Page 18 of The Book of Wrath

“How is Mitch doing?” I asked, staring at her through the mirror of my vanity. We had a thing for like a month in high school before I met Matt. He was a great guy, but it was like dating a brother. He knew too much about me, including the embarrassing shit.

“He’s good. Single again thank the gods. I couldn’t handle dealing with Missy for another day. Girl was a stage five clinger in the worst ways. My aunt made some threats that sent her packing,” she said as she refilled her glass before sitting back down on my bed.

“At least your aunt took care of her. I know Mitch was saying she was overbearing and gave him shit for working his job. Did she really accuse him of cheating on her while he was on shift?” I asked as I applied some simple eye makeup. Nothing too fancy on the eyes since I’m going bold with the lip.

“Yeah, that was the breaking point for my aunt. She told him to leave her before her toxic behavior has him committing murder,” she shrugged her shoulders, taking a long sip of her wine. “Enough about Mitch and his psycho ex. You have a date tonight that you need to be focusing on.” I groaned. She was right, I needed to get myself together and I was already nervous about this.

She turned on the tv and started droning on about the reality trash tv she put on. I had no idea what the show was and truthfully, I didn’t care. He said eight and it was already seven. I was waiting for him to cancel; I was waiting for a text saying something came up. Ally was groaning about something on tv when my phone buzzed on the table. She quieted up quickly, anticipation all over her face at what she assumed was Max texting me. She wasn’t wrong though. Max’s name popped up across the screen with a picture message. I was slightly concerned about opening it after the photo I sent him earlier.

“If you don’t open it, I will,” she said from right behind my ear, I almost dropped my phone.

“I am not opening it with you right behind me, move!” I say gently pushing her back toward the bed. She relents, giving me a stern look. I sighed, taking a deep breath then opening up the message and almost immediately shut the screen off. Dear fucking gods, I knew he was built. I knew what I was drooling over but FUCK! “That bad?” Ally chimes in from the bed. I know my cheeks are probably as red as her fucking hair.

“Not bad at all. But fuck me! I am going straight to hell for the thoughts going through my head,” I drool taking another glance at my phone. He is completely shirtless and dripping wet with nothing, but a fucking towel wrapped around his waist, low on his waist. A deep V cut down the abs toward the towel. His eyes looked so much darker in the photo, sinister and mysterious. It took me a few moments to realize the message that came in with it.

I’ll be there a little early, I hope you’re ready. See you soon.

Good thing I was already dressed and ready to go. Ally was smirking when I finally looked up at her. “I take it I shouldn’t be here when you get back?” She said with a wide grin on her face. I just shook my head.

“If you want to stay in the guest room, I have a blow-up mattress you can sleep on,” I offered her. I knew she would say no. She has this notion that I need to get laid tonight and that I should get as drunk as possible, so it does happen.

“I have to go home and feed Otis. You know how he gets if I stay out all night. You should really get a fucking dog Meg. You would feel so much better if you had a dog like Otis,” she has been trying to convince me to get a dog since I moved into this house. She wasn’t wrong though. A dog probably would’ve protected me from a lot of the assaults that happened here.

“Alright, I’ll walk you out then,” I replied as she grabbed the wine bottle and her glass from the table. I turned the tv off grabbing my bag and hers, along with my own empty glass. We made our way downstairs to the kitchen; I was smug as shit that I didn’t fall down the stairs.

A knock came at the door, Max was a half hour early and my nerves were already shot just from a damn picture. Ally gave me a sly ass smirk as she headed for the front door. Oh shit! She can’t answer that door!

“Ally, don’t you dare,” I hiss at her from the kitchen. I can’t run in these heels to stop her.

“Oh hush, I’m just going to let him in and leave. What? Don’t trust me?” She grinned like the fucking Cheshire cat, grabbing the doorknob and pulling back the door. I heard a slight gasp come from her before she began speaking again, “Uh, Megan is umm, inside. Go right ahead on in officer.”

I could die right here She was fucking drinking in the man before I could even lay eyes on him. I heard him chuckle and thank her, then the door closed. “I’m in the kitchen,” I chimed trying to drink down a glass of water before I saw him. His footsteps were steady, a slow easy pace, nothing like the storming stomps of—. Nope not thinking about him anymore Megan.

Max walked through the door draped in darkness, swirled in sin. Fuck me. His blonde hair was styled up as messy as he could manage with the short style he had. His eyes looked like sapphires tonight, a hint of something desire played in them as he looked me up and down like I was a fine painting in one of those expensive galleries in the city. He was wearing black pants that fit him nice and snug, his shirt, a crimson button up, was buttoned up tight with a black tie flowing down the front of his chest like an arrow pointing right to his cock. I couldn’t help but glance down like the tie implied. He wore a nice black suit jacket that pulled the whole damn outfit together.

“You look gorgeous tonight,” his voice smooth as silk, wrapped around my heart and squeezed. Fuck he knew the right words to say.

“Thank you, you’re looking very handsome yourself,” I reply, grabbing my bag from the counter. “Think we’re too dressed up for Korean BBQ?”

He laughed, “I was thinking about taking you somewhere else. Somewhere deserving of a queen like yourself.” His eyes darkened as his eyes landed on the high slit in my dress. “Unless you have other plans?”

The question in his words hung heavily in the air, an invitation to go upstairs and hopefully have my brains fucked out or go out in public for dinner. “Where do you have in mind?” I pulled my purse strap across my chest and fluffed my hair out from under the strap. I enjoyed watching him bite his lip as he watched my body. There was definitely a heaviness to the air, not tension in a bad way, more like tension in the way of a string wound up so tight that it’s threatening to snap when played. I let him gaze at me once more before I walked past him, heading to the door. He grabbed me by the wrist, spinning me to where I was now pressed between his heavy chest and the wall behind me. A slight spark of fear hit me, but I shook it off before he could see. He is not Ryan. He won’t hurt me.

“You might want to be careful baby girl. That dress doesn’t cover much,” He whispered onto my lips, the taste of honey pouring onto them, his hand on my wrist slowly sliding up my arm to my cheek, his other arm pressed above me on the wall. He was taller than me, even in these damn heels. I could feel wetness gathering in my panties as his fingers slowly traced my collarbone leading up to my collarbone.

“It covers enough,” I managed to say without it being obvious that his closeness was completely fucking with my brain. When the hell was the last time I was this close to someone without being afraid of being hit?

He gripped my chin, firm but also gentle at the same time, forcing me to look up at him. “Tonight’s going to be fun,” he said, his lips so dangerously close to mine. Just as quick as he had me up against the wall, he pulled away and offered his hand to me. “Shall we then?”

I had to take a steadying breath before grabbing his hand and waltzing out the front door with him to a night filled with promise and hopefully a little sin.

Chapter 17

Megan

Tonight was by far something out of a fairy tale, between the candle-lit dinner he planned at this small restaurant that I clearly never would’ve found on my own, to the flowers sitting at the table already waiting. Black and red roses to be exact. They smelled amazing, part of me wanted to cry at the sweet gesture and the thought and time he put into this date in literally a few hours. It’s been a long time since I had something like this done for me.

“This place is beautiful; how did you find it?” I ask him as the waitress brought over our drinks. Both of us clearly wanted to have a clear head tonight, we both went with water for now. He thanked her with a nod and gazed back at me.

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