closed door. My eyes narrowed, trying to figure out where we were and why Hades’s boot kicked the door, instead of knocking like a fucking normal person.

  “You owe me money, and you know I always collect. Open up.”

  Now it all made sense. Hades was the gangster of the South Side, not just the King of the Underworld.

  The Underworld was gone, just like home; now all he had was being this kind of evil in the mortal world.

  The door never flew open. His loyal courtship, with their guns locked and loaded, kicked it in, and they filed in first before we did. Once inside, they split up and checked the hallways and rooms for signs of life, until I heard the pleas of a desperate man.

  “No, please! I just need more time. I’ll pay!” His movements were frantic, and I could see where Oracle had taken over his senses.

  Was my dad letting mortals dabble in Oracle?

  “What the fuck is going on?” I pushed my fists into my hood pockets and stood far enough out of the way.

  Hades snapped his head back, looking at me like he was trying to find something. I didn’t know what, or I would have offered it up just for this to be over.

  “This is business, Son. One you will be taking over. You can’t lead without respect, and sometimes you must demand it.” He turned to his men, who were holding up the guy clearly high as Olympus. “Bring him downstairs. We’ll go to the warehouse for this.”

  I trailed behind all of them, still trying to make sense of everything. My dad was, Hades, Lord of the Underworld, so why was he bothering with petty bullshit, like thieves? Was this what happened when home wasn’t an option anymore? You just used your skill set of torture and punishment in new ways?

  The idiots with guns zip-tied the hostage and threw him in the second car following us, which I hadn’t even noticed until now. I was dragging my body along, but how much I was aware of was fucking slim right now.

  Hades took the same seat as on the way down to the South Side and proceeded to take out all the bullets in his Desert Eagle gun in matte black, just to reload only one bullet.

  I had seen enough movies in my lifetime to know one bullet wasn’t ever good news. It was a confident death wish. It was one body. It was a guarantee.

  The SUV stopped in front of the warehouse where I went to fight on Friday nights to blow off steam.

  Hades wasn’t always there watching, but when he was you were painfully aware that he was letting you exist in his kingdom.

  The adrenaline was already kicking in against my trembling body. I was so tired of being awake that it was actually shaking me into sanity.

  The adrenaline was on autopilot, like it was every time I came to fight and get fought against, just not today—not while the sun was scaring the shadows away.

  Dragging the guy behind them, they dropped him on the floor in front of Hades’s throne, which sat off of the fighting circle. My dad sat down, looking at the man who had tears and snot running down his face, hands locked together, and fingers touching, like he was going to pray.

  “Praying? Seriously? There’s no fucking God he
re. Not for you. Where are my drugs?”

  Hades leaned forward, elbows on his knees and gun hanging between them. My dad didn’t have to try hard to be threatening at all. The black, the leather, the hair and beard, the guns and the comfort with death played gangster for him.

  It wasn’t going to wear the same on me when I took his throne. I haven’t killed or punished anyone, really, only Zeus, and that was more out of some noble fucking notion that Arianna would be mine if I did.

  My wrath only came out to play when the women around me begged it to, and even then, I always escaped without actually doing anything that bad.

  My stomach turned, and my body vibrated on the inside, with my eyes already half-mast. I blacked out for a few moments until my dad’s hand clamped down on my shoulder. “You’re going to be king, and I need to know you can pull the trigger, Son.”

  Handing me his obnoxious gun, my hand dropped against my thigh, immediately under the weight. “What? I don’t know this guy. I’m not playing this game.”

  Hades twisted, mouth to my ear, and whispered privately, “This isn’t a game. It’s a test. He stole from me, and now this is his punishment. You will get blood on those baby soft hands as king, Nyx.”

  He was right. Kings weren’t untouchable and so clean you wonder who killed for them.

  There was no going back, which meant giving Luna up all over again to a new kind of evil: heartbreak.

  I chose a queen and gave up my ring; this wasn’t a choice anymore. I was going to be the first of the three kings, and there was nothing I could do about it now.

  “Don’t embarrass me. Pull the damn trigger,” his rough voice huffed in my ear, and I raised the gun, stepping forward until the end of the gun was pointed at the man’s forehead.

  The gun was heavy and pushing it against the tight skin of his forehead helped. I drowned out his pleas and cries, trying to focus on being the bad I had always been, just worse. With my finger on the trigger, my arm began to shake, like when you lift too much and your muscles are breaking down to repair and grow stronger.

  “What did he do?” I managed to bite off my words.

  “He stole Oracle. Didn’t you, Keaton? Bartending wasn’t good enough, huh? Stealing my product and selling off the cut that you didn’t shove up your nose.”

  Hades had a reason, and now so did I. He wasn’t innocent, and he required punishment.

  As king, I would be the punisher.

  I shook, holding the gun, and I could feel bile working up my throat and sitting in my chest heavily. I mouthed the words I’m sorry, before I pulled the trigger and watched his head blow back against the point blank range.

  As soon as the damage was done, I jogged away from Keaton the thief’s body, through the doorway, to throw up in the shrubs that grew against the abandoned building. The sour acid that came out of the mouth was yellow and stung it’s whole way through my body until my body stopped heaving.

  Slowly standing up, I wiped the back of my hand across my mouth, making sure nothing was stuck to me. The gun was still in my hand, and the weight was trying to chain me to what I had just done.

  I killed a stranger—one who I wasn’t even sure was guilty of anything.

  Hades stood against the doorway, ankles crossed, along with his arms. “First kill besides my brother?”

  I didn’t bother responding, just letting a snarl do all the talking for me, as I pushed the gun into his chest, forcing him to take it back when his hands went up like he couldn’t take anything back.

  Not tonight.

  Not being king.

  Nothing.

  “It’s yours now, Nyx. I can’t take anything back. There’s more we’ll discuss tomorrow, like everything we kept from the circle; it’s time you learn about it.” Patting my shoulder, he walked by me to the car and climbed into the driver’s seat. I was forced to tuck the gun into the back of my pants and keep moving forward. At least we were headed home.

  I slumped down in the passenger’s seat and stared out of the window with my fist under my chin. I was something worse than exhausted now.

  “The Cloth… How much has Caellum discovered?”

  “Dorian and Cotton Candy are dead,” I blurted out.

  “I’m guessing that was our Little Lamb and not you. She makes a perfect queen. Do you know how involved with The Cloth they were?”

  His eyes were on the road, and his body slumped back so casually as he spoke that it was hard to take in information. It was like holding onto how someone says hello—forgotten instantly.

  He continued anyways, “They needed to die, Nyx. This isn’t that simple though. This is going to send The Cloth a message. You need to be ready to respond.”

  I felt my eyes drift even more closed, just before everything went black. I was battered and bruised from the inside out, and no amount of truth was going to stick to my weathered body.

  Luna

  I woke up to Nyx’s presence in the room, stripping his clothes off, and I sat up watching him.

  It took my eyes a minute to adjust, but when they did, I could see his normally tan skin had faded to pale, the dark circles under his eyes were heavy, and his toned muscles looked like the only reason he was still upright.

  “Are you okay?” I almost didn’t want to ask, because I knew Nyx sharing his feelings wasn’t a sure thing.

  He’d rather be silent.

  Falling into bed on his back and his forearm covering his eyes, I touched his chest with my hand before his hand stopped me. “Don’t even think about it, Little Lamb.”

  “Something obviously happened, and you aren’t gonna tell me. At least I can take away how bad it feels.” I held the sheet up against my bare chest. I always ended up taking my clothes off in my sleep when I got too hot, and Nyx’s room was Hades hot.

  “I’m not going numb. I’ll deal with it.”

  Trying to get my hand out of his grip, I pushed my other hand’s fingers to his chest, trying to gain some leverage, when he pushed me down onto my back, forcing my legs to fall open.

  Holding my wrists above my head, safe from healing him, he pushed his groin into my panties. With his lips only inches from mine, I could smell the blunt wrappers lingering on his lips still. “I’m not going to let you heal me. There’s no cure for the kind of king I’m expected to be.”

  Our legs were tangled, and his mouth trailed kisses down my jaw to my bare chest. “Then don’t be king.” It felt too easy saying it.

  A solution too easy is normally one that isn’t an option.

  Between pressing his lips against my breasts, he spoke: “Not that simple, Luna. I’m not giving you up to avoid being king.”

  His grip on my wrists didn’t let go any, and I could feel myself rubbing myself into his groin, hoping he’d take some pity on me even though I could see how exhausted he was.

  He couldn’t have me and deny the throne. It was a rule the three kings agreed to in order to keep their reigns balanced. No man leads without a woman by their side having equal right to all decisions.

  Taking a queen meant you were ready to lead. No one had been here to enforce it before, but Hades was nothing but a traditionalist.

  He was king currently, without a queen, and it was a burden he was done carrying.

  Nyx was being forced to take the throne and all that came with it to keep me or give me up.

  “Then let me heal you… even a little…?” My voice fell to a whisper, as his lips detached from my hard nipple in his mouth.

  “You wanna heal me, baby? Be my queen.”

  Sitting up at the same time he laid down next to me, I felt cold without the heat he gave off. He looked exhausted, but his hands still guided my ass to a straddling position, with my thighs on either side of his hips. “Show me how badly you wanna make this stop hurting…”

  Nyx’s voice was never this soft and gentle. He was hurting in ways I couldn’t even see, under the surface. Something happened with Hades that changed everything for him.

  Slo
wly dragging my hips forward my soaked panties slipped against how hard he was in his boxers. “I can’t be your queen, if you don’t talk to me.”

  His grip on my hips pulled me forward quicker, creating more friction. “I’m not ready to punish people, Luna. I killed some guy I don’t know, all because my dad said to. Because when I’m king, there’s gonna be a trigger happy finger I possess, and I better get used to it now. Okay? Happy? Now heal me how I want.”

  I slid down his legs more, so I could pull down his underwear enough to see his length spring up and stand flush against his abs. Taking the thickness in my hand I pushed my fist around him up towards the piercing at his tip slowly.

  “Luna…” he groaned, with his eyes clamped closed.

  “You can’t shut me out, Nyx, even if I’m not allowed to heal you.”

  In a quick motion, he switched our positions, and I was laying against the cold satin of his sheets, while his fingers tugged down my panties. Tossing them to the side, he lifted my leg onto his shoulder and kissed down my calf, behind my knee, until he was kissing the sensitive part of my inner thigh. “You can heal me all you want, baby, just not with your hands. I prefer your pussy.”

  With his hand around himself, I felt the metal of his piercing flick my aching clit a few times sending my hips driving down and my back arching for more of his teasing.

  Finally falling down on top of me, I felt his hard chest brush against my hard nipples, and his hand guiding himself between my legs. I held my breath; I wanted to take it all in without my other senses at work, except the one I wanted: feeling.

  My leg still propped on his shoulder was stretching me to my limits, but I didn’t care as long as he kept pushing his hips into mine.

  “Why are you holding your breath, Luna?” He whispered against my neck, while he drove his entire length into me roughly in one thrust.

  I couldn’t hold my breath any longer with the moans choking up in my throat, begging for me to release them. “I wanna savor this moment…”

  He pulled out just to thrust himself back in, and I whimpered at his teasing. “Little Lamb, I’m going to be fucking you for the rest of eternity. No savoring needed.”