by Rose Harper
My eyes widen in complete bafflement, my nerve endings warring with themselves to focus on either my sight or feeling. It’s too much. My mind feels like it’s working overtime.
A strong, masculine jaw grazes against the side of mine, the scruff abrading my silky skin. It’s then his scent teases my nostrils, making me wetter than I’ve ever been in my life. And it’s not because I was in the shower moments ago, it’s because I know who that smell belongs to. It’s all male, cinnamon, and desperation. A desperation I haven’t tasted since that night I gave my virginity away before things grew too cloudy to remember what had to be the best night of my life.
My hands slap against the side of the steam-coated glass as fingers tangle into my hair, wrenching my neck to the side. Soft, luscious lips scale up the side of my neck, ending at my ear. I feel his lips moving against the shell of my ear but can hear nothing of what he’s saying. Even if I could, the only thing I would be able to focus on is the thud of his heart thumping against my naked back. His virilityas he manhandles me as if I belong to him.
I thought he hated me? Loathed the very sight of me and wanted to put me six feet under. How can he go from that to this hot, virile piece of temptation?
“Gavino, w-what are you doing?” I ask, ending in a groan as he rocks his hard erection against the small of my back. He’s so much taller than me, making me appear as nothing more than a small doll next to the beast himself.
When I’m flipped around, I don’t see the sight in front of me. Yes, it’s Gavino, but he doesn’t have the look in his eyes that I expected to see. Instead, all I see is pain, anger, resentment. A small glimmer of evil that leads me to believe he’s making me pay for something I don’t know about.
Caging me in with his arms, all desire I previously—stupidly—allowed my body to feel moments before dissipates. “What is his name?”
He mouths the words so slow I’m able to follow along with minor difficulty. But, who could he mean? What is he even talking about?
“I don’t know what you’re asking.”
Confusion passes over his features. True horror washes over me as he starts mentally connecting the dots. By the expression on his face, I know he’s figured out my little hearing problem. It’s probably the reason I could read his lips so well—I only caught the last part of what he asked me. And the question he just asked was more than likely plain as day and a complete imbecile would know the answer to it.
Tears begin building in my eyes as shame washes over me. There’s no way I will be able to get out of it this time. He knows something is up, and unless I want him suspicious of me, there’s no other choice but to tell him.
Tell him that what he found in his car is just one of my two hearing devices.
Swallowing hard, I stare into his heated gaze. “Remember the night you put me in the trunk?” He nods, thankfully. “Remember what you found?” Craning his neck to the side, he eyes me warily but nods just the same. “From the way you acted, it makes me think you thought it was something to hurt you. But, the fact is, it wasn’t. I couldn’t hear you that night and can’t now.”
“What?” he asks, and I know it’s terrible, but I wish I could hear his voice. After months of hearing no one, I wish with everything in me that I could hear his.
“I’m deaf, Gavino,” I say, watching him back away from me, almost causing me to fall in the process. The tears leak from my eyes, trailing softly down my scalding cheeks at I stare at the disgust lining his face. “There was an accident when I was seventeen. It took … both of my parents are gone. Since that day, I’ve had to have the help of hearing aids to hear what little I do.”
After a few moments of silence—on his part—he reaches into his jacket. The action causes me to press myself against the glass, no matter what he’s seeing of me. Cinching my eyes shut tight, I turn my head to the side and try to remain calm. He probably thinks I’m lying to him, and he’s about to put a bullet between my eyes. Oh, God. He’s about to kill me for telling the truth.
“Please,” I whimper, barely holding myself together. “Don’t hurt me.”
One heartbeat, then two, I feel a finger lightly tapping me on the shoulder. Shivering, I hesitantly open my eyes and stare at him from the corner of my eyes. I prepare myself for anything: a gun, knife, piece of rope to strangle me. However, what I get in return causes pure relief to wash through me. Happily crying, I barely hold myself back from launching into his arms when I see he’s holding my missing hearing aid out to me.
Taking it from him, I nod to go around him, and to my surprise, he allows me to do that. I’m completely flabbergasted! This was a completely different man than who picked me up. Or, at least, he’s being different right now.
Jogging over to my bed, I crawl onto the top of it and search on my hands and knees for the pillow that holds my other hearing device underneath it. However, all movement stops when I feel his heat blazes against my backside. I stop breathing when I feel the coarseness of his denim skim across the soft swells of my ass and tender thighs. But just as soon as it happened, he’s gone, leaving me feeling bereft.
All too soon, I remember myself and what I’m doing and dive back under the pillow. After locating the hearing aid, I turn it on and slip both of them into my ears. Fixing my hair to cover them—old habits die hard—I backtrack off the bed and come to stand at the side of it, just mere inches away from him. A light buzzing noise greets my eardrums, and it takes a few seconds to right myself before everything comes back into focus.
“You can talk now,” I hesitantly say, peering up at him. “I can hear you.”
I expect him to say what all that was in the shower, but instead, my breath catches in my chest when he reaches out, tucking my hair behind my ear. His eyes are glued to the device in my ear. Anger, then sadness, then finally pain passes over his newly expressive eyes, before they land on mine.
“How did it happen?” I almost cry out in relief. There’s no malice; no burning hatred for everything I stand for in his voice. He sounds … sincere. So unlike the man I met in Father Avery’s office a few months back.
“Someone came out from nowhere and t-boned my parents’ car,” I explain. “They were picking my boyfriend and me up from his house and …” I sigh. “I guess it was just fate.”
“Fate, huh?”
Nodding, I nearly laugh with glee when the need to cover my ears doesn’t come to me. Not even once. I’m standing in front of the man who took my virginity, and he may be a bastard, but it’s clear on a subconscious level that I’m comfortable around him. He’s a familiar who imprinted himself on my body from the very beginning.
“Well, I don’t believe in fate,” he says, schooling his expression once more. “I care about facts. The fact of the matter is that because of you, my familia is now being targeted. And if I have to choose between them and you, it’s going to be them. It will always be them.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I want to know who the goddamn man is that you’re running from,” he says, surprising me with his level of vehemence. “He took something very precious that my familia will never be able to get back, and I plan to make him pay. Then, you’re next, and I’m going to love torturing you.”
“But I didn’t rui—” He presses himself firmly against my front, snarling down at me.
“You ruin everything you touch,” he spits, sizing me up. “You already ruined me, but I refuse to allow you to taint my familia.”
6
GAVINO
Fuck. I didn’t mean for that to slip out. I’d rather be dragged behind a truck on the interstate, feeling the road grate against my shredded flesh, than to admit I felt anything when she screwed me over. Now she knows something I don't want her to know. Why did I let my anger get the best of me?
More times than not, I’m the levelheaded one. The person all my brothers go to for guidance, stability. Yet, just the mere sight of Skylah throws me off. Makes me reveal things that are better left unsaid.
<
br /> Growling softly, I push away from her. My abrupt movement causes her to sway toward me. “I don’t give a fuck if you think you didn’t do anything—you did. Your existence is nothing more than a middle finger. I’d rather you were dead than here taunting me.”
With that said, I turn away from her and make my way out of the room. Slamming the door behind me, I lean back on it, exhaling. I hear her softly crying behind me. Squeezing my eyes tight, I force myself to push away from the door and make my way down the hallway. It wouldn’t do me well to go back in there right now. Her crying would just infuriate me further.
What am I saying? Everything about her infuriates me.
I just can’t decide if it’s the fact I’m still drawn to her or that she screwed me over in a past I would much rather forget.
The taunting memories threaten to surface daily, and unlike every time before—where I’ve been able to suppress them—there’s no quieting them this time. They’re blaring in my mind, daring me to ignore them. They’re a constant reminder that I can never trust anyone who isn’t blood because they could have a hidden agenda I don’t know about.
Especially her.
“Are you ready for tonight?” I call out, completely entranced with the sight of Skylah climbing down the drainpipe next to her window.
Her ass is perfectly encased in low-slung jeans. I’d love to take a bite out of that ass. Feel her supple flesh between my teeth as I mark her as mine. The thought of her skin reddened with my teeth marks makes me harden in my jeans. Shifting, I subtly shake my leg, trying to get my dick situated. But nothing I do will position the motherfucker. It has a real jonesing for the petite blonde, and tonight, it’s about to get everything.
Tonight is the night Sky and I will take that extra step in our relationship. Where we will both lose our innocence to the one we love the most. I didn’t think that could happen for someone like me. Someone with nothing but a future full of darkness, blood, and death. But it has.
It makes me feel as if I have a chance to pull through the other side a version of myself I can be proud of. A version that will be worthy of her love. It’s a heady feeling as I watch my future climb down toward me, bringing her essence and everything about her I find absolutely enthralling closer.
The moment her feet hit the ground with a soft thud, I’m on her. Pressing her back against the wall, she fights the smile begging to peek through as my mouth collides with hers. Her taste automatically assaults my senses, making me drunk on the taste of mint and chocolate. Her chest is firmly pressed against mine, driving me wild with lust. When her fingers weave through my hair, I’m almost too far gone to stop.
Pulling away, she giggles, the sound a delight to my ears. “Someone’s happy to see me.”
“You have no idea,” I groan, leaning into her. My thick, hard cock presses against her lower stomach.
Her eyes alight with mischievousness as her hands lay flat on my chest. Over the past year, our touching has become more rated R than the usual PG-13. Her hands caress a little longer; lips taste for a split second more than decent. She’s a habit I never want to go to rehab for. I’d gladly stay high on her the rest of my life if it meant feeling like this.
I fight my way back, running my fingers through my hair. However, nothing I can do will make the memories of that night tuck tail and hide back in the smallest recesses of my mind. Growling, I grip my hair harshly, feeling more on edge than I have in a while. My teeth grind, and when it feels like every part of me is about to implode, I break.
Slamming my hands into the side of my head, I repeat the action as I come to a stop in the hallway. It feels like flames are lapping at my feet, threatening to take me under. Yet, nothing I do will cause the memories to vanish. They’ve been suppressed for too long it seems, and they refuse to be silent anymore.
Coming to a stop in front of the CCTV room, I lean my forehead against the wall, punching the side of my head a few times when a particularly painful memory shoots to the front of my mind. Clenching my hand into a fist against the wall, it all comes back to me, and I’m nothing if not a prisoner to its demands.
Stumbling drunkenly into one of the rooms at Brock’s house, we pull and tug at the other’s clothing. We can’t get naked fast enough, relishing the thought of being skin against skin as we take each other’s innocence.
We’re smiling against each other’s lips, unable to feel anything but the euphoric bliss of being close to one another. Our teeth and lips clang against the other’s, but nothing stops us from getting caught up in the moment.
Nothing can take this level of happiness away from me.
She’s my light—the woman who will help me balance the darkness of the familia business by lending me her strength and love. She’s the one person who will always be able to pull me from the ledge of insanity as I glare inside the vast nothingness, taunting it. I will love her for the rest of my days, and tonight, we’re going to solidify that love.
“I love you, Sky,” I murmur against her lips. Her little, delighted squeal has my heart expanding inside my chest.
I’m only this way with her, no one else. She’s the only person who sees this side of me, while I give everyone else the darkness I’ve been raised to exude.
Skylah Bow is my heaven. My hell. She can make even the most innocent angels weep in need while making the demons repent for their sins for the thought of just a simple taste.
Our jackets go flying. Shirts slap the floor. Shoes smack the walls. Pants disappear. Her panties, my boxers, and her bra are nowhere to be seen as we tumble to the bed in a tangle of limbs. I want to take things slow, make it memorable for her, but I can’t help myself. I’m horny as fuck, and just knowing that I’m going to be her first has me harder than I’ve ever been in my life.
My dick throbs painfully, jerking against her pale, smooth flesh. Our mouths collide once more, tasting the bitter alcohol on the other’s breath. We didn’t mean to drink to excess like we did, but the nerves of doing what we’re about to got the better of us. We may be underage, but we’re in love. No one will ever be able to change that, and we want to solidify that by being together for the first time. It doesn’t matter if we’re only juniors. Love is love, and I plan to show her how much I love her tonight.
“God, I love you so much,” I say, kissing along the side of her neck.
“I love you, too, Gavino,” she replies, her movements growing sloppy.
A smile blooms across my face at the thought of her being so far gone for me that she’s fumbling around in haste to get me how she wants me. I love the fire in her—the spark most girls in our school don’t have.
Settling between her legs, I begin kissing down the side of her neck. Her little whimpers and moans greet my ears, causing me to kiss longer, deeper, more passionately. A wave of heat overcomes me, causing bullets of sweat to break out across my forehead. Cold shivers wreak havoc on my body as my hands trail up and down her voluptuous body.
Only, the heat burns higher. Nausea begins churning in my gut. It’s then I notice her ministrations have lessened, which causes me to break away from her skin and look up into her closed eyes. Her breathing slows down to a snail’s pace. Leaning back on my haunches, I lightly tap the side of her face, craning my head to the side when she doesn’t come to.
It’s then the taunting laughter from the shadows reaches my ears, causing me to jerk my eyes to them as Brock and all of his friends step out of the shadows, their eyes glinting with glee.
“I was wondering how long it would take for you two to get up here,” he says, flashing a wolfish smile.
“What have you done?” I don’t know what possessed me to ask that because certainly he doesn’t have anything to do with why Skylah completely passed out on me. Does he?
“You are so naïve, Calvetti,” he says, the smile falling from his face instantly. “You had no idea this entire time she was fucking you over, and now, you’ll get to see the fruits of her labor, and if you don’t mind, I’m going t
o fuck my girl while they do it.”
That was the day I saw true evil.
It was the day that changed me forever, making my love for Skylah morph into nothing but pure hatred.
It’s the day I found out about all of her lies, deceit, and the games she was playing with me. A goddamn Calvetti.
She’d made me into nothing more than a lovesick puppy when all I should have been was a hardened, stone-faced killer.
7
SKYLAH
Everything he does exudes the opposite of what he says. Why? I’m so frustrated I could cry right now. First, he presses himself up against me, making me feel things I haven’t felt in so long. Then, he rips himself away from me like I’ve burned him somehow. It’s so freaking frustrating.
Besides the fact he’s holding me here as a hostage, when in fact, I’m supposed to be free to do as I please as long as I am near him. I’m so sexually frustrated I’m about to explode. Which has never happened before. Even when Gavino and I planned to sleep together in school, I wasn’t this worked up.
It’s as if he has some hidden strings he’s tugging me with, and I hate it. Hate it more than I’ve hated anything in my life before.
Growling, I stare at the wall—the same goshdarnit wall that just so happens to be a freaking door. A hidden door that leads into a hallway I didn’t even know was there.
This entire time, he’s held me in this room, making me believe that I was being held in a cellar. This entire fudging time, he’s been treating me like shit—keeping silent and ignoring me, when all I want is the benefit of his company. Yes, I loathe the very ground he walks on. But that doesn’t negate the fact that I want someone to converse with. Or, heck, at least some books to keep my time occupied.