Haunting Adeline (Cat and Mouse, #1)

by H.D. Carlton

“You’re even more beautiful up close,”

“Please, just leave. I-I don’t want you here. I don’t want you. Just leave me alone,” I beg. It feels like reaching a hand inside my chest, yanking out my pride and throwing it onto the floor. But I don’t give a fuck about my pride in this moment. I just want this man to fucking leave.

“Are you going to cry, Addie?”

“No,” I lie. I will absolutely have no problems crying my eyes out after he leaves. But I refuse to show him any more weakness.

Hot breath warms my skin as his lips trace the outer edge of my ear. Another shiver wracks my spine.

“I want to devour you,” he whispers.

My lip trembles. I suck the traitorous lip between my teeth, if only it stops showing my weakness. When I risk a glance at him,...

“Are you here to kill me?” I ask lowly, trying my best to mask the tremors wracking thr...

Slowly, he shakes his head. “Why would I do that?” I’m not sure how to answer that. He continues, “I wouldn’t kill you, ...

“What if I don’t want...

He smiles. “Yo...

I open my mouth, ready to tell him about himself and his momma, but the words die on my tongue when he reaches up a hand and swipes h...

“Mm,” he growls in delight. “Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to allow you the opportunity to run and hide. If I find you, then I will deliver your punishment. I...

He smiles. “I’ll give you five minutes before your ass is bent over my knee.”

“Your time starts now, Adeline. Better run.”

It’s all in your head. Breathe, Addie, breathe. He’s not going to find you in here. Nana never could.

“You can come out now, baby,” he breathes, the sound of his voice gravelly and deep.

“I can smell you,” he says. And if that’s not the creepiest thing I’ve ever fucking heard, I don’t know what is.

“You have ten seconds before I come drag you out.” He takes a step back, and I decide to just go for it.

I dart out, slipping past him and heading towards the door. He lets loose a deep, cruel laugh. It’s a sound I’ll hear in my nightmares for the rest of my existence.

But I don’t stop. I run down the hallway and head for the front door, gasping...

“You unlock that door and there will be consequences,” he warns. I startle at his proximity. There’s not enough time to unlock the dead...

“You’re not touching me,” I hiss, my voice wobbly and rife with unshed tears.

“A deal is a deal, little mouse.” He looks up at the night sky. “It is beautiful in here. I think it’s only fitting that the punishment occurs here, don’t you think? It feels like we’ve come full circle.”

“NO!” I scream, kicking at air as I fight his hold.

“Oh yes, baby,” he growls, swinging our bodies towards the wall. I grunt from the impact, leaning my back against the wall and using it as leverage to kick against the bastard of a man. “Let me go, you fucking creepy-ass fuck—”

“Keep talking and you’ll just mak...

“We had a deal, did we not?”

A tear spills over my lid. And then another and another until I’m on the verge of sobbing.

“Don’t cry, little mouse,” he coos. “It’s going to ge...

“I like you scared,” he whispers, sending shivers down my spine. “I like you begging and pleading. Crying out for God to save you.”

“I like you trembling beneath my touch, uncontrollably.”

“You’re sick,” I snap, doing just that. I’m shaking from head to toe, and I can’t seem to stop it.

“You think you’re only going to beg because you’re fighting for your life, but that’s where you’re wrong. The only way I’ll be se...

“And definitely my tongue and fi...

“That will never happen,” I hiss, glaring at him with all my might. Or ...

“It’s time to punish you, and I’ve thought of the many ways I could do this,”

It only infuriates me more that he finds my lack of consent is so inconsequential. So… worthless.

“I’ll be nice this time.” I open my mouth, but he cuts me off with a deep growl of warning, “But o...

“What are you going to do?” I choke out, the stutter of my words in sync with the beat of my heart.

“I’m going to claim you,” he says, right before his teeth clamp down.

“Good girl,”

I can’t explain why I do what I do next. I’ll ask God later. But in that moment, I’m so overcome with a tsunami of emotions that I reach up and bite his cheek. Hard.

Blood spurts into my mouth, but I don’t care, I just bite harder. Maybe I want to hurt him back. Give him a taste of his own medicine. Make him feel whatever I feel.

“I’m beginning to think you like to be punished, which means I’m just going to have to do better.”

“Fucker!” I snap, banging my fists against his back. I am not a potato.

A sharp slap to my ass is his only response. He carries me down the steps, takes a left turn into the hallway and down towards the sunroom. The entire time I fight, kicking and punching, but he acts like a butterfly is attacking him.

As if he hears my frustrations, he says, “Baby, the wind can do more damage t...

“Want to see my teeth again, asshole? I’ll keep making ...

“Keep telling yourself that, but we both know my sca...