Corruption of the Heart (The Corruption Series Book 1)

by Jessica Manson

  “April first.”

  “That’s ironic, mine is also the first.”

  “That is weird. But I can’t wait to turn eighteen in April. And when I graduate in May I will be leaving this town and my aunt behind. I can’t wait to get out of here.”

  “Why do you want to leave?”

  “Because Odin, there is nothing for me here.”

  “Nothing?” he asked, as he leaned in to kiss my lips.

  “Well maybe one thing.” I leaned in closer wrapping my arms around his neck.

  “Lilith.”

  “Yeah,” I said in between kisses.

  “I think I am falling in love with you.”

  I stopped mid kiss and looked into his eyes. I could see uncertainty behind them, not because he didn’t love me but because he wasn’t sure if I felt the same way. Not being able to stand the look of doubt in his eyes I said, “I love you too.” He grabbed me and pulled me closer to him before kissing me. He wrapped his hand around the nape of my neck sending chills down my spine. Desire filled my entire body. In a battle with the emotions inside of me I knew I had to pull away from Odin or this would go too far. We may love each other but I’m still not ready for sex just yet.

  I pulled away from Odin leaving him with a look of tension on his face. I feel bad for getting him all riled up then leaving him hanging but I’m just not ready to go that far yet. “Come on. Let’s load these bags up and go get something to eat.”

  As we loaded the car I noticed Ambi drive by my house. Odin noticed me staring and looked in the same direction before letting out a sigh. “It’s ok Odin she may just be headed to your house.”

  “No, she doesn’t come to my house. You won’t have to worry about her. I’ll take care of her.”

  I was starting to feel angrier than I ever have, and jealousy crept up more and more every day. Lately, I was starting to get violent thoughts about her. I often found myself thinking of ways I could take care of her myself. They usually always ended up with me torturing her. Just then I realized that just the mere thought of thinking about it made a smile from across my lips.

  What the hell is wrong with me? I have never been a violent person, yet lately all I could think about was ways I could hurt her, all the ways I could make her pay for trying to keep Odin and me apart. I wanted her to regret ever messing with me. She made demons rise up in me that I never knew I carried. Hate raged inside of me and anger filled my veins as I watched her tail lights fade in the distance.

  I wrapped Odin in my arms and gave him a small kiss on the cheek as I thought about Ambi losing Odin forever. My hate was replaced with delight. I didn’t feel sorry for her one bit. I told her I was going to tell Odin if she didn’t leave me alone. She brought this on herself.

  Chapter Ten

  When we were done eating Odin asked, “Do you have any other plans for today?”

  “No. Why?”

  “I want to take you to meet some of my friends if that would be alright?”

  “I guess that would be okay.” I wasn’t sure if I was ready let any more people get to know me but being around Odin, I was finding it hard to keep my heart closed off.

  “Where are we going?” I asked, confused since we were back in the direction of my house.

  “My house. We actually all live together.” Nervousness built up inside of me the closer we got. Odin must have sensed it because he grabbed my hand and kissed it sending heat waves through my body. “They are nice guys Lilith. You will like them. I promise.”

  He pulled into the driveway and the other six guys from the “Corrupt Ones” came outside to greet us. One of them came to my side of the car and opened my door. He was tall just like Odin. He had the same tanned skin, in fact they all did, and he was buff and shirtless. He was beautiful, and he made my mouth water, but he still didn’t hold a candle to Odin.

  He reached in the car and pulled me out into a hug before spinning around with me in his arms. “Nice to finally meet you.”

  I couldn’t help but giggle at his playfulness. “And you are?” I asked as he sat me down.

  “I’m Calder but you can call me Cal if you want. I let all the sexy ladies call me Cal,” he said with a wink.

  “Gee thanks. I’m Lilith by the way.”

  “I know.” I looked over at Odin and couldn’t help but notice his warm smile. Odin walked over to me and started introducing me to the rest of the guys.

  Every one of them had the same caramel skin color and all of them were built. Each had bodies any girl would wish for on a man. It looked like I was standing in the midst of super models. Gunner and Tristian both had bleach blonde hair that they wore spiked up. Dex, Brant, and Latham had brown hair and wore it in the same disheveled style as Odin. They all dressed in tight fitting shirts and jeans. I guess they were all proud of their muscles and wanted to show them off.

  I was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable amongst all of their beauty. I was very plain compared to all of them. They towered over me, each of them being over at least six feet tall while I stood at 5’5”. Their dark complexions made my pale skin even paler. And I was the only person with orange-ish red hair which made me stick out even more. And they all had green eyes, but they didn’t seem to glow like Odin’s does. Which just points out another thing that made me stand out among them was my bluish gray eyes.

  “It’s nice to meet you all,” I said, once the introductions were done.

  “Trust me the pleasure is all ours,” Cal said, wiggling his eyebrows.

  We made our way into the house and it was the typical guy pad. The living room had two couches and a very large chair that looked like it could fit at least two people. It was equipped with a sixty-inch TV and at least three gaming consoles hooked up to it. There were no pictures hanging on the walls or any other décor whatsoever. But surprisingly the house was very clean

  “Want a tour?” Odin asked, as he wrapped his arms around my waist from behind me. I let myself lean into him as he ran a trail of kisses along the side of my neck.

  “Sure,” I finally managed to say.

  He took my hand and led me into the kitchen. I was surprised to see that there weren’t mounds of dirty dishes in the sink. Once he was done showing me the kitchen he led me into his bedroom. “My room is the only room on the bottom floor. The rest of the guys sleep upstairs. And I have my own bathroom.” I couldn’t help but think of how convenient it is especially for me since this house is full of guys.

  We walked over to his bed and when I sat down and felt how soft it was I had to lay down and test it out. “Oh my gosh Odin. Your bed is so soft. It’s like laying on a bunch of clouds.” His giggle sent a wave of heat through my body.

  “I’m glad you like it.” He leaned over and kissed me gently before sitting back up.

  “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Always.”

  “I see all of y’all at school and y’all are always together and that includes Ambi and I get why y’all live together. But since Ambi is a part of your group too why doesn’t she live here too? And why doesn’t she ever come here?”

  “Honestly?”

  “Yes please.”

  “The guys don’t like her attitude and if they lived under the same roof as her there would be constant fighting and I don’t mean in the fun, playful way. Plus, she would be the only girl out of seven guys. She lives a couple blocks over and if we ever need her for anything we just go over to her house.”

  “Makes sense I guess. Hey, why do people at school call y’all the Corrupt Ones?”

  He laughed, “I didn’t know they did.”

  “Everyone seems to think y’all do bad, reckless things.”

  “I don’t know. It sounds silly to me.”

  “Yeah, I guess it does.”

  “Let’s go see what the guys are doing in the living room because if we stay in here any longer…” His voice trailed off, but I knew what he was thinking. The electricity
between us was making it hard to behave when we were alone.

  Walking into the living room Cal and Brant were playing my favorite fighting game on XBOX One. “Dude you hit like a girl,” Cal said.

  “You wouldn’t know since you have never had one,” Brant shot back.

  “Please. I’ve had more than you. No girl can resist these pecks,” Cal said, while making his pecks bounce up and down. I giggled which caused Cal to look at me and wink. “See even she knows”

  “All I know is that Brant is kicking your butt at this game,” I said teasingly.

  “Think you can do better.”

  “No. I don’t think, I know.”

  “Challenge accepted,” Cal said as Brant handed me his controller. Odin sat on the couch and I sat on the floor in between his feet. He played with my hair while I spent the next few hours beating all the guys at Mortal Combat.

  “Man, how is that even possible? I mean no offense, but you are a girl,” Cal said.

  “I’m well aware I’m a girl. Maybe one day i'll teach you how to actually play like a champ. I mean you could use some pointers because you suck at this game.”

  “Dude I think I just found my dream girl. Sexy, can talk smack, and can play video games. If I could rearrange the alphabet, I’d put “U” and “I” together.”

  “Too bad. She is already taken,” Odin said, scooping me up into his lap and wrapping his arms around my waist. “What do you want to do now?” he asked me as he rested his head on my chest.

  “Gunner bought a movie and we were going to order in some pizza. Do you two want to join us?” Brant asked.

  “Sure,” I said. “But can you let me run over to my house? I want to put on something more comfortable if I have to sit for that long again.”

  “I have some sleep pants you can wear,” Odin said with a half grin.

  “Okay.” He led me to his bedroom once again and dug into his dresser trying to find the night pants for me. Once he handed me the pants, I asked if he had a normal t-shirt that I could wear also. All I had on under my hoodie was a tank top and I didn’t think that was appropriate to wear in front of all the guys. It is kind of stuffy in a house with seven hot guys and there was no way I could leave my hoodie on without breaking out into a sweat.

  “What do you mean normal?”

  “You know, one that doesn’t hug your muscles.”

  He laughed as he pulled me a plain white t-shirt out of his closet. “Meet me in the living room when you are done.” He placed a small kiss on my forehead before leaving the room.

  Once I changed I went to look for Odin in the living room, but he wasn’t there. As I was about to turn to head into the kitchen where I heard laughter coming from, a pair of familiar arms wrapped around my waist. “You look sexy in my clothes Ms. Carson.”

  He leaned into my neck leaving a trail of kisses before he spun me around to face him. He pressed his lips against mine and our kiss began to deepen. His velvet tongue slipped in to find mine. I grabbed the back of his head grabbing onto his hair. A growl escaped from his chest. He pulled me in closer to him and slipped his hand up the back of my shirt. Instant heat washed over my body. As he ran his fingers up and down my back a moan left my throat.

  “Dammmnnn. Y’all keep that up and I’ll need protection just from watching,” Cal said laughing. Blushing, I buried my face into Odin’s chest.

  “Seriously?” Odin asked. “You’re an ass.”

  “What?” Cal asked clueless.

  I tried to pull away from Odin to get us the big chair before the others came in from the kitchen, but he held me in place. “Wait,” he whispered in my ear. Standing there awkwardly against each other I felt his hardness against me and realized what he was trying to do. He needed to get control of himself before letting me move.

  Once the pizza arrived we spent the rest of the evening enjoying each other’s company in silence. At least we did until Ambi called Odin’s phone.

  Chapter Eleven

  After the movie Odin drove my car to my house and dropped me off while he went and met with Ambi. I was furious when his phone rang while we were trying to watch a movie and I saw that it was her. She had no business calling him. It’s one thing to be his friend, but it is another thing to be his friend that is trying to run his girlfriend off.

  I sat on my bed eyeing the gift from my parents. I was still confused on how it got in my closet. I wanted desperately to open it and the curiosity was beginning to kill me. My mom was right about me being impatient. Luckily, my birthday is only in a few days away.

  Being bored and having nothing to do, I was beginning to get antsy while waiting on the time to pass. The more I watched the clock the slower it seemed to tick by. I decided to go downstairs to see if my aunt had made it home yet. I haven’t seen her since I heard her talking to the mystery man. As I stepped off of the last step I heard glass shatter in the kitchen. I froze in my tracks while panic took over me. I wasn’t sure if I should go check or run and hide. I listened for a moment but there was no sound. I decided that maybe my aunt had made it home and she dropped something and broke it, but there was no sound of her cleaning up the glass.

  I stepped into the kitchen and a scream slipped out of my throat. I turned to run when I heard a loud pop, and everything suddenly went black. Falling into a dark abyss I saw Odin’s face. He reached for my hand looking terrified. He whispered I love you as our hands slipped away from each other and he faded into the darkness.

  Panic washed over me as I started to awaken. I could hear voices of two men arguing as they towered over me. I still laid on the kitchen floor trying to be as quiet as I could to convince them that I was still knocked out.

  “Hester grab her and load her into the truck.”

  “We can’t. Boss said not to hurt her. If we bring her to him dripping blood like that he will kill us both. You weren’t supposed to hurt her.”

  “She scared me. Boss said she wasn’t supposed to be here. Lover boy was supposed to keep her out all day.”

  “Fine. Did you find the package?”

  “No.”

  “Well it has to be here somewhere. Did you search every inch of her room?”

  “Yes, but it’s not here. She might not have gotten it yet.”

  “No, it’s here, O said she found it.” I could hear a door shut outside. I prayed for it to be my aunt. “The creature is back we better scram.”

  “What about the girl?”

  “Just leave her.”

  I stayed as quiet as possible while they hurried back out through the broken window. I grabbed the spot on my head where I had been hit and it felt like some of the blood was beginning to dry in my hair. I tried to sit up, but dizziness hit me like a freight train and I laid myself back down on the floor.

  I heard a knock on the door but couldn’t muster a voice to tell them to come in. I heard Odin call my name from inside the foyer. I couldn’t speak so I grabbed a piece of glass that was laying on the floor beside me and threw it, hoping he would hear it from there. I could hear him walking up the stairs, he hadn’t heard the glass that I threw. I looked around the area in front of me and just above my head was what looked like a small bat. That must have been what they hit me over the head with. I waited and listened for Odin to come back down the stairs before throwing the bat toward the opening of the kitchen.

  He stepped into the sight of the kitchen right as I threw the bat. It hit him in the ankle causing him to spill a few cuss words before he noticed me laying on the floor in a pool of blood. Once he noticed me he ran over assessing my injuries. He quickly grabbed me up in his arms causing me to become nauseous. As he loaded me into his car I could feel another blackout creeping up to consume me. Odin jumped into the driver seat beside me and grabbed my hand as blackness took over.

  I was slipping in and out of consciousness and in between I could hear Odin begging me to hold on. He began to ramble about them hurting me, but I couldn’t make out what
he was saying. I could tell he was angry. He was cursing and hitting the steering wheel with his fist. His lips were moving but I couldn’t make out any words. He started to slip away from me again and I tried to fight the darkness away, but I wasn’t strong enough.

  The annoyance of a loud beeping pulled me from my sleep. When I opened my eyes, I realized I was in the hospital. Panic began to take over until Odin put his hand on my thigh. He reassured me everything was ok before asking, “What happened? Who did this to you Lilith?”

  “I heard glass shatter downstairs and when I went to go check it out someone hit me on the head. I think there were two men. One’s name was Hester.”

  “Did you see what they looked like?”

  “No. When they hit me they knocked me out. When I came too, I was too scared to move or to let them know I woke up. They got scared when they heard your car door shut.”

  “So, you have no idea who they were?”

  “No, Odin, I don’t. I do know they were looking for something. A package of some sort.” As I sat there trying to remember everything they said I remembered that they thought Odin was my aunt and called her a name. But what was it? “Creature” I whispered.

  “What? Why did you say that?” Odin asked as confused as I sounded.

  “That’s what they called my aunt when they thought it was her that pulled up. Why would they call her that? What does it mean?” Looking up at Odin I noticed his face went pale and his eyes turned to fury. “What? What is it Odin?”

  Trying to collect himself he said, “It’s nothing. It’s just weird that they would call her that.”

  “You know something don’t you?”

  “No.”

  “Yes, you do, and you are lying to me. Don’t lie to me Odin. If this relationship is going to work between us, then you will never lie to me. Now tell me what you know.”

  “Ok. I will tell you but not here. Please get some rest Lamia Mea.”

  Laying there debating if I should press the matter I ended up falling asleep. As sleep took me under the darkness of the abyss was replaced with memories of tonight’s events. I recalled the full conversation between the two men. They were looking for a package. Was it the present that my parents left me? Who was O? And who was lover boy? Were they talking about Odin? Was he working with them? He was supposed to keep me out all day while they ransacked my room again looking for a package, at least until he got that phone call from Ambi.