Chapter 16
RAQUEL
After he left and I returned to our room, I wanted more than anything to walk back down and creep into the basement. I wanted to know if he was telling the truth about those men. But I also wanted to see what he’d do to them, to know what he’s capable of.
When I first saw the men being carried in like cattle and the demonic look in Dante’s eyes, I was paralyzed with fear. It wasn’t that I was scared of him. I was terrified of the entire situation as I realized that, once again, I’d found someone like my father.
For my entire adulthood, I’ve wanted nothing to do with the life of crime I was born into. But it always finds me in the shadows, as though it’s a part of me, even though I’ve cast it away.
But I hope Dante is different. I hope he’s nothing like my father. Though we might not have forever, we have right now. And right now, I still want him.
An hour later, I’m still in the bedroom, the door ajar like he asked.
Not knowing when he’ll be done, I head for the shower and turn on the near-scalding water before I strip off my clothes, leaving them in a pile on the floor.
I step inside, needing the heat to waft over my body and melt away the cruelty of my existence.
How did my life become such a mess?
I wonder what my parents are doing. Are they looking for me? Do they think I’m hurt?
I feel bad for putting them through this, but not bad enough to see them before I run off to another country. I’ll send them a letter once I’m gone to let them know I’m safe, but never coming back. Hopefully they’ll understand why I did it, but if not, I’m okay with that.
The water falls over my hair, dripping down my back. With shampoo in my palm and my eyes closed, I start to massage my scalp.
My thoughts go to Dante, wondering if he’s done with…
With murder? God, even saying that is insane.
The guy I like is probably killing someone. Right now.
As I pick up the body wash, I hear the creaking of the door behind me, then the sound of it gently clicking shut.
He’s here.
My body prickles with awareness as dense as the steam floating through the room, while the fog rises higher, clouding over my vision.
I can’t see him. But I feel his aura, like a ghost you just can’t shake or a presence feathering over your skin. But as I shift right, glancing toward the shower door, I find his dark shadow.
He pauses, his hand on the door, and my nerve endings stir to life. My body craves his touch as my pulse wakes to the intensity he brings out in me.
I don’t trust myself with him. I’m someone else when we’re together. Someone I don’t mind being.
My body warms from the inside, wanting him here. With me.
Skin to skin.
Body to body.
Heart to heart.
This man does something to me. Something I’ve never experienced before, and something I never will experience again.
Chemistry, the kind we share, isn’t always earned with time. Sometimes it’s there from the beginning, for us to take and make it ours. And I want to make him mine, even if it’s only for a moment.
The door slides open a little at a time. My body is dripping, wet, bare, ready for this man to take what’s his. What I want to give him.
My heart jolts in my chest when I see his face, pieces of his hair falling over his forehead as he stares at me silently, emotions tensing over the contours of his face. My exhales fall faster as my eyes drift from his black hoodie down to his black sweats. His fingers are covered in blood.
I should be scared.
Turned off.
I should want to run. But I don’t. I only want him more.
Not everything’s black and white. There are a myriad of grays in the world, and he’s the darkest shade of gray. My favorite color.
I back up, making room for him. The way he gazes at me full of want and need—those eyes gliding from my face past my breasts and lower to my thighs—has my body crawling with anticipation.
Craving to feel him sink into me for the first time.
The more he looks, the higher his chest expands, and the more wet and wanton I become.
My palm extends for his, inviting him to join me. And without his eyes snapping away, he removes his sneakers, pushing them off with his heels before he comes closer.
Unable to hold on to another wasted moment, I move toward him, grabbing hold of his hoodie and pulling until my body smashes to him, my lips meeting his in a frenzy as my nails cling to the muscles of his back.
“Mmm,” I murmur, finally giving in to what we both want so desperately.
His groan shudders on my tongue as he sucks it, while his hand lands on the back of my head, pushing me deeper into his mouth. The pads of my fingers grasp the zipper of his hoodie, sliding it hurriedly down his body until it drifts to the floor.
He separates our lips for mere seconds and anxiously steps out of his sweats without glancing away while his t-shirt follows the same path.
His thick, long cock springs out, and desire tightens and throbs at my center.
I’m unable to quench it, and I don’t want to. I want this man inside every damn hole.
My hunger waits as my gaze feasts on him. Lustful breaths slip past my mouth; my eyes are now lined with his as he steps into the shower. He doesn’t give me a second to pull in another breath before he harshly pins me to the wall with a growl.
He grips the side of my face with one hand while the other clings to the back of my neck as his lips find mine.
The brutal kiss is days of desire and days of push and pull finally exploding into madness.
His feral groans fuse with my depraved moans while a hand falls to the base of my jaw, fingers roughly biting into my skin as our kiss turns raw. Unbridled.
He’s someone else. Someone I want with desperation. I want his hands piercing into me, marking me with a taste of him forever. When I’m long gone, I want to remember his touch against my skin as though it never left. His hands are a constant reminder of our all-consuming attraction.
His mouth is on my neck now, kissing a fiery path down to my breasts.
“Dante,” I whimper, my fingers carving through his hair.
His lips close around my hardened nipple as he looks up at me, madness lurking in the narrowed slits of his gaze.
“That’s right, baby.” He flicks his tongue over the hardened bud, gripping it with his teeth and pulling ruthlessly as I cry out. “Say my name just like that. Beg me to come like a little slut.”
My core pulses with an ache. I love the way he talks to me when he’s turned on.
I grasp his soaked hair harder, the dirty words making me grow wetter.
My other nipple disappears into his mouth, and he treats it just as brutally, groaning around my breast, which sends a jolt down to my pussy.
I’ve never been spoken to this way, but I want more. I need it.
“I want you inside me. Please. I need you before—”
He shoots up my body so quickly that I gasp. His hand clasps around my throat as his mouth grazes over my lips with feral breaths.
“Before you leave me?” he growls.
Hot. Ravenous.
The look in his eyes is so possessive and domineering. All the things I never knew I wanted in a man. This is how it should be.
I wish I didn’t have to go. I’d stay. I’d let him have me and make me his. But the dream isn’t my reality.
“What makes you think I’d ever let you go, Raquel?” And then he captures my lips, his hand squeezing my neck and making my core quiver and clench for his cock.
His other hand rides down my body until it lands where I want him.
Cupping me in his palm, he massages the sensitive flesh, making my pussy ache for release.
I moan into his mouth; his teeth sink over my lower lip before he lets a finger dip inside, circling my clit slowly, then pulling away, then doing it again.
He doesn’t end the torture. He keeps bringing me to the edge before yanking it away, leaving me hurting for him more than before.
“Why would you ever want to leave this, baby?” he drawls, pitching back so he can catch my gaze before thrusting two fingers inside me, ramming so deep that my eyes light up with fireworks.
My nails try to grip the wall, but it’s no use.
“This pussy is mine.”
“Yes!” I scream out, my mouth forming an O as he hits my G-spot mercilessly, making my legs tremble.
“Say it, Raquel. Tell me it’s mine.”
I can barely speak. It feels like I’m floating. Wanting Dante is like walking over a thin glass floor, set high above: admiring the beauty of the view below, but praying you don't fall down and scar yourself for life. But even still, he might be worth it.
“It’s yours! No one has ever made me feel this good,” I groan.
“And no one ever will.”
And it’s as though he’s willed it so. Willed it that I’m forever his.
In one quick movement, he lifts me in the air by my waist, looking up at me. “Don’t be scared, and remember to hold on tight.”
“Wha—”
But I don’t get to finish before he expertly flips my body around so that my thighs wrap around his neck and my mouth is level to his heavy cock.
It’s a sixty-nine position like I’ve never experienced in my life.
I clutch his thighs just as he pivots my hips so that my core settles closer to his mouth, his possessive hands gripping my ass.
“Such a pretty pussy.” He blows against it. “I’m gonna enjoy this.”
And when his tongue snakes out for a slow, tantalizing dive, I almost collapse from the sensation. But he holds me firmer as my hands do the same around his massive legs.
I lower my lips around the crown of his cock, hollowing my cheeks as I descend slow. And when he growls around my pulsing clit, I almost come while taking him all the way deep.
I start to move, tightening my lips and taking him faster as my tongue drags up and down his length. He shudders, his groans intensifying, and my moans join him.
“Keep sucking that cock, baby girl,” he grits out. “You’re doing so good.”