Chapter Three – Laina #2
Parts of me warmed up hearing that. Kieran’s possessive side always got me worked up. It might’ve been a red flag to some girls, but not to me. I loved his delicious possessiveness that always seemed to drip off him when I was in the picture. How he’d bicker with the others and try to one-up them.
“And you’re mine,” I told him, meaning it. Cars behind us honked, telling us the light had turned green. Kieran was so wrapped up in me and my response that he didn’t see the light change.
As he put his foot on the gas pedal, he muttered, “It’s just cruel when you say that and we aren’t close to somewhere private. When you say things like that, every part of me goes crazy. You make me lose my mind.”
I grinned at him. I loved making him crazy, it was a nice turn of events after everything. My Devil had me in such a chokehold for so long, and after Kieran got shot… he was all I could think about.
“You know,” he said, “we could swing by my place before I take you back. You’ve still never seen it.” His hands tightened on the wheel. “You’re always so busy with the others when you’re around—”
“You act like it’s only because of me. Didn’t you just say Sylvester keeps you busy?”
The sigh that left Kieran after that was legendary. “Yeah. It’s like the man doesn’t want me to have any free time, which is fine during the week when you’re at school, but on weekends when you’re home, it’s very annoying.”
Bringing up Sylvester again must’ve made him realize something, because he abruptly changed the subject: “You went out with Lola, didn’t you? How did that go? You went to a concert?”
Kieran was, for once, in agreement with Mike when it came to my friendship with Lola.
He was supportive of me, of course, but ultimately he didn’t think Lola was a, let’s just call her, good influence—to which I’d say, I didn’t need any good influences in my life.
I was only here now, still alive, because of bad influences like Kieran.
Shouldn’t it take one to know one and all that?
Him and Lola should get along, kidnapping of me aside.
“Yeah, we saw Black Sacrament. They were pretty good—they have masks when they’re on stage and in public.
They kind of remind me of you.” As I said it, I pictured him wearing that old devil’s mask.
“Maybe one night, when you’re not doing anything for Sylvester and I’m around, you could wear your mask for me again.
Maybe chase me through the woods and try to catch me? ”
The thought, honestly, was enough to get me going.
What made it worse was that we hadn’t spent too much alone time together in the past five months.
So much had changed, so much had happened, new routines had started…
I wanted to say we were all over each other when we were together, but I was pretty sure Kieran was letting me take the lead after everything.
You know, after I found out he was my Devil, that his sister was the one who tried to have him killed, that she wanted me dead, too.
I’d thought a lot about it. Of course I had.
I wanted Kieran like I wanted the others, but for some reason, when it was just him and I…
we could never go all the way. It was like something was missing, and I could only assume that something was the mask.
I needed my Devil back to help me overcome this weirdness.
It’s too bad he didn’t keep his mask on him at all times, otherwise things would be way different right now.
He smirked at me. “Is that what you want? Me wearing the mask? You never brought it up before.”
I shrugged and told him, “Maybe hanging out with Lola made me realize it’s okay for me to want what I want.”
“And you want me in my mask. All right. Let’s do it.
One weekend when you’re not too busy partying it up with Lola, you and I will go for a little road trip out of town, to somewhere secluded, where I’ll put on my mask and give you a head start.
” The grin he flashed me right then told me he found the idea just as thrilling as I did. “I wish you would’ve told me sooner.”
“Life’s been crazy.” He nodded along with me. “You know, when we get there, you could come inside for a while. Kelly knows we’re seeing each other, so she won’t try flirting with you or anything.”
“Worried that I’ll leave you for your best friend?”
“Worried that I’ll get jealous and think about using my claws on my best friend,” I said off-handedly, thinking about the feminine gauntlet Fang had created for me.
I wasn’t concerned with Kieran being led astray, more so that I’d get too angry at her for daring to flirt with him.
He’d never let someone take him away from me.
He chose me over his sister. I trusted the man, but just like him, I had some jealous tendencies.
“Ooh,” he said as he faked a shiver, “you’re sexy when you’re jealous.”
“Maybe I’m just as toxic as you.”
“Me, toxic? Never.”
We had a laugh at that. Lola would definitely call him toxic; hell, I was pretty sure if I decided to drop him like a hot potato, she’d swoop in and rid the city of him. She only left him alone out of respect for me.
She really didn’t like men who hurt girls, although I’d tried time and time again to explain to her he never hurt me. He might’ve kidnapped me and kept me holed up in a room for two years, but he saved my life in doing so—and he helped open my eyes.
“Toxic,” I repeated, “immature—”
“Whoa. Immature? I actually take that personally. I think I’m very funny. You have to have a certain type of humor to understand the level I’m on. I thought you were on my level, but apparently not.” He shook his head in mock disappointment, along with sighing an overly dramatic sigh.
“I know why you always make jokes. It’s your mask, your other mask. If people think you’re a jokester, then they won’t think you’re capable of anything else.” I glanced down at my left hand, at the metal fingers resting on my now-healed nubs. “I get it.”
“If anyone in this world can truly get me, it’s you.”
When we made it to my place just off-campus, Kieran pulled into the short driveway and put the car in park.
He unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned over to me, sweeping his hand along my neck and grabbing hold of my face.
Moments later, his mouth found mine. The kiss was unyielding and unrepentant, everything a kiss should be.
Laced with hunger, a carnal desire, an urge so strong he stole the breath straight out of my lungs.
Kieran pulled his mouth off mine to murmur, “We both know if I come inside, you’ll be missing your classes tomorrow.” The idea that his hunger for me was so great, so overwhelming, he’d ravish me all night and well into the morning, made me tingly all over.
I kind of wanted to drag him inside and see if he meant it, but the thought of having him with his mask on first stopped me.
“True,” I admitted, slow in undoing my seatbelt and reaching for the car door. He released his hold on me, and I grabbed the bag between my feet and got out. Before I walked to the front door, I bent over and gave him a wide smile. “You better plan that masked chase, Kieran.”
“Trust me, until that night, I won’t be thinking of anything else.”
I couldn’t shake the smile as I shut the door and sauntered toward the house. The lights were on downstairs, telling me Kelly was home. Unlike me, she didn’t often leave to go home. She was living it up here.
Kieran honked before he backed out of the driveway, and I turned around to watch him drive away before I stepped into the house to find Kelly on the couch in the living room, her laptop on her lap. She was working on something while watching some reality TV show.
I dropped my bag and went to sit beside her, sprawling out with a yawn.
“How was home?” she asked, her green eyes glancing in my direction.
Her light brown hair was pulled up in a messy bun, its ends sticking every which way.
She knew I was seeing not only Kieran, but also two other guys, and she was fully supportive of my polyamorous habits.
In fact, she often joked and said she wished she could get her own gaggle of boyfriends.
“Fine,” I said, wishing I could tell her about my night with Lola.
Obviously that was the highlight of my weekend.
As much as I loved my guys and wished I got to spend more time with them, Lola was slowly opening my eyes to the world of crime.
Hell, to the world of serial killing. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I wanted to be a serial killer myself, but the woman was inspiring in the best way, and watching her do her thing wasn’t something I’d forget anytime soon.
I was counting down the days until I’d hang out with her again.
“And how’s the boytoys?”
I laughed. None of them were really boytoys, since none of them were boys. Each of my three boyfriends were men, the very definition of the word. I didn’t correct her, though. “They’re good. I didn’t get to see Mike, though.”
“Aw, you didn’t get the chance to get railed by your three boytoys this weekend?
” She thought the only thing we did was have lots of sex.
I mean, she wasn’t necessarily wrong, but she wasn’t right, either.
We probably had a lot less sex than she assumed we did, if only because of everything going on in our lives.
“Believe it or not, not everything is about sex.”
The look Kelly gave me after that was one of disbelief. “Come on. You don’t believe that. You know as well as I do that it’s always about sex. Without sex, what’s the point of life?”
I thought about arguing with her, but ultimately, in a weird, philosophical way, she was right. Humanity, as a whole, would not be here, where we were, if it wasn’t for sex. Nature had to make something enjoyable to make people have babies.
I got up. “I’m gonna shower.” I scooted around her legs and left her to her homework that was undoubtedly due at midnight and her reality TV.
After grabbing my bag, I headed up the stairs of the house, to the second floor, where our bedrooms were.
I popped in the bathroom to start the shower—the water took forever to get hot here—and while I waited for it to warm up, I crossed the hall and went to my room.
With the light on, I took my bag to my bed and started to unpack, but something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. I turned toward my nightstand, a small wooden thing that only had a single drawer—a drawer I knew I did not leave open when I left.
I rifled through the drawer and made sure nothing was missing, and nothing was, but it still left a funky taste in my mouth.
I wouldn’t put it past Kelly to snoop, but she was also bold enough that if she wanted something from me, she would just ask.
Besides, she was smart enough to know to leave things exactly as they were before.
I went to the hall and shouted for Kelly, “Did you go in my room while I was gone?”
Her “No” came fast, and it was followed up with a question, “Why?”
All I shouted back was, “Never mind.” Maybe I was losing my mind a bit.
It wouldn’t be the first time—then again, anytime I’d gone out with Lola lately, even sometimes during the day here at school, I felt like I was being watched.
Like someone was nearby, their gaze heavy on me.
I felt it at the concert. I felt it now.
Kelly wasn’t home all weekend. Someone could’ve broken in… but why? My first thought went to Tessa, but the woman hadn’t shown her face in five months, and she wasn’t the type of person to be sneaky. She went hard for whatever she wanted, never one to take the slow and steady path.
Hmm. Maybe it was all in my head and I was making it up. Maybe I did leave the drawer open and I just didn’t remember. Lola and her guys would know if Tessa showed up in the city, wouldn’t they? Maybe it was paranoia.
In my life, though, my suspicion had been warranted. Would it be the same this time, or was I making a big deal out of nothing? Only time would tell.