Page 53 of Possess Me! (I Want You To)

Shoving aside how irked I’d been with her for all the lecturing I’d received over the past few weeks, I shook my head and laughed. She may be overprotective and a little on the judgmental side, but…she was still my best friend. And I knew she was just looking out for me. Even though I was a grown-ass man and didn’t need her to.

“I got in late last night. Didn’t want to wake you,” Violet finally answered when I set her down. “I’m fine, aside from nursing the regrets of a hookup from Elmwood I shouldn’t have enjoyed as much as I did. And also what feels like an entire bottle of tequila that I don’t remember drinking when I got back home. The flight was boring, but good. And yes, I got an Uber. Also, what the fuck happened to all my granola?”

“Violet!” I grinned, evading her last question like a pro as I slapped her cheerfully on the back. She stumbled a little then glared, though her prickly expression quickly became a smile, the piercings in her cheeks pulling up before she whacked me right back, way harder than I’d hit her.

“Luca!” We grinned at each other for a solid minute before I watched the smile on her face slowly die as she got a good look at me. Shit. I wasn’t sure what she’d see on my face but…it couldn’t be good. My belly flipped nervously, guilt digging its nails in as I pushed past her quickly, not capable of dealing with whatever was making her angry. At least not yet. My stomach was growling and I was still buzzing from my most recent ghost-orgasm. Prudence was waiting in my room, which probably meant he’d known Violet was here and didn’t warn me.

Dick move.

But okay. I wasn’t surprised, that was right on-brand for him.

Food. All of this would be easier to handle if my stomach wasn’t trying to eat me.

Except…Violet gasped, a wretched little sound that had me whipping around with alarm. Her eyes were wide, lips parted. I glanced behind myself to see what was freaking her out. Please, God. Don’t let Prudence be naked behind me or something. Not that I’d even been blessed enough to see him that way—but still. This would be the worst possible time ever for that.

But nope. Nothing was behind me.

Huh.

“Luca,” Violet repeated, horrified.

“What?” I turned my attention back to her as soon as I was sure no ghost peen was in sight. Her eyes were on my neck. It only took a second for the realization of why she’d freaked out to hit me like a sledgehammer.

Mother-fucker.

The hickeys.

The goddamn hickeys Prudence had been sucking into a necklace around the back of my neck. He was a bitey-little-biter. I’d gotten so used to his chompy-ness I’d honestly forgotten the marks were there. It wasn’t my fault that for weeks there had been no one to hide from—nothing to lie about. We’d been alone together, and I’d very much enjoyed—and encouraged—the fact he’d been turning me into his own personal chew toy.

I felt regret keenly now.

“Violet—it’s not what it—” I flushed, an angry upset feeling bubbling up. I wasn’t hungry anymore. Okay, that was a lie. “Fuck. Okay, it’s exactly what it looks like.” There was no lying. I couldn’t. Not anymore. She wasn’t stupid. I was stuck. Besides…if there was one person I didn’t want to lie to it was her. “I told you I wanted to keep him.” My voice didn’t even sound like my own. It was soft, hoarse. Resigned.

“You promised!”

“I know, I’m sorry. I feel like total shit about lying but you gotta know that I—”

“I told you how dangerous he is.” Violet pushed against me, the whites of her eyes flashing. Realistically I knew she was only acting this way because she was scared for me. But my hackles raised anyway. The wild look in her eyes felt like a threat. “All he has to do is get you to release him and the likelihood of you dying is—”

“Look.” I held on to her shoulders, giving them a squeeze to silence her. We’d been close so long that the simple touch alone was enough to get her to stop. “I know.”

“You don’t.”

“I do,” I shook my head. “I know, Violet. Believe me, I listened to everything you said about him. I couldn’t forget even if I tried. Every known Prudence fact is voluntarily tattooed inside my brain. I just…God, I don’t know how to say this without sounding like a complete idiot. But I genuinely don’t care about the risks. He’s worth it.”

“You can’t mean that. You don’t want to die.”

“I mean, yeah. Dying would suck. But Prudence isn’t going to kill me. Even if he was? Honestly? This time with him has made me the happiest I’ve ever been. I won’t give him up. I can’t.”

“Luca…” Her voice trembled and her eyes were wet. She wouldn’t look at me. But I forced her to anyway. Her skin was sweaty. Her cheeks squished beneath my palm. “Is this because of Hunter? I know that you’ve been through a lot this year but you can’t give up because of it.”

“Vi, seriously. I appreciate your concern but ‘this’ and ‘that’ are totally different issues. I’m not giving up. I’m fine.” I smiled, even though anxiety was bubbling up inside me. I felt like we’d had this same argument a thousand times and I was getting tired of it. “I’m just—really well-fucked.” I dropped her face, my hands clenching into fists as I waited for her response with baited breath.

“I…” Violet clammed up, her whole expression shuddering before turning to cement. Still. Determined. Stubborn. Fucking hell. “I…can’t let you keep him.”

“And I’m not going to let you take him away.” We were at an impasse. But I knew I’d win. She loved me too much to hurt me like that. I kissed her cheek and pulled away, heading toward the kitchen, my skin crawling. Pretending like everything was normal took every ounce of my control, but I managed.

I rummaged through the cupboards. My hands shook as I tossed two plastic bowls onto the dining table we’d painted together two years ago while drunk. Thunk, thunk. I stared at the lopsided yellow squiggles Violet had scribbled, willing them to teach me how to act normal, when my thoughts were spinning like a tornado. The squiggles were supposed to be stars, but she’d gotten frustrated and given up halfway through painting. It was funny, how she’d always struggled following through, and yet here she was—ready to drive my ghost away from me, no matter what it took.

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