Chapter 12 #2
The next room was dim, the walls filled with beautiful artwork.
It was obvious that more than one artist had been involved in this room, with the styles of painting so varied.
There was a basket by the door filled with torches.
Curiously, I picked one up and turned it on.
It was a blacklight. I shined it on the nearest painting of a cute little chihuahua, watching the painting change before my eyes, morphing the little dog into a blood-thirsty wolf.
I chuckled in surprised delight. How beautiful!
I moved on to the next painting, then the next, mesmerised by the hidden nature of the pictures, revealed with the blacklight.
I came to a halt in front of a beautiful woman, head tilted towards the moon, mesmerised by its light.
It shone down on her, making her skin glow where it touched her.
I lifted the blacklight over her. The woman changed, levitating in the air, completely naked, long hair whipping all around her.
She had a serene smile on her face, eyes closed, except for the third one on her forehead.
It glowed brightly, radiating an even brighter light than the moon.
“Beautiful,” I whispered, stroking my fingers over the painting. It called to a part of me I had thought was gone.
I gasped as the weight of his presence barrelled into me. I tried to swivel but was swiftly caged against the wall.
“Shh, shh, shh, keep calm, nightingale,” he whispered against my ear as a blade dug into my throat. “You wouldn’t want to hurt yourself.”
The room tilted beneath me, my senses bombarded with him. His voice, his smell, the feel of his body pressed against my back, his dark, smoky presence, drowning me.
“You didn’t think I’d leave without saying hello, did you? You flew all this way, little bird.”
“Are you here to cut my tongue out too?” My voice was shaky, betraying the hurricane of emotions whirling through my body.
He chuckled darkly. “Are you scared?” he whispered, then his voice dropped low, as he trailed a calloused finger down my cheek. “Clever girl.”
“Don’t touch me.” I tried to twist away from his hand, but he dug the knife deeper into my throat, and I stilled. The blade left a stinging line where it had cut into my skin.
“So we’re back to that, hmm?” he mocked, trailing his fingers down the side of my body.
“You forget yourself, Princess. You swore yourself to me. Against the side of my car. Right before you came on my cock. Remember that? Down to your fucking soul, baby. All of you. Mine,” he sneered as he slipped his fingers underneath my shirt, digging them into the scar on my hip.
“Together or death, remember?” he purred.
“Should I keep that promise?” He kept his voice light-hearted, but I knew better.
I could feel the intensity of his anger radiating from him, barely contained.
I could feel it in the tremors rocking through his body.
The way his hand twitched around his knife like he had to restrain himself from cutting into me.
I knew all this, because I had been his.
For a short while, he had been my universe, and I had been his.
And he was right. It was true. Even now, after everything, my body had relaxed against his, like it was in the presence of an old friend.
My heart had lurched beneath my ribcage at the sound of his voice, like a fucking puppy trying to reach its owner through a fence.
My traitorous thighs clenched, practically begging for his all too familiar touch, like they were starved.
Fuck! Even if I hated it and screamed my defiance to the heavens, I was still his.
“Tell me, Princess, did the guy you fucked feel as disappointing as he looked? Could he make you scream his name like I can? Did your sweet cunt weep for him, like it does for me? Could he even make you come?” Grayson laughed coldly.
My body stiffened, turning ice cold. How did he know about that? There was no one on the beach anywhere near us. I made sure of it. How did he know?
His lips pressed against my ear. “Maybe… hmmm,” his low hum slithered through my body, “maybe, while he was railing you like a fucking madman, all you could think about was me.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” I scoffed, hoping he couldn’t hear the lie in my voice.
“Who’s next on your to-fuck list? Becket?” He spat the name as if it was a vile evil. “Or maybe you already fucked him. On the hotel’s finest Egyptian cotton sheets. That I paid for.”
So the room upgrade had been Grayson. “You shot him,” I sneered, feeling my own anger rising. He’d shot my friend.
Grayson snorted. “He was lucky. I was aiming for his dick.”
“Why? Scared I’ll find out he’s a better fuck than you?” I taunted recklessly.
Grayson grabbed a fistful of my hair, yanking my head backwards. I felt his angry pants on my cheek, but I still couldn’t see his face. I wish I could just see his eyes.
“Enough games! I’m here to give you your last warning.
If I see Becket’s face again, I won’t hesitate to drop him like the fucking fly he is.
Be sure to pass that along.” He tugged harder on my hair, making a panicked whimper escape my throat.
“And as for you, little nightingale. I was good to you. I had let you go. But don’t think I would hesitate to slit your throat if you continue to come after my family. ”
My throat closed up. “You mean our family,” I croaked around the suffocating lump in my throat.
“You love me,” I dared in a whisper. It couldn’t have been a lie.
He had to have felt something for me. If I could only reach him.
My Grayson was still there, underneath this cold, heartless mask.
With his body pressed so tightly against my own, the electricity pulsing between us, I was sure of it. No way could this mean nothing to him.
He dipped his head into the crook of my neck, breathing in the scent of me, like he always did. There was no way he felt nothing.
Grayson laughed like I was daft. A cruel, vicious laugh. “Oh, baby. I’m sorry you’ve got it so twisted. It was your sweet pussy that I liked. Nothing more.” He licked up the side of my face, where the tears were flowing. “Honestly, it was a shame to give it up. But I’ll find another.”
I shook my head, ignoring the sting of the blade as it cut across my throat. “This is not you.” I refused to believe it.
“Oh, but it is, Princess.” The nickname had gone back to being a taunt. “I don’t need to act like I give a fuck about you anymore. I already got what I wanted. You’re useless to me now.”
He pushed the side of my face up against the wall, and I yelped in pain.
“Grays—”
He growled and pressed harder against my head. “Shut up! Don’t you fucking say my name!” His whole body was vibrating against me.
I sobbed and tried to push myself away from the wall, but Grayson’s grip on me was relentless.
“Go home, Ava. Go live your dull picket-fence life. It was cute and all, but I’m bored of your pathetic little games. So get the fuck over me.”
The force of his body pushing me into the wall was gone, and I collapsed to the ground. I didn’t need to look to know he wasn’t in the room anymore—the weight of his presence was gone, stealing with it the air around me. My lungs convulsed around nothing as I silently wailed my agony.