Hard Luck

by Romy Lockhart

  I wonder idly as I reach in and turn on the water if mentioning what I did with Finn might sway them a little more to the idea. A smile tugs at the corners of my mouth.

  “What are you thinking right now?” Finn asks.

  I turn and find him topless, his fingers working to undo his jeans.

  I’m not sure I should tell him. The thought of a deadly demon hasn’t turned him off, but I’m not sure how well he’d take me talking about my other lovers while I’m with him.

  “That filthy, is it?” he asks with a grin. “So bad ye don’t even want to tell me?”

  I let the robe drop. “I was just thinking that I’ve never had sex in this shower.”

  His eyebrows rise. “What, never?”

  I shrug, pulling the shower door open. “I guess vampires aren’t really into it.”

  “What are they into?” he asks as he follows me inside and closes the door.

  “Ménage and biting mostly,” I reveal, watching him as I reach for the soap.

  His gaze fixes on me as I start to wash my body. “Oh, really?”

  “There’s nothing quite like a bite high,” I go on.

  “And do they bite each other, or just you?” he asks, making me flush.

  Truth is I don’t want to share them, even with each other. But every now and then I have a hotter than hell dream where the lines are more blurred. Damon thinks it’s funny, but it makes Dean scowl.

  “Just me,” I tell him, passing him the soap.

  “So when you say ménage...” he trails off, washing himself while I rinse off some of the soap that’s lathered on my breasts.

  “Both of them like to be with me at the same time,” I tell him.

  “How, exactly, does that work?” he gazes me over.

  “Well, I’m pretty flexible and they like to get creative,” I tease, seeing that he’s getting off on our conversation, by the way his erection is throbbing.

  He strokes the length of his cock. “Jesus, Maeve. How’s a guy supposed to compete with that?”

  “It’s not a competition, Finn.” I move closer and he drops the soap. “There’s room for all three of you in my life.” And my bed, I think but don’t say, still not quite certain of what Finn would make of that kind of suggestion.

  He smiles and comes closer, leaning in to place his lips on mine. We kiss under the warm stream of water, and Finn’s hands wander swiftly to my ass, squeezing and cupping. He breaks the kiss, his cock throbbing against me. I’m so ready for him that I’m starting to contract with need.

  “How often do they take your ass?” he asks, tightening his grasp possessively.

  I moan as he moves a hand to rub a finger gently over that opening. “Not often.”

  “How much do you love it?”

  “It feels incredible,” I whisper, my cheeks flushing.

  “I want to do everything I can to make you feel that way, Maeve. Everything.”

  “Oh, Finn.”

  He bends to stroke his tongue over my nipples before he gets on his knees in front of me, using one hand to finger my clit and run over my swollen lips. He reaches for the baby oil with his other hand and I gasp as he stops to drip some onto a finger.

  “Tell me what you love about having a cock in your ass, Maeve.”

  His sexy voice combined with the heat of the water running over my body is almost enough to make me come before he even touches me. I’m shaking with desire by the time his tongue slicks over my clit. When his lubricated finger penetrates my ass, I bite back a groan.

  “I don’t know, Finn. It just feels good.”

  “I need to understand, Maeve.”

  He licks my cunt and slowly fucks my ass with his finger, allowing a second digit to join once I’m relaxed enough to take it. It all feels so good that I can barely believe I’m capable of taking this much pleasure without shattering into a million pieces.

  “I just love giving myself over completely,” I somehow manage to gasp out when he pauses licking to gaze at me, making me aware that he’s still waiting for an answer.

  “Giving yerself over?”

  I nod, groaning as he starts back up. I know I’m going to come before he even puts his cock inside me. I’m so wet and ready and aroused I’m barely holding it together right now.

  “I need more,” he tells me, stopping again, and making me moan.

  “Giving my body to the man I love,” I explain, realizing what I’m saying only after it’s out there, and not wanting or needing to take a single word of it back. It’s quick, but I love this man. I want to give myself to him the same way I do to Dean and Damon. It’s pure trust. I would let them do anything to me, knowing they love me and wouldn’t do anything that might hurt me. I feel the same way about Finn.

  “So ye’ll do whatever I like,” he murmurs between licks, as his fingers push into my ass.

  “Anything,” I whisper, feeling the truth of that the moment the words leave my lips.

  He stops what he’s doing and stands up, turning off the shower. I look at him, my heart hammering as my eyes search his.

  “Get into bed,” he says, his voice husky with need. “I’ll be right there.”

  I lay in bed, my hair damp and the valley between my legs slick and throbbing with need. It doesn’t take Finn long to join me. He moves on top of me and kisses me deeply, reminding me of our quick tryst in the alley. He sighs as he breaks the kiss, moving down my body to take his time sucking on my nipples, making them as pronounced and hard as possible. I gasp as he moves downward again, kissing his way over my stomach before he gets to my desperate cunt and begins to kiss me softly and gently between my legs, taking his time.

  I gasp as my climax begins to build. He works harder at coaxing it from me, only stopping once I get there. “Oh, Finn.”

  He moves back up faster than he went down, and his cock pushes inside me suddenly enough to mix a little pain in with the pleasure. It’s a sensation that makes me shiver and grasp him closer at the same time. He slows his movements once he’s all the way inside, gazing down at me.

  “I only want what you want, Maeve. I understand ye’ve given me your trust. I get that, but I want yeto know I give myself to ye too, in every way that I can. I’m all yours.”

  He really, truly, is the perfect man. I don’t know how the hell he wound up on my doorstep, but I’ll be forever grateful that he did. I close my legs around him as he thrusts inside, every movement taking us closer to creating a family. When he comes, I feel like this has to be it now. I’m pregnant. I must be. It was all so damn perfect.

  “I’ll call me sitter in the morning,” he tells me, moving and pulling me in close. “I’m not leaving this bed until we can tell for sure yer pregnant.”

  I smile at him. “As much as I would love that, won’t your daughter miss you?”

  He smiles back at me, ruefully this time. “I’d miss her too. Is it better though if we keep her away while all of this limitless demon stuff is going on? I mean, if there’s any danger...”

  “He wouldn’t hurt her,” I assure him, knowing it in my heart. “As messed up as he is, he doesn’t hurt kids.”

  “Even if she’s mine, and I’m now his most hated enemy?”

  “I’m pretty sure he doesn’t like Dean or Damon either.”

  “Still totally into ye, then. I get it.”

  “He’s just… unstable,” I say, trying to deflect from the fact that he’s obsessed with me.

  I don’t know how to feel about it, other that kind of guilty about the way we left things.

  “Unstable and obsessed,” Finn says. “Don’t worry about this, Maeve. We’ll find a way to take the guy out. Limitless powers or not.”

  The sound of his heart pounding silences everything else in the room. It’s too intense, it vibrates through me, making my teeth rattle and my bones ache. Nero. I’ve always been able to feel his presence before he makes it known. He’s close, and I’m… afraid.

  I sit up in bed, my own heart racing as I try to
find an escape. I refuse to acknowledge the fact that it’s over. He’s already here. There’s nowhere to run. There has to be a way.

  I shiver as I get up, knowing it’s useless when I breathe in and taste his heady natural musk. The limitless are rare. They’re practically irresistible in every goddamn way. The moment he started to look at me in interest, I should have run. My only way out was not getting involved in the first place.

  My bedroom door rattles at the force of his knock. I don’t move to let him inside, but I don’t need to.

  He shifts form, becoming mist before shifting once more. As I wait to see who he decides to become, I feel my throat closing up. I want him so badly whenever I’m in his presence, but the moment I’m alone I question that desire. Deep down I know he’s no good for me. That this thing between us is a mistake, and not just the typical kind of mistake a girl barely out of her teens jumps into without thinking. No. He’s the real deal. He’s the kind of mistake that ruins lives.

  “Maeve,” he starts, in the smooth tone of our favorite professor’s voice. He took the guy’s favored human form too, not his demon form. He’s blond, tall and toned. And it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve grasped his silky soft hair in the throes of passion. Nero takes great pleasure in knowing my every kink. Right now though? He doesn’t look too happy at all. “You don’t look pleased to see me.”

  I cross my arms, wishing my heart rate would steady. “We’ll be leaving soon,” I start, trying to find the words he’ll accept to let me go. This wasn’t supposed to happen. It was supposed to be nothing more than a fling. Not an eternal bond cast between two demons who will never see each other again once they get topside. I can console myself with the fact that fate will tear us apart soon enough, but it’s not happened so far and I’m afraid that’s down to an influence he’s having.

  “We don’t need to leave,” he tells me, playing with his collar the same way our professor does every time he’s nervous. That kind of detail used to flip my switch instantly. Now? It feels a little pathetic. Like he’s trying too hard to hook me. I frown at him. Then he scowls, and that little expression is entirely Nero.

  My stomach flips the moment he reveals that flash of his true self. I love him and I know it, even if sometimes I kind of I wish I didn’t. “You know that’s not true. We have to go to earth.”

  “Limitless, Maeve,” he tells me, moving toward me. “I don’t need to do a goddamned thing.”

  He pulls me into his arms and I melt almost instantly. His self-satisfied grin is another of the uniquely Nero expressions that I’d recognize from a million miles away. He can mimic anyone easily, down to their every gesture and preference, but he lets himself shine through when he’s with me. I touch the five o’clock shadow on his cheek, dissatisfied with the all too familiar roughness of it. This isn’t him, and I’m sick of being with someone who doesn’t fully seem to exist. As much as he gives me glimpses of himself, he never shows his true face. It’s the one real weakness of his affinity. He doesn’t have a set human form. He can use any face he pleases but his own. The only true face he’ll ever have is one of a demon.

  “I’ll miss you when I’m gone,” I tell him, my voice low.

  He shakes his head, taking my hand by the wrist and kissing my fingers softly.

  “You won’t get a chance to miss me. I won’t let them send you away.”

  Such promise in those stolen cool, blue eyes. I shiver as he leans in to kiss my throat. He whispers in my ear, his words incredibly threatening, and yet so arousing at the same time, “You’re mine, Maeve. No-one gets to take you away from me.”

  I can feel how much he means every damn word. He strips me out of my nightdress and his own clothes melt away from his skin as if they’ve dissolved. Nero doesn’t care for putting on appearances. He doesn’t try very hard to act human when he’s around me on my own, other than to show off with the little idiosyncrasies that usually flip my switch. Eventually all pretense is stripped away, and pure instinct rules him whenever we’re alone together.

  He lifts me onto the bed and we remain there, tangled in each other’s arms for hours, making love as if we’re doomed to be broken apart at any given moment. I realize when I keep him from letting me go that I’m the one driving this runaway train here. I don’t want to be forced apart. I’m afraid of his intensity sometimes, but the thought of going to earth without him kills me inside.

  When he eventually falls into a deep sleep in the early hours of the morning, I lay awake and watch his transformation in a state of transfixed fascination. His darkening skin and hair reveal his demon state to me fully for the very first time. He’s not fond of this side of himself. Of the form that reveals his one true weakness. Seeing him like this, knowing how he feels about me, I’m overwhelmed with emotion. It’s a human disposition, and I’ve been exploring it lately in an effort to better understand the people I’m going to be spending the rest of my life with. It’s hard to know if emotional states are worthwhile. The good feelings are incredible, but the bad can really hurt like hell.

  A lump swells in my throat on seeing this side of him. The real Nero. My one true mate.

  A raw, unyielding sense of possession flows over me as I stare at his incredible body.

  He’s mine. No-one gets to take him away from me.

  I awaken gasping for air, my chest tight and my heart hammering. I jerk away from the man lying in bed next to me, only to calm down once I realize that man is Finn, not the demon I was just dreaming about. I calm down. I blow out a long, slow breath. It’s okay. I’m safe. Nero isn’t here.

  I frown as I get out of bed, feeling the sudden urge to check around. I know there’s nothing here, but I can’t help the sense of foreboding that fills me, the unease that spilled over from my dream.

  I loved Nero once, but it wasn’t healthy. I can’t think about him without shivering now.

  Restless, I leave Finn sleeping and throw a forest green trench-coat on to cover my nakedness. The need to walk overtakes me and I’m halfway out the door before I remember I’m not wearing shoes. Not that I should even be thinking about leaving the casino. I stare at the spots of blood on my new violet heels. The only shoes I own that aren’t green. A representation of the change I went through to get to a place where I could feel okay about my demon side.

  Finn’s acceptance of me helped that along. It probably sounds silly, but it was the first time I ever felt comfortable wearing a different color. And now? My shoes are covered in blood and the dress I’d picked out is all scratched up and dirty from being taken against a wall. Though, I’m not complaining about that second thing. I just sort of wish I’d had the patience to wait.

  I pull one of my favorite pairs of dark green heels out from under the lamp table before I leave the room, slipping them on in the hallway. I know I need to fight the urge to go outside. I’ll only find myself wandering around town, trying to figure out where Nero might be.

  Who he might look like.

  I shudder at that last part. He could look like anyone. I wouldn’t know, not straight away. Even though I can always sense his presence, right now I’m so tense it feels like he’s right next me. I glance around to be sure. I’m alone.

  I walk to the elevator and decide to head down to the security office. It’s where Dean will be. I need to talk to someone, to find some way to ease the worries I’m having. I won’t be able to relax while Nero’s around, and he’s not likely to leave Vegas now that he knows I’m here.

  I get into the elevator and breathe out a sigh as I press the button and wait. It takes what feels like an eternity for the doors to close. I’m tapping my foot impatiently while I wait, itching to scream out my frustrations. Dean will understand. He’ll help calm me down. Or at least, he’ll help keep me occupied. Like Finn did earlier, making sure to tire me out in bed. It worked, but he’s sleeping now and I don’t want to break his rest just because I’m wired and mentally worked up over a damned dream.

  Nightmare, I remind myself, tho
ugh I’m not sure that’s entirely true. Ugh. My feelings for Nero should be cut and dry. I shouldn’t still have any residual emotional ties to him.

  I step out of the elevator and find Damon waiting for me.

  There’s concern in his dark eyes, though he washes it away with a quick smile as he offers me his arm. “Saw you on the security cameras,” he explains. “Thought you might want an escort.”

  “Thanks,” I tell him, holding onto his arm. “Is Dean still...”

  “Planning the murder of a virtually untouchable being of limitless power?” Damon asks, flashing a brief grin my way. “Yes, and he’s not in the mood to listen to reason.”

  “Why am I not surprised?”

  “If anyone can talk him out of it, you can,” he offers.

  I doubt that, but I want to at least see what Dean’s plan is before I step over it and launch one of my own. My legs tremble slightly and Damon frowns at me.

  “Are you feeling okay, Maeve?”

  I nod, willing myself to stop shaking at the thought of taking Nero down. “Just kind of tired. It’s been a long night.”

  I stick with things that are true, knowing Damon would be more worried if I he knew I wasn’t telling the truth. There’s a limit to how honest you can be with everyone when total honesty could put their lives at risk.

  “You should go back to bed. Dean will still be working on his crazy theories in the morning. It’s not like they’re going anywhere.”

  Damon knows I’m not okay. He’s trying to look after me right now and that’s so damn sweet, but I can’t just sit around like everything’s okay while Nero’s planning something. I need to figure out what to do about this.

  I follow Damon into the office and Dean looks up from the map he has laid out on the desk.

  “He needs to be stopped,” Dean tells me, his gaze stern.

  “I know,” I tell him, sighing softly as I let go of Damon’s arm and walk over to the desk. “What’s your plan?”