Echoes (Dance With My Demons, #2)

by Steph Macca

What an unhinged good fucking reader you are. I knew you'd be gagging for the monsters under the bed… Begging them to drag you down to hell and rearrange your insides. Welcome home.

Now, I realize it was hopeless, wishful thinking. Because people like me don't get second chances. We're designed to live through torture, built to be the fallen and forgotten.

Dr. Smith's lips twitch into a smile. "How do you feel about yourself?" "I already answered that—" I start to argue, but he cuts me off. "Not in respect to self-harm, but how do you feel about yourself? Let me put this in simple terms. Do you like yourself?" I still. "I've never liked myself. Everyone I've ever crossed paths with made sure to remind me of how little I mean."

Reaching forward, he lifts the sleeves of my gray shirt up, spotting the bruises. "Who the fuck did this?" he asks, fingers skirting around the marks.

I don't wait—I can't—as I smash our bodies together. Her walls tighten around me, locking us as one, and I grab the nape of her neck, bringing our faces together. "I could die right now," I growl, looking into her gray orbs. "It would be the best death. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else except in you."

If anyone lays a single finger on her, bruising her perfect skin, I'll soak them in gasoline and make a bonfire.

"You're not going to avoid me any longer, Avery. I don't care the reason why. Whatever it is, I promise that I'm the bigger threat."

I think I'm trying to make it clear that I'm so beyond fucked up that I don't know how to love properly. Years and years of neglect in a loveless life have left me craving it.

"You deserve love, Avery," he answers. "Which is why I allowed him to live." "But I want you too," I breathe out, grabbing his face in my hands. "You might not be mine, but I'm still yours."

"I don't want you to leave me," I whisper. "They might take you away." Grey tilts his head slowly, eyes locked with mine. He looks at me knowingly. "They haven't taken me away yet, have they?" My eyebrows furrow together. "What do you mean?" I ask, confused. A smile tugs on his lips, amused. "Who do you think killed Hallman, little killer? He didn't take his own life. No—I ended it. I ended that sad, pathetic excuse of a man because he touched you. He tried to hurt what's mine."

"But you're the only one I want to be balls deep in, Avery. The only one I'd kill for." "You'd kill for Damon," I point out confidently. He nods. "Yes, but that's because of the bigger picture. I'd kill just to make you smile."

Grey runs his fingers over my skin, mixing the red together. Leaning back, he smiles down at his work of art. Curiosity gets the better of me, and I hunch forward, looking down to see. MINE. Our eyes meet at the same time, his face proud. I swallow, feeling a wave of emotions. I'm his.

He watches intensely as I bring my index finger covered in our blood to my face, inspecting it before dropping it to my lips, slipping it inside. The metallic taste bursts on my tongue, but I barely get a chance to finish what I started before Grey is on top of me. My back slams into the mattress as he pushes me down, covering my mouth with his. "You're fucking mine, Avery," he growls into my mouth. "This lifetime and the next one too."

She looks fucking perfect. It makes me want to rip her into tiny pieces just so I can put her back together again.

"Who. Do. You. Belong. To?" I ask her between thrusts. "You," she breathes out. "You, Grey." "Damn fucking right," I growl in response, impaling her deep.

"This is what you do to me," I breathe out, growling as her finger presses into my flesh harder. "You tear me apart from the inside out in the best fucking ways possible. You make me kill for you, you make me want to die for you. I'll burn this whole place down to ashes and paint you with them like the muse you are." A tear slips down her cheek, but the faint smile on her face indicates that it's not pain causing it. "I love you so much," she whispers. Letting go of her hand, I reach for her clit, running my bloodied fingers over it. "Prove it. Come for me, my little killer."

"That fucking bastard," Grey snaps. "Let me go there right now and rip open his carotid artery." "Avery's in session with him," I point out. Grey snorts. "I'll fuck her in his blood. That doesn't worry me."

"You're the reason, Avery. For all of us." "What do you mean?" I breathe out. He leans down, brushing his lips against my ear. "You're my only reason for anything. And I think you're theirs, as well."

He removes his fingers, wiping my arousal over his mark. Suddenly, I feel something behind me. It startles me, but before I can process it or move, my pussy is filled with something hard. It hits me instantly that I'm pushed against the glory hole, someone's cock buried inside of me. I look at Grey in panic, expecting him to explode, but he just nods at me. "Feel that, little killer? It should be familiar. You've taken that dick before."

"Focus, little killer. Pay attention." "I'm trying," I murmur weakly, digging my nails into his skin. Grey growls, tapping his fingers rhythmically against my neck as he squeezes. "I'm not going to let you forget me." "I would never forget you," I breathe out. "I couldn't. I wouldn't. Not now, not ever."

"You're still mine," Grey growls into my mouth. "Every single part of you." "I'm yours," I reply. "And you're mine too."

"When you go to heaven one day, I'll drag you back down to hell to join me. Because I'm never leaving you, Avery." My pussy clenches around Theo's cock, my arousal coating my inner thighs. "Promise?" "Promise. Now, I want you to explode on your other boyfriend's cock while looking at me."

"If anyone can handle two men, it's you," Theo teases. "It might just take some getting used to," I laugh quietly, still trying to get a grip on my floating body. Grey leans down, kissing me. "I hope you do get used to it. Because we're going to have so much fun breaking you in, little killer."

"I want to make one thing clear," I say to her, putting it down. "You're mine. I've made exceptions for Theo, but Damon will need to explain himself."

"I'd fuck his eye socket, but my cock is only for you," I finish, ripping my finger back out. Avery's cheeks are flushed with confusion—horrified at seeing the real monster I am, while conflicted by my words of love.

"My heart is only for you, little killer. I'll kill anyone that dares to touch you, hurt you."