Page 214 of Mayhem and Minnie

She gasps as she feels my hardness rubbing between her legs and she involuntarily pushes herself against me.

I freeze as a frisson of pleasure spears through me.

She stops moving, too.

We’re both breathing hard as we stare into each other’s eyes.

“I’m risking everything to be with you, Marlowe,” she whispers. “Why is it not enough for you?”

“I’m a greedy bastard, Minnie. I want it all or nothing.”

She gulps down.

“Can you give me that? Can you give me everything?”

“Everything?” she whispers.

“Everything you gave him and everything you didn’t. Everything you don’t even know you have to give. I want everything,” I rasp out, my voice hoarse.

She stares at me.

“You don’t realize, do you?”

“Realize what?” I frown.

She opens her mouth to speak, but before she can say anything, a loud sound permeates the air.

My ringtone.

I swear under my breath.

“Realize what, Minnie?” I repeat.

She shakes her head. “You should answer that.”

I let the phone ring until it stops. But then it rings again. And again.

With a tired sigh, I get off her and reach in my pocket for my phone.

“Yes,” I snap.

“That’s no way to talk to your mother, Marlowe,” she chides.

“What do you want that could not wait, Mother?” I ask as I continue to watch Minnie.

She slowly gets to her feet and dusts her clothes. She glances at the floor where Lucien’s remains are and I expect her to try to put him back together—again.

She surprises me when she doesn’t. Instead, she just takes off the ring I’d so painstakingly made her and throws it in the furnace before turning it on again.

Giving me one last disappointed look, she walks out of the basement.

“My birthday party, of course. It’s in two days. I hope you haven’t forgotten about that.”

“Of course not,” I grit out.

“Good. I’ll see you and Minnie then,” she adds in a chirpy voice before she hangs up.

I’m left staring at what’s left of my perfectly planned dinner—or not so perfect as it seems.

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