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For those who found comfort in the darkness that others feared.
“You can love a monster, it can even love you back, but that doesn’t change its nature.” ~ Eliza Crewe
Evil can just as likely wear a suit and Rolex as it can dirty jeans and a wifebeater.
money and power do not wash away a man’s sins and make him pure. It just buys him a larger closet in which to hide his skeletons.
“I think it’s in the serial killer handbook to reassure their victims that you mean them no harm, so I’m still gonna pass. Thanks though. I hope you have better luck coercing your next victim.”
“Let’s say you do, for argument’s sake. If your teenage daughter broke down on the side of the road and three men pulled over and offered her a ride, would you want her to take it?” “Fuck,” he curses, which is an answer in itself.
This man could read my shopping list to me and I’d likely come before he reached the end.
“You taste like sunshine. Pure fucking sunshine.” He murmurs, still holding my neck. “So damn sweet.”
“Come home with me.” It’s like a needle scratching a record, the noise in my head snapping me out of it. Stupid penis brain.
It isn’t until I’m in my apartment, watching from my window as the car pulls away, that I remember I never told him my name. So how the heck does he know it?
“When you’re here, you’ll never sleep anywhere but in my bed.”
It’s the kind of love that pulls you into its current before drowning you in its unforgiving inky depths.
Thank you for looking after me, Atlas. I’m lucky you decided you wanted to be my friend.” I smile. “I don’t want to be your friend, Ivy. I want to fuck you.”
“We’ll see about humility, little one, when you’re tied to my bed begging me to fuck you. And you will, Ivy, mark my words.”
“I…told you, I’m not interested in doing this with you anymore. I’m getting a cat instead.” I whimper when he rubs the length of his dick against me. “Hmm…well, I do like pussy.”
“You’re mine. You might not understand it right now, Ivy, but you will. I’m not a good man, but I can be good to you.” “We’re like fire and gasoline, Atlas. This is gonna explode in our faces.” “Undoubtedly, but it’s too late to turn back now.” “We’ll burn up and burn out, Atlas. Neither of us will escape without scars,” I warn him one last time as I feel myself capitulate. “Silly girl. There is no escape, not now.” The worst thing is, I know he’s right. And down the rabbit hole I go.
“Roll your eyes at me again, Ivy. I dare you. It will give me the perfect excuse to put you over my knee.”
“I don’t date, Ivy. I fuck. And I intend to fuck you in every conceivable way, but right now I want to eat you out before we get coffee. And something you should know—I hate waiting.”
“I told you to watch your mouth. It was either this or wrap my hand around your throat, but I didn’t want to bruise you before coffee.”
“How’d I do?” He leans down to kiss me and I taste myself on his lips. “That was a stellar performance, almost full marks.” “Almost?” He frowns, making me laugh. “I’m afraid I missed some of the key elements. Perhaps you should repeat the performance so I can score you fairly.” Now it’s Atlas’s turn to laugh. “Coffee, then cunnilingus. Sounds like a plan to me.”
I’ve never known someone who could both calm me and test my control to its limits.
“I’m no hero, Ivy. You start thinking like that and you’ll only end up disappointed.” “You can be whoever you need to be out there, but you’ll always be my hero even if the only person you’re saving me from is myself.”
“You misunderstand me, Ivy. What I mean is, why the fuck would I want to take you out so that every other man in the building can spend the night eye-fucking you before going home and banging their side pieces with visions of you in their head? Why not just keep you all to myself?” I snort at that. This man is slightly insane.
“Alright, sweet Ivy. You get yourself all glammed up and I’ll take you out on a date tonight, but…” I look up at him. All gentleness is wiped from his face. “If anyone touches you, I’ll cut their fingers off and shove them down their throats.” Yeah, Atlas doesn’t do sweet at all.
“When you’re finished eating, I want to fuck your face and cum down your throat. I think if you’re old enough to swallow my seed you’re old enough for a glass of champagne, don’t you think?”
To her, I’m just a man with more money than sense. But to the underworld, I’m a fucking king. Staring at her now, I know without a doubt I’ve found my queen.
“You are so fucking beautiful. It makes me want to gouge out the eyes of every man who looks at you.” “Only you can be sweet and psychotic at the same time,”
My mama always said, “Never stay with a man who makes you cry more than he makes you laugh.”
I wanted you to have your date but getting out of a murder rap is tedious,” he jokes. Or at least I think he’s joking.
“You got a little something on your hand, boss,” he remarks. “Hmm…I know. It was dessert.” “Was it good?” Oh my god. Stop talking. Please stop talking. “Oh yeah but then I always did have a thing for cherries.” I’m gonna kill him in his sleep.
“I’m working from home. I have contractors coming in to start work on the extension.” “Extension? Because your place isn’t big enough? What the heck could you possibly need that you don’t already have? An airport?” I laugh. “A library. My sweet Ivy likes to read.” And just like that, another mental snapshot captures the moment I stumble and fall in love with a man I have no business falling for.
“Do not fucking hang up on me ever again.” His angry words sound lethal enough to make me suck in a sharp breath so I do what any sane woman would do, I hang up on him. Fuck him.
“This right here explains how you can look like a Hemsworth brother and still be single.”
“Seriously though, what’s wrong?” “Men. That’s what’s wrong.” “I feel like I should speak up for my brethren at this point and say we’re not all bad, just prone to occasional bouts of stupidity.” I’m not so sure about that.
“You’re mine now, Ivy. It will be my ring on your finger and my seed in your belly. If you try to run from me again, I’ll lock you up, shackle you to me figuratively and literally to keep you by my side. Don’t push me, baby, because you’ll never win, not against me,” he warns me before licking away my tears.
Placing his mouth against my ear, he says, “You’re lucky, sweet Ivy, that I’m in my happy place right now.” “Your bedroom is your happy place?” I mock, gripping his arms tightly while holding on for dear life. “Your pussy is my happy place,” he groans, slowing his movements.
He watched over me all night to make sure I was safe but no harm would have come to me if he hadn’t drugged me in the first place.
“I’m not a good man, Ivy, but I can be good to you.”
Running my fingers through the hair of the devil, who settles himself over me like a dragon hoarding its treasure, makes me question my sanity.
“How bad could you be?” I echo my earlier question. “Jaywalking and unpaid speeding tickets?” I ask hopefully. He lifts his head and contemplates me. “Do you want the truth or do you want me to lie to you?” I trail a finger down the slope of his nose before tracing his lips. Placing my hand against his cheek, I whisper, “Lie to me.” He turns and presses a kiss against my palm. “Parking tickets and jaywalking,” he answers softly before laying his head back against my heart.
Staying with Atlas won’t change the man he is but it will change the woman I become.
I need a therapist, or maybe a priest because something is seriously wrong with me.
I’ve never considered either place home but now I have Ivy, I know what home is.
“Can I at least pee, oh great and powerful, Oz?” “I’ll allow it,” he so magnanimously agrees. “Thanks. Maybe I’ll get lucky and click my heels and find myself back home.” I roll my eyes. “As long as home is wherever I am, click away, sweetness.”
“Things like what? What does it make you feel like?” “It makes me feel like falling. No wings to save me, no net to catch me, just free-falling and hoping somehow I survive.” He cups my face, pressing his lips to mine. “I don’t want to hurt you.” I close my eyes and nod. “I know, but we both know you will anyway. What can I do?” I shrug. “Hold on to me and when you fall, take me with you. I don’t know what love is, Ivy, but if I could ever love anyone it would be you. I just don’t know how to fall.” I smile. “That’s okay. I’ll just pull an Atlas and push you.”
“No, what I need to do is start carrying a bottle of asshole repellent,”
“He also knows that I’ll never stand beside you no matter how hard I try. It’s not in your nature to expose me like that. You’ll always walk a step ahead of me, using your body to shield mine.”
“You think you’re my peasant?” he snarls. “If you weren’t so damn stubborn you’d see you’re my fucking queen.’’
“Yes, Atlas. I love you. You took a wrecking ball to the walls I built to protect myself. I never really stood a chance, did I?’
“So what’s the plan? Are we flying back home or are Pete and I gambling while you love on your wife a little?” Kenzo winks at Ivy, making her blush. “Wink at my wife again and you’ll spend the night in the ER, dickhead,” I warn him, making him laugh.
