Hunting Adeline (Cat and Mouse, #2)

by H.D. Carlton

And I may have fallen for a stalker, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t land a spot within heaven’s gates.

Addie, baby, I need you to fight for me, okay? I need you to survive until I get to you.

Zade would be looking for me by now. Most likely out of his mind and on a rampage… Jesus, he’s probably going to kill a lot of people. No, he definitely is. And when a grin begins to form, I know that man has well and truly corrupted me.

I’m going to burn the entire fucking world down until I find her, and I don’t care who gets burnt.

I need rest. Lots of it. Because the second I open my eyes, I won’t close them again until Max’s head is in my hands.

if she were to die… the world would die with her.

The fucking wrecking ball of a man who has brought out such a burning fire within me that I crumble like ash beneath him. Yet, he made me feel so strong. So brave. He made me feel so damn loved and treasured. Just like a diamond.

Zade would never call me something as trivial and common as a diamond. He’d call me the rarest jewel on earth.

know with every fiber of my being that Zade is going to do everything in his power to find me.

At one point in our lives, we’re all afraid to die.

I think for some, they aren’t so much scared of death itself, but rather, how they’re going to die.

I gave in to his dark perusals, and found myself loving him instead. I tried so hard to run from him, and now all I want to do is run to him.

There’s always a way out, little mouse. You just have to find it.

I failed Addie. And I’ll never let myself forget it. Not with the rose now carved over my heart.

“Don’t lose your humanity yet, Zade. Addie is strong, and she will survive this.” I stare at her, and I wonder if she can see something inside me that I can’t. “It’s already gone.”

Keep it together, little mouse. You’ll survive this. You will.

I’m going home—to Parsons Manor. And to Zade.

This isn’t like confronting a psychotic stalker. He’s not enigmatic, nor will he toe the line between pain and pleasure. There’s no sick thrill when a disgusting man is staring me down, probably imagining all the worst ways he could defile or murder me. He isn’t Zade.

Watch your own back, little mouse. No one else will.

Eventually, I’m going to fucking explode, and I promise I will burn this entire goddamn house down with me.

That’s such a good girl, little mouse. Open that pretty mouth and taste me… You’ve been naughty, mouse. You like it when I punish you, don’t you? I could eat you for days, and it would never be enough… Fuck, baby, I’m so fucking addicted…

men that operate within human trafficking rings are just as stereotypical as the men who blame sexual assault on the girls’ clothing.

You can throw glitter on a snake, but the bitch still bites.

"The men in this house search for weaknesses. I never want to be yours."

It’s been over two months since Addie’s been gone. Each day that passes, the black circles under my eyes deepen and the angrier I grow. I’ve lost my mind. My patience. My strength. Everything. The only thing puppeteering my body is sheer will and desperation.

They see me as a diamond because I have Zade’s love, but they fail to remember that’s what forged me into a stone so unbreakable. He’s taught me a lot about myself and who I really am. But most importantly, he’s taught me how to persevere.

“Then a lot of people are going to die.”

We’re going to burn down the world together.

he’s fucking crazy but also kind of cool.

Seeing her like this breaks my fucking heart, and all I want is to hand her the pieces and give her something to hold on to. But she won’t hold on to anything. Won’t even let me come near. If I get within a foot of her, she flips out. She absolutely refuses to let me touch her, and it’s fucking killing me because that’s all I want to do.

I’m all for pushing Addie’s boundaries, but this isn’t one I’m willing to. Despite my less than honorable methods with her in the past, the last thing I want to do is worsen her trauma.

When she’s ready to accept me again, I can’t promise I won’t push her past her comfort zone and work to reawaken a part of her I’m sure she feels is lost.

I’m so in love with her.

The kind of question anyone would ask on the first date. Or even before the first date just in case the man ends up being an obsessive stalker who murders people.”

“Meadows, baby. Our last name is Meadows.” “Yours. Don’t get ahead of yourself. You’ll be expected to beg.”

“Your pussy is a delicacy, baby, and I could eat it forever and never grow tired of the taste of you. Is that refined enough?”

“My entire world revolves around you. If you want mint chocolate chip, then that’s what I want, too,” he had said. “Do you even like it?” “I like you, does that count?” “No.”

“Happiness is fleeting. All that matters is that they’re living their life the way they want

Just when I think I can’t fall in love with him any more than I already have, he goes and does this shit.

“Forcing a gun into that pussy and making you come all over it? Or all the other times you told me no, and I did it anyway?”

“I was obsessed with you from the moment I saw you. All those dark, twisted emotions I felt were the rawest form of who I am. I made the decision to show you that instead of concealing it. I never claimed to be a good person, little mouse, and that was something I decided I could live with.

“It’s because I love you, Adeline Reilly. And I know you love me back. When I’m inside you, you won’t be thinking of anything else but how to get me deeper. The only fear you’ll taste is from a God sending you to heaven too soon.”

“You will always be the little mouse, and I will always hunt you. I’ll patiently wait until you’re ready for me to touch you, but make no mistake, Adeline, it’ll still hurt when I do.”

Others may believe it is never okay to take a life under any circumstances. We are not the judge. At one point, I might have even believed that, too. But then I came face-to-face with true evil. People who are not human at all, but vile things that will continue to destroy this world and anything good that inhabits it.

They’re too fucking scared about making it into heaven to condone murder, even if it saves innocent women and children's lives. Doesn’t that make them just as evil?

“You really want to cause mass extinction for those names? Moan them, little mouse, I dare you. Whichever ones you choose, not a single man by that name will fucking exist anymore. How about we start with Chad? We can definitely live without the Chads in the world.”

“Our mouths are touching the same spot,” she says shakily. “Does that count as kissing?” “You tell me, little mouse. When I make you cry out for God, does that count as praying?”

“Whatever those men made you feel is not what I’m going to make you feel, little mouse. Whether your skin is between my teeth, beneath my blade, or under my tongue.”

The world could fall to pieces around us, crumble to ashes as the cigarette did between our lips, and I wouldn’t notice.