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She could be mine. All of her. Every single inch that I would covet as mine and no one else’s. I could make sure of it—I would make sure of it. I never had another person belong to me so fucking wholly. She would be the first. The only. I would make her want me. Love me. Need me. How unfortunate for Lia Whitlock to have visited her childhood home tonight, of all nights. How unfortunate for her to have crossed my path. She will be mine.
I wanted to get closer. But I was scared to at the same time. Scared I might get burned if I got too close. The bar wasn’t well-lit, but it was light enough that I could make out his features. I could tell he wasn’t looking away, and I didn’t want to be the first to do so. It felt like I was baiting him to make a move, even if that was the last thing I wanted… wasn’t it? Slowly, one side of his lips curved up in a small smirk. I swallowed, feeling like prey. Did that make him a predator?
No, my Lia was a good girl. And once she met me, she would know what I had known all along. Every molecule in her body was mine. That heart, that soul… mine. She was going to fall in love with me, obsessively, dependably so. I would be the very center of her universe, so much so that she wouldn’t know how to survive without me. It would only be fair. After all, that was how it was for me.
Theo seemed to take it all in, pushing it deep down in the depth of darkness, where he put all the shitty and depraved things we’d been through, never to be revisited. It wasn’t a mere coincidence that we ended up in the same foster home after losing our moms the same way. It also wasn’t a mere coincidence that we shared the same bastard father. That we had his dirty blood running through our veins. Perhaps that was why we were so fucked-up.
“White roses represent innocence. Tell me, baby. Are you innocent?” She didn’t need to answer me. One look at Lia and anyone could tell she was an innocent one. A beautiful angel sent down to drive men like me into temptation. “Mael.” God, my name coming from her lips was a dangerous thing. I would destroy anything, kill anyone, just for her to say my name again. “Say my name again,” I said, bringing her skin back into my lips, using my teeth. “Mael.” “Such a good girl.” “Fuck,” she said through gritted teeth when I bit her, leaving my mark.
She elbowed me in the stomach. My smile widened. She was getting comfortable with me—as both her stalker and as Mael. Which was good. After all, once she finds out her stalker and her lover are the same person, I would have to take her away from here. She would be spending a hell of a lot more time with me then.
“My childhood made me into a lot of things, baby. A stalker is not one of them.” So he did have a shitty childhood. “Then why me?” “Why you?” I nodded against him. “Because the first time I saw you was the first time I felt my heart beat.” And as if on cue, that slow and steady rhythm I had been feeling sped up. I sucked in a breath. “Because I knew you were mine on sight. I was a man obsessed. Seeing your face in everything I did. Knowing I couldn’t rest easy until I saw you again. And again. And fucking again. Until you became my favorite subject.” “The roses?” I asked. He had left them
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Slowly, I leaned down and kissed him. He didn’t do anything more than let me. For the first time, it was me making the first move. I could no longer claim to be a helpless victim in this twisted game with him. That should have mattered to me, but it didn’t. Not when there was one thought running through my mind. Why the fuck did he taste and feel like Mael?
“I’m not pregnant,” I repeated as if saying it so many times would make it true. I pulled away and leaned toward the bedside table, reaching into the drawer and pulling out my birth control pills. Mael watched me the entire time, not saying anything. I took out two little pills and looked at them. They looked the same. But I… I wasn’t sure. “What did you do?” I asked, letting my gaze focus back on him. “Replaced your pills with a placebo. No way in fucking hell would I let anything in between us.” “These are pills, not condoms. There isn’t anything between us,” I said, trying to hold onto my
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