Page 11 of Die With Me
Luca is a fool for showing me where he lives.
Tonight, il mio mostro will meet his end. And I along with him.
But I don’t fear Death.
No. I look forward to him claiming me as his own.
“Don’t be a fool this time. Don’t let him get into your head with his flowery words and saccharine lies,”Adam’s apparition spits out, lounging on Luca’s sofa as though he were real.
I’m having a psychotic break.
And I welcome it, knowing it will make tonight easier to get through.
The lights are dim as I crouch near the refrigerator, readying my syringe for the moment Luca walks through the door. There’s a vase of roses on the kitchen island that wasn’t there two weeks ago—thelast time I saw him. Their edges are dark and curled, dead petals littering the sparkling granite. Next to it, a vanilla candle has been burned nearly down to the bottom of its holder.
“How fitting. He got you dead flowers, and you’re both about to die,”Adam singsongs in a way he never would have when he was alive.
“Shut up,” I snap. “When I make it to Hell, you better run and hide.”
“Don’t be so touchy.”He appears next to me, reaching out to knock his knuckles against my temple. I swear my hair flutters around the indentation of his wrist.
The sound of keys jingling outside the door cuts off my reply. My heart jumps in my chest, swelling with anticipation as Luca lets himself in and tosses his keys into the bowl on the table in the small entryway. His footsteps are heavy as he comes further into the apartment, pausing just inside the kitchen.
Looking up, I hold my breath, watching him inhale heavily through his nose. A smirk pulls at his lips as he looks around, eyes darkening as he reaches for the dial on the wall to turn the lights up so he can hunt for his prey.
“Where are you, piccola demone?” he calls out into the space.
As he picks up a foot to begin searching for me, I strike like a viper, stabbing my needle into his thighand injecting him with enough Mizoladam to put him out for at least a good thirty minutes. He jerks back with a howl of pained surprise before reaching down to grab my hair.
Tossing the needle aside, I spring to my feet, using the momentum of him pulling me up to pounce. Luca’s anger radiates through his touch, his grip tight enough that I swear I hear the hair rip from my scalp. The pain spurs me on as I wrap my legs around his waist, my skirt bunching around my upper thighs as I tangle my hands in his dark strands. “Take me to bed,” I demand before smashing my lips against his.
“Stop being a whore and carve him up already.”Adam stands behind us, retracing every step Luca takes into his bedroom.
I do my best to ignore him, focusing instead on Luca’s hiss of pain as I untwist my fingers from his silky strands to grab his wrists. He pulls back abruptly, flinging me off him to land on the plush mattress before stepping back and shaking the pain off his hands, a string of curses flying from his lips as he walks a circle around the room.
His chest heaves with anger, and I prop myself up on my elbows, wondering how much longer it will take before the drowsiness kicks in. I pushed the limit with the sedative. It shouldn’t take long, but with Luca’s size, I’m also not sure how long it willlast. I’m hoping for at least a half hour, but as he stalks back toward me, his muscles rippling beneath the tight fabric of his black shirt, I’m reminded of how huge he is.
“Where have you been?” he demands, reaching for my ankle to pull me to the edge of the bed. His wrists are still raw and red but don’t look nearly as bad as I expected them to. I knew the rope would take a while to burn through, and that his skin was already scratched raw from him trying to escape, but a flicker of disappointment squeezes my chest as I realize I didn’t do as much damage as I’d hoped.
Shrugging, I peer up at him from beneath my thick lashes, legs falling open as he crawls between them and settles his weight over me, pushing me into the mattress with his sheer size. “I’ve been around.”
“Around,” he repeats, the word thickly layered with sarcasm. Luca sits up, straddling my waist as he grabs ahold of my shirt and rips it in two, flinging both pieces of the thin material to the ground. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere!” he fumes.
His face contorts with fury, making him look like an absolute lunatic. Once upon a time, he might have been the stuff of my nightmares.
Now, he’s my every waking fantasy.
His large hands grip my waist, and before I can say a word, he rises on his knees and flips me onto my stomach. The straps of my bra bite into my skinas he tears at them, destroying the garment in under two seconds as he pulls it from my body. “You got what you wanted, piccola demone. Now it’s time for me to get what I want.”
“And what’s that, il mio mostro?” My words come out strangled as he fists my hair and pulls my head back, stretching my neck taut.
His other hand comes around to pinch one of my nipples, rolling it between his fingers roughly as he begins to laugh. The sensation, paired with his voice, sends a thrilling streak of pleasure straight between my legs.
But it’s short-lived as he leans down to whisper in my ear, his words clipped, the edges of sleep creeping into his voice. “You. No…more…revenge. Just you.”
That pleasure hightails it to my chest and pierces through my heart.
“Don’t fall for it, sis.”Adam sits on the edge of the bed as Luca releases me and rolls to his side.