48. Felix
FELIX
“You’ve seen it before,” Alistair says. “Haven’t you?”
Penelope nods, but she can’t even say a goddamn word.
“She has the final piece of the circle,” Dylan says.
“She was a part of us,” I say, stepping closer.
Tears well up in her eyes. “Why … why would she lie to me?”
The knife in her hand steadies, but I’m not afraid, not even as the tip penetrates my skin. Still, I inch closer and wrap my hand around hers. Slowly, she yields to my grip as I lower her hand.
Suddenly, she falls into me, bawling her eyes out.
And I just stand there, not knowing what to do with her.
I haven’t seen her cry like this. Not even as we chased her, bullied her, stalked her, used her, fucked her, hurt her. Not ever … until now.
I look up at Dylan, who makes big eyes and smashes his lips together like he wants me to do something. But these things do not come naturally to me.
After a while, I lift my hand and pat her on the back.
It only seems to make her cry more.
The knife rolls out of her hand onto the ground, and her arms wrap around me.
And fuck me, it’s been too long since I’ve felt this kind of embrace.
It’s the kind of hug I’ve only had from two people in my entire life.
Her and Eve. And it’s the kind of hug that can ignite a long-extinguished heart and set it ablaze, even in this cold, rainy weather.
I don’t know what to tell her except … “I’m sorry.”
I don’t say these words a lot, but today, they matter.
The scars we bear are deep and gnarly, and they still hurt even today.
She looks up into my eyes. “What?”
My lip twitches. “Don’t make me repeat that.”
“I know what you said. You’ve just never said it before.”
“Then don’t take it lightly,” I say.
She wipes some of her tears away, her eyes smudged and stained with mascara. “It’s so hard to believe.”
“She meant a lot to us.” I grab her chin and tilt her face so she keeps her gaze fixated on me. “ You mean a lot to us.”
“We just didn’t want you to snoop in our business and find out about Eve,” Alistair says. “Because we knew it wouldn’t take long for the entire school to find out.”
“And my father would kill me if that happened,” Dylan adds. He raises a brow as he clutches his waist with both hands. “But you’re much more like your sister than we thought.”
She pulls away from me and holds up her hands. “Whoa, wait a minute, this is all a little too much to take. You’re all telling me you knew I was her sister, yet you still wanted to fuck around with me?”
“We didn’t set out on it,” I reply, running my tongue across the inside of my cheek. “But you made it impossible to stay away.”
She takes even more steps back until she’s almost on the trail leading out of the cemetery. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
I walk closer, but she backs up, almost like she’s still afraid of me.
Of us.
And the thought alone makes me both angry and excited as hell.
“Would you have believed us?”
She rubs her lips together before shaking her head. “You didn’t give me a chance.”
Dylan approaches too, extending a hand, but all it does is make her move farther back. “C’mon, Pen. Don’t do this.”
“You fucked my sister … and now you’re fucking around with me too,” she says through gritted teeth.
I hate the way she speaks about us.
Like all we care about is some ass.
My nostrils flare. “Say it again like that.” My hand turns into a fist. “I fucking dare you.”
“I’m not here to be her replacement,” she says, swallowing. “I won’t let anyone fuck around with me.”
“You are not a replacement,” I seethe, angered she’d say that out loud. “You … you are so, so much more to us … to me …” I take in a breath, having a hard time with myself because I’ve avoided even thinking about this.
In fact, I almost convinced myself it wasn’t true.
“Even more than Eve.”
She shakes her head. “I don’t believe you.” Her face contorts. “You danced with that girl.”
“I danced with that girl to take my mind off you,” I interject. “To prove to myself I was still the same coldhearted asshole I ever was.”
Her eyes widen in shock.
“Wow … Felix Rivera has actual feelings?” Dylan jests. “Never thought I’d see that day.”
“Shut up,” I snarl.
When she turns around, I growl, “You run now, and I will make you remember who you belong to.”
“Fuck you,” she says, and she sticks up her finger.
That’ll fucking do it.
She runs off through the trees, and it takes just one glance over my shoulder to know we’re all going for the chase.
As I run after her with Dylan and Alistair on my heel, my feet burst with energy. We pass through the trees and jump over graves, getting closer and closer. Adrenaline shoots through my veins, and by the time I catch up with her, I’m a fucking torrent of desire.
“Mine,” I growl as I grasp her foot and stop her in her tracks.
She tumbles to the ground, and I pin her down, crawling on top of her.
“Let me go,” she snarls as she writhes underneath me.
“No,” I reply, grasping both wrists and pinning them above her head.
Rain pitter-patters down onto her face, mixing with her tears and running mascara, making a hauntingly beautiful sight.
Both Dylan and Alistair hover over me. Her face contorts the moment she realizes she has nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. There’s no escaping us.
“Why?” Her desperate voice is like a plea for mercy. And even though I love the sound, it’s almost as if she’s begging me to want to use her in this context.
But that’s no longer an option.
“Why can’t you let me go?” she mutters, her pouty, red-stained lips so attractive I almost want to lean in and kiss them just to take away the pain. “Why do you even care?”
I lick my lips. “Because you’re ours, and it’s time you understood what that means.”
She grimaces. “I can’t believe I fell for the same trap my sister did.”
A trap?
“She didn’t fall into any trap,” Alistair says. “She found us.”
She frowns. “So what … you did all that kinky shit to her too?”
I nod slowly so she understands what kind of relationship we had.
“Everything and more,” Dylan says, licking the raindrops off his lips. “And you know what? She liked it.”
She shakes her head. “No, that can’t be true.”
I tilt my head. “Maybe you didn’t know your sister as well as you thought.”
“She was more than just a sex doll,” Penelope quips.
I slam my fist into the mud, splattering it all over as I growl at her, “Do not call her that.” Her eyes widen at my sudden rage. “Just because we used her as a slut does not mean she’s nothing more than that. Not to us.”
She shivers, but I don’t know if it’s from the cold or from what we’ve just told her.
“But you call me the same thing,” she mutters.
“Exactly,” I say.
The air is thick with tension as she holds her breath, despite wanting to say so many things all at once.
I know she hates me.
She’ll continue to hate me into eternity, and I knew that going into this.
But then why does my fucking heart feel like it’s being stabbed by a million of those fucking knives of hers?
I lower my head so she can’t see my eyes.
Because, dammit, they would betray me.
I grasp her face and kiss her once, peering into her eyes to search for a reaction. But they’re riddled with questions even I don’t have the answers to.
I told myself I wouldn’t do this again.
That Eve would be the last, and I’d rather die fucking around with random girls than fall for even one of them. If you continue to lie and tell yourself none of it matters, you’ll start to believe it.
But even that was a lie.
A slow, decrepit smile spreads across my cheeks.
I give up.
“You want to know why I won’t let you go?” I whisper into her ear.
She nods.
“Because I need you.”
Her breathing falters.
And I hate how weak it makes me feel.
“For all my fucked-up cravings.”
She shudders.
“And if someone else even thinks of touching you, it makes me want to gouge out their eyes and split open their brains for even daring to think about it.”
“What?” she mutters.
I lean back to look into her eyes. She looks at me like she can’t believe it, and I don’t blame her because even I find it hard to believe. The last time I felt this madly possessive over someone was with Eve.
But with Penelope … It’s even worse.
I want to own her. Mark her. Kill anyone who dares to take her from me.
And it makes me fucking wild.
My fingers slowly rake through her hair, grabbing a few strands to take a whiff.
I can definitely smell her fear, her arousal as I sit on top of her, the palm of my hands slowly moving down her arms. She’s not even fighting back anymore.
“I don’t want to share you,” I whisper, “but you know as well as I do that they won’t ever accept it if I keep you to myself.”
I groan as my tongue darts out to lick her skin, her taste so fucking addictive I could lick her up all day and still not have enough.
“I fucking need you, Penelope,” I say. “I need you to uphold your end of the deal …” My tongue travels down in a line from her earlobe to her neck, licking up every droplet of rain until none are left.
But I need more. So much fucking more. “I need you to scream for me and only me. Can you do that?” I bite down on her skin until my teeth draw blood, and she cries out in both agony and bliss.
“Fuck … so fucking perfect,” I murmur, licking up her blood.
“Wha—”
But before she can finish her sentence, my lips smash onto hers.
And I don’t fucking care who sees.
* * *
Penelope
I’m stunned.
He needs me?
Did he actually just say that out loud?
No, that can’t be right. He must mean my body.
After dancing with that other girl, he just wants to finish his urges with me.
But then why is he kissing me like this? Greedy, hungry, like he wants to destroy me with not just his words but his tongue too. Like he wants to own my fucking soul.
His tongue sweeps past the roof of my mouth as he lays claim to my mouth while his hand slowly snakes around my throat. But I’m not afraid of him.
If he wants me as badly as he says he does, he won’t hurt me.