Ruin (The Rhodes Book 1)

by Rina Kent

  I push away the covers and head to his bedroom. When I reach the door, my steps falter. My breaths come out in an unsteady rhythm. I’ve stood in front of his room in the last few days, but it was always locked. Although I knocked and knocked, he wouldn’t come out. Like he’s hiding from me.

  Now, it’s open. Only a crack, though.

  “I know you’re there, Mae.” Aaron’s calm voice resonates from the other side of the door. I recoil, my heart doing an involuntary flip.

  With a deep breath, I open the door and slip inside. I freeze at the doorway. Tingles erupt in the soles of my feet, forbidding me any movement. Aaron is in shorts and a plain cotton T-shirt, drying his hair with a towel. That’s literally all he’s doing, but it still bursts my stomach’s butterflies into a frenzy. Are they mistaking this with hunger? Or am I hungry for something other than food?

  “What is it?” He sounds calm, indifferent. As if he’s talking with one of his damn guards.

  “Oh, look at that. You can talk.” I cross my arms, annoyance takes over the abnormal hunger. “Good to know you have a voice.”

  “Lose the attitude, Mae.” His eyes darken, suffocating the tiny grey flecks. “I mean it.”

  “Or what?” I puff my chest forward. “What will you do to me?”

  He advances until the cedar scent of his shower gel casts a spell on me. My heart rate accelerates, drumming in my ears, rushing in my limbs. When his voice fills the space, electricity courses through my veins. “When did you stop being scared of me?”

  Since I started having these stupid feelings for you. “Since you won’t kill me anymore,” I say instead, thankful my voice’s normal— taunting even. “I won that game.”

  Aaron’s jaw ticks, his lips purse. Something other than anger flashes in his eyes. It’s more similar to confusion. Perhaps fear? My mouth hangs open. That combination is so foreign for Aaron. Maybe I should be scared after all.

  He throws the towel on the floor and clutches my chin between his thumb and forefinger, bruising me. “This is not a game!” His shout shakes the room and hits me with crushing impact. “You should be scared of me. I will come after you when you least expect it, Mae. Be sure of that.”

  He releases my chin with a shove and turns away. I stumble backwards, scarcely keeping myself from falling. Tears sting my eyes, fighting their way out. I sniff them back.

  Aaron runs a frantic hand through his still-wet hair, pushing it back, then slumps onto his bed. Without glancing at me, he murmurs, “Now, get out.”

  With quivering legs, I walk to him and sit by his side. He throws me a warning look, one I would’ve ran away from in the first days I came here. But now, it doesn’t seem convincing enough to stop me from holding his warm hand in mine. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, but I won’t leave him this way. Who knows what could be going on in that rampant head of his.

  “Don’t shut me out, Aaron,” I whisper, afraid a notch higher will ruin the moment.

  I probe him some more, begging him with my voice and careful touches to open up. “Talk to me,” I murmur.

  “I don’t know how.” He exhales long as if in defeat. His fingers twitch against my own. “Due to my aunt’s death, I became mute for about a year. Even after I had my voice back, I don’t like using it that much. At times, I don’t use it at all. I live inside my head until it is necessary to talk.” His lips pull up in half a smile. “You make that quite hard. Even more than Tristan and Dylan. That’s a record.”

  I grin wide, probably looking like an idiot. I’m so happy that Aaron willingly shared a part of his past. This gives me a rope to hold onto. I lean closer until I’m once again bewitched by his signature cedar scent. My chest tightens, my stomach knots as if hungry to eat the scent and the person owning it.

  “I’m serious, Mae.” Aaron’s left eye twitches. “Stay away from me. Don’t tempt my head into winning the killing game.”

  “But I don’t want to stay away from you.” Ugh. I sound too desperate even to my own ears. Nevertheless, I move my face closer to his, my lips part as I hold both his hands in mine. The hunger takes me over. I want him. God, I want this man.

  He shakes his head once and yanks my hands away. “No. Don’t.”

  “Why not?” The irritation in my voice matches the tingling frustration that courses through my body.

  A fire burns in his eyes. There’s anger but also an irritation similar to my own. “Because I will not be able to stop this time, that’s why!” He cups my face, his fingers soft against my skin, voice gentle. “Get out before I do something irrevocable.”

  I encircle his neck, pulling him closer to bury my face in the crook of his shoulder. “You can do whatever you want with me.”

  He pulls away, his inquisitive gaze almost burns holes in my skin. “You said that same sentence before. I don’t care whether you mean it or not, I will hold you accountable to it.”

  I smile. “I mean it—”

  Words die in my throat when Aaron’s mouth presses against mine. His tongue licks my bottom lip, then his teeth follow, teasing the skin. A small moan escapes me as I grant him access. More than the other kisses, this one is slower, passionate. It consumes my lips in a persistent nibbling. Warmth submerges me.

  I wrap my arms around his neck as he lays me on the bed. My heart hammers, the covers so soft against my back. His burning mouth moves to the side of my neck, leaving burning trails in its wake. He starts slow, but his kisses turn more urgent by the second. I shudder underneath him. My body warms. Wetness pools between my legs. Oh my, I’m doing this. It isn’t my first time, but the tingles of excitement and slight fear certainly make it feel like a first.

  Without stopping his assault on my neck, Aaron’s fingers do quick work of removing my robe. Not long after, I lay stark naked before him— I didn’t bother with underwear after the shower. My cheeks burn when he pushes back to look at me. His heated gaze roams my entire body, inch by inch. My breath hitches. Tremors travel my limbs. It’s like he’s looking at the most appetising supper he’s ever had. When his intense gaze finally meets mine, he arches an eyebrow. “Did you plan to seduce me all along, Mae?”

  “Maybe.” I moisten my dry lips and reach out to the hem of his T-shirt. “You’re awfully overdressed.”

  “And you are awfully stunning. Breathtakingly beautiful.”

  My breath catches. A knot the size of a ball clogs my throat. His words, Aaron seeing me as beautiful, are undoing me, making my heartbeat thunder in my ears.

  In a swift movement, he yanks his T-shirt and shorts off, remaining in black boxer briefs. I swallow, stifling a gasp. His abdomen isn’t bulging, and he isn’t anywhere near Kane’s bulkiness. But he’s lean and defined. My tongue itches to lick each part of his chest.

  I bite my bottom lip. Dammit. Who’s that pervert?

  He crawls atop of me, tall muscular legs bend to straddle me between his knees. When my gaze meets Aaron’s, he’s not looking at me. An icy coldness seeps into his eyes. Gone is the heat and playfulness he considered me with.

  Oh. God.

  It isn’t Aaron. This is the one who tried to choke me to death in the art studio. His hands twitch by the sides of my neck. Oh, no. He’ll do it again.

  I cup his face with my palms, my whisper strangled with begs. “No, Aaron, don’t stay wherever you are. Look at me.”

  His eyes remain an unblinking darkness. Staring through me.

  Tears spring forward as I latch onto his neck, sealing quick kisses to his mouth. “Please look at me. It’s me, Mae.”

  He blinks twice. Three times. Coldness leaves a place to a disoriented expression. He glances at me. Confusion settles deep into his furrowed features. “W
hy are you crying? What did I—”

  I crush my lips against his, not leaving him room to extinguish the fire burning between us. We’re doing this no matter how many of his demons go against it.

  Aaron’s strong hands wrap around my stomach as his tongue explores my mouth. Tingles take over my senses when he moves to my shoulders. At last, his lips find my breasts, sucking, nibbling. Jolts of heat course through my veins. My back curves to an unusual angle.

  His hands and mouth probe my entire body, slowly, urgently. My head turns. Frenzied bliss conquers my senses.

  Aaron stops right under my navel. Wait... what? I groan in frustration.

  He licks his lips, and a rare playful smirk animates his face. “Always feisty and impatient, aren’t, kitten?”

  I rub my thighs together to trap the electricity. “Don’t stop.” I purr, my voice thick with sexuality I didn’t know I possessed.

  Aaron considers me with wonder as if my tone took him by surprise as well. His voice is a notch higher than a murmur, “Fuck, Mae.”

  He finds my wetness. His expert tongue does wicked things to me. Wild moans fill the room and when I realise they’re mine, the overwhelming heat takes complete control over me. My eyelids flutter closed as my entire body convulses into crushing waves of pleasure.

  When I open my eyes, Aaron pushes his boxer briefs down, releasing his cock. I gulp. It’s beautiful, just like the rest of him.

  He stands before me, but doesn’t make a move. His burning gaze meets mine. I almost don’t recognise his thick voice. “Do you want me to stop?”

  I shake my head, lick my lips, and motion at his cock. “I want you inside me.”

  “Fuck.” He growls, gluing his torso with mine. “Stop saying things like that or I won’t be able to hold on.”

  Reaching over my head, Aaron opens the drawer and picks out a condom. There’s nothing but hot warmth and wetness coursing through me. No fear. No doubts. How long have I been hungry for this? I don’t know. All I’m aware of is that I’ve never experienced this unprecedented passion. My palms explore his rigid chest as he rips the condom wrapper with his teeth and reaches between us. His length pokes at the bottom of my stomach, I arch my back to meet him.

  He smiles, a genuine bewitching smile. “Patience, kitten.”

  I can’t wait. I want— no, I need him inside me right now.

  His heated eyes capture mine, trapping us both in an alternative reality. One where only he and I exist. He slowly stretches me. The mere sensation is enough to send my heartbeat into a maddened rhythm. I part my legs wider, granting him fuller access. When he picks up the pace, pounding into me fiercely, a tornado, stronger than the previous one, hits me. Jolts of pleasure invade me like electricity. I clutch Aaron’s neck for balance when I’m thrown over the edge.

  Not long after, Aaron’s handsome face morphs into ecstasy. His length twitches inside me and he released a low guttural grunt.

  He lies on his back and pulls me to his side, piercing me with a mixture of awe, contentment, and... fear? I encircle his chest, staring him back with the overflowing feelings I have for him.

  In this moment, everything around us ceases to exist. Only Aaron’s enchanting scent. Aaron’s addictive touch. Aaron’s rhythmic breathing. Aaron’s exquisite taste. And Aaron’s heart-stopping smile.

  I don’t care about fear or demons.

  Nothing but death can separate me from Aaron.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Aaron

  First rays of light rip through the clouds, announcing the beginning of a new day. I run a frantic hand over my face. Lack of sleep is catching up with me.

  From my standing position beside the window, my gaze falls on Mae’s sleeping form. Peaceful bliss shrouds her soft features. I smile. At least one of us is worry-free.

  Last night was the best thing that’s happened in my life. Mae is the best thing that’s happened in my life. I couldn’t resist taking her. The urge crushed my will-power. It didn’t help that Mae made herself impossible to refuse. But after the euphoria came the realisation of my mistake.

  Not only did I defy the demons, but I also succumbed to feelings I should’ve been exempt from. A grey hole takes over my heart, submerging it with all the pain and fear I ignored thus far; my cursed childhood, the asylum, but mostly Uncle’s death.

  In that moment, when I lost the one person who could’ve stopped me from going wrong, a black shadow took me over. All I could do was embrace my true self. I’ve never felt right since then. I stopped feeling. Full stop. That’s why, opposite to Tristan and Dylan, The Pit was easy and fun for me. That place was exactly what I needed to turn into the version Aunt Ariel and Father wanted me to become.

  The version I thought was the right way to live.

  Mae releases a soft moan, turning to her side. She throws her hand on my half of the bed and caresses it softly as if it’s my chest. A chuckle escapes me.

  I’m in too deep.

  When Mae came along, it was a mere obsession, but it soon possessed me. Mae is releasing the beast. The feelings. The fucking pain. And that doesn’t give her good scores with the demons. They won’t stop now. That’s the exact reason I haven’t slept all night. If I do, they will take over my body and disfigure her beautiful face. They will draw blood from her translucent skin.

  I shake my head. No. I would never allow that. Even if it means a permanent lack of sleep.

  “So you chose her over us.”

  My head whips to the source of the frosty voice. Aunt Ariel, in the summer dress she died in, stands by Mae’s side. She watches her with a glare, so tense, so black, a shiver travels my spine.

  I blink.

  This isn’t real, right? I can’t see Aunt. I don’t see Aunt. She’s usually rambling in my head, why is she out?

  I close my lids. “This is a dream. This is a dream...”

  “No, it’s not.” Father’s calm voice fills the room. Not my head. The fucking room. “This is us coming to finish what you couldn’t.”

  My eyes pop open. He’s standing next to Aunt, a hand in his pocket. He’s wearing the same suit he died in, looking at me with the same eyes he passed to me. What in the gates of hell are they doing out of my head?

  “Poor girl.” Mother comes from the opposite side, her voice a notch above a murmur. “She’s another version of me.”

  The three of them encircle the bed like pathological doctors ready to eviscerate a corpse. Only Mae isn’t a corpse. She’s alive. Her chest is rising and falling with the same tranquil rhythm, unaware of her surroundings.

  I run to them to erase their heinous faces. My fingers connect with thin air, and I slump beside Mae. They stand their ground, three pairs of eyes pinning me down.

  “Leave!” I shout. My head hurts. Their emergence from it weighs more than them being inside.

  “I killed myself for you, Nephew.” Aunt Ariel points a finger at me, her wrist scars as vibrant as I remember them. “All I’m asking in return is to live through you.”

  “I gave you your voice back.” Father stands tall in front me, his face darkening. “I sacrificed myself for you, didn’t I? I even offered Eva. The girl’s blood will be payment.”

  Pounding fills my heart. My hands shake prominently as if I’m nearing a seizure. Maybe I am. I wish I could, to wake up from this nightmare.

  “Let them have her now.” Mother sighs. “At least she won’t suffer for long years.”

  Closing my eyes, my hands clutch the sides of my head. It hurts. Their voices, their words, their presence. All of it hurts.

  When I open my lids, they’re still there, repeating the same words
. They play on my auditory senses like dragging nails through a chalkboard. Over, and over, and over.

  Then, I see him. My lips part. The demons’ atrocious voices almost hush to the background— almost.

  “Uncle?” I ask, incredulous. He was never with them in my head. No matter how much I wished he was.

  He stands near the door, a shadow of a smile on his lips.

  “Help me, Uncle.” I can’t recognise the weakness in my voice. “Take them away, please.”

  “I can’t fight for you, Son.” Uncle’s brows crease. “No one will save you if you don’t have the wits to do it yourself.” He disappears as if he was never there.

  Aunt, Father, and Mother surround my bed, their words mingle together, trapping me in an endless spray of a dark, nauseating fog. Their voices keep scratching on my brain cells. Their images break the bricks of sanity I’ve been patching together since the asylum. The digging sound plagues my mind, travels my chest, demolishes my heart.

  No, I’m not insane!

  “Shut up!” I glare at Mother. “Your fake attempt at being a mother is the most despicable emotion anyone offered me. The least you can do is leave me alone!” I turn to Father. “I owe you nothing, Father. Nothing! You were never a father to me, you were a tyrant who enjoyed having an heir.” My attention jerk to Aunt. “And you! You didn’t die for me, you died for your damaged self. You couldn’t live amongst humans anymore and used me as an excuse to leave.” I heave. “You’re all dead, stay as such!”

  Aunt grins, her thin lips twitch when she pierces Mae. “Let’s take her with us, shall we? Add her voice to our little circle.”

  “I’ll kill you all over again before you lay a finger on her!” My hands wrap around Aunt’s neck. When I attempt to squeeze, my heart clenches as if several knots inside it were twisted at the same time. Aunt laughs, maniacally, her voice fills the room. Father smirks, the devil-like motion so disturbing even Mother’s sobs seem quieter than his reaction.