I don’t move, hoping that he’s just guessing.
“I can smell you,” he says. And if that’s not the creepiest thing I’ve ever fucking heard, I don’t know what is.
Risking a peek around the corner, I see him standing at the entrance of the closet. He’s not looking in my direction. His head is down, staring off at a random spot on the ground.
“You have ten seconds before I come drag you out.” He takes a step back, and I decide to just go for it.
I dart out, slipping past him and heading towards the door. He lets loose a deep, cruel laugh. It’s a sound I’ll hear in my nightmares for the rest of my existence.
But I don’t stop. I run down the hallway and head for the front door, gasping when I find it locked.
“You unlock that door and there will be consequences,” he warns. I startle at his proximity. There’s not enough time to unlock the deadbolt, knob, and chain. He’s too close.
Sunroom. It has a back door that leads outside. I turn, and out of the corner of my eye, I see my shadow round the corner of the entranceway to the hallway I came from.
I bolt through the living room, then the kitchen, and towards the door that leads into the backside of the hallway. Praying that he didn’t stay in the hallway, I fling open the door to find it empty. At least within five feet of me, I can’t see past the darkness beyond that.
Heading straight for the sunroom, I barrel through the door and find him already there, leaning against the door that I need to escape out of.
I skid on my feet, halting my momentum before I crash right into his waiting arms. I back up, chest heaving and mind racing.
He tsks. “You’re very predictable, little mouse. We're going to have to work on that.”
I just stand there, frozen in place as I process the fact that I won’t be able to get out of this house. He’s incredibly fast, but the scariest part is that I didn’t hear a single fucking footstep from him. I sounded like an elephant and he was quieter than a mouse.
“You’re not touching me,” I hiss, my voice wobbly and rife with unshed tears.
“A deal is a deal, little mouse.” He looks up at the night sky. “It is beautiful in here. I think it’s only fitting that the punishment occurs here, don’t you think? It feels like we’ve come full circle.”
Growling, I finally force my body into action and run right back down the hallway towards the stairs.
Maybe I can find a spot to hide again. Somewhere he won’t find me this time. My mind turns over every possibility as I swing myself around the banister and charge up the steps.
A whisper of wind brushes against the back of my thighs, and when I glance behind me, I see him right on my heels.
I let loose another scream, quickening my steps. I make it up the stairs and barrel down the hallway, my desperation and pure panic clouding my head. I can’t think, I can only act.
I’m halfway down the hallway before a steel arm bands around my waist and lifts me up.
“NO!” I scream, kicking at air as I fight his hold.
“Oh yes, baby,” he growls, swinging our bodies towards the wall. I grunt from the impact, leaning my back against the wall and using it as leverage to kick against the bastard of a man.
“Let me go, you fucking creepy-ass fuck—”
“Keep talking and you’ll just make it worse.”
I screech, out of breath and growing weaker, as he pins my flailing body against the wall.
“We had a deal, did we not?”
A tear spills over my lid. And then another and another until I’m on the verge of sobbing.
“Don’t cry, little mouse,” he coos. “It’s going to get so much worse.”
His breath skates over my cheek as he presses himself deeper into my body. He’s so much bigger, his body enveloping me until all I can see, feel, and smell is him. Warmth, leather, that unique scent that belongs to only him, and his black-clad body surrounding me.
“I like you scared,” he whispers, sending shivers down my spine. “I like you begging and pleading. Crying out for God to save you.” I feel the touch of his hand on my face, and I flinch away. His fingers lightly trace over my cheekbone to my hair, tucking the loose strands behind my ear. “I like you trembling beneath my touch, uncontrollably.”
“You’re sick,” I snap, doing just that. I’m shaking from head to toe, and I can’t seem to stop it.
“You think you’re only going to beg because you’re fighting for your life, but that’s where you’re wrong. The only way I’ll be sending you to heaven is with my cock.” He grunts out a deep laugh. “And definitely my tongue and fingers, too.”
“That will never happen,” I hiss, glaring at him with all my might. Or at least I think I am.
His eyes are shadowed by the dim light radiating from the sconces. It feels almost like being far-sighted. Your face is so close to something, but clarity evades you. The shadows are a part of him. He carries them with him.
“It’s time to punish you, and I’ve thought of the many ways I could do this,” he says, ignoring my jab. It only infuriates me more that he finds my lack of consent is so inconsequential. So… worthless.
“I’ll be nice this time.” I open my mouth, but he cuts me off with a deep growl of warning, “But only if you are too, Adeline.”
The click of my teeth snapping together is audible, pulling another grunt of amusement from him. My pride takes a hit, and I want to knee him in the balls for it, but I couldn’t lift my leg an inch if I tried.
“What are you going to do?” I choke out, the stutter of my words in sync with the beat of my heart.
His hot breath fans across my cheek, and I feel the glide of his lips alongside my jaw. I swallow, but I nearly choke from how dry my throat has become. Those lips descend to the column of my neck, skittering along until he pauses on the spot right below my ear.
“I’m going to claim you,” he says, right before his teeth clamp down.
My back arches involuntarily, repulsion and pleasure marrying in my nerves, sending misfires to my brain. All coherent thoughts escape from my mind as a result, leaving me with nothing but basic instinct.
He groans, his teeth piercing as his tongue laps at my flesh. My mouth opens, a silent scream suctioned away just as his mouth does the same, drawing in deep like he’s drinking the essence from my body. And then he’s pulling back, dragging his teeth along my skin as he lets go, leaving the spot smarting with pain.
My hands press into his chest for stability or to push him away, I am not sure. Though my question is quickly answered when instinct coerces my hands to curl, gripping his hoodie tight and anchoring myself to him as if he’s my lifeline. When really, he’s the one who’s killing me.