Page 41 of A Study of Blood and Ichor

“Have it your way, sweetheart,” he hissed with syrupy sweet malice.

“Goodnight, Rory,” I returned coldly as I stormed out.

I shut myself inside my room and I pressed my back against the door, wrapping my arms around myself as I tried to catch my breath, and fighting the small tremors after the encounter had left me thoroughly unsettled.

No amount of double and triple checking the strength of my protection wards was enough to calm my nerves. When I finally slipped into bed and curled myself beneath the cool sheets, I moved my hand down to touch myself, not at all surprised to find how soaked I truly was.

Son of a bitch.

TWELVE

Rory

Okay, maybe I was absolutely, beyond any shadow of a doubt, one hundred percent shitfaced.

I shut my eyes and sank into the feeling of the floor tilting beneath me, rocking like a ship at sea. I couldn’t tell how long I stayed like that, exactly the way Ava had left me. Alone. A sprawled out, drunken mess of a human.

An asshole. That’s what I was.

And I deserved nothing less than this.

I was thankful that at least Vain’s roaring laughter had finally tapered off. He'd sounded nearly as drunk as I felt after Ava pushed me to the ground.

My head felt heavy with desire and lust. The bitter itch of frustration crawled like a virus under my skin, and it felt like a gaping hole had been shot straight through my chest. I’m not sure how long I laid there in the middle of the floor as I floated in and out of consciousness until a hand gripped my shoulder. I groaned at the touch and peeled my lids open. Six piercing green eyes swept over my face all at once as they leaned in close.

I startled back. “Jesus, Alastair!”

“I knocked,” he said. “Neither of you were answering.”

Breathing out heavily, I clutched at my bare chest, noticing the thin robe over my shoulders had fallen open at some point in my drunken stupor.

The memory of pinning Ava against the wall came rushing back to me. I cringed a little when I remembered my words to her. “I want you to fucking ruin me.”

Had that been the alcohol talking? I guess being locked up for weeks while expectantly waiting to die had twisted me up inside and sent me to the dark places I hadn’t visited in years. And though I knew that my inevitable end would come someday, the thought of dragging Ava down to my ruin with me had felt like a good idea in the heat of the moment.

Vain’s lust for her had completely consumed me, to the point where I had wanted her more than anything in that moment. I’d wanted to see her come apart underneath me. To feel her. Taste her. Then let her destroy what little was left of me.

Alastair’s eyes narrowed on me, noticing the hard-on tenting in my pants. He sketched a brow before asking, “Am I to believe you found your way to the floor like this on your own?”

My tongue felt heavy in my mouth as I rolled it behind my teeth. “Just help me up, please.”

Alastair smirked and pulled me to my feet. “I can see why Vain is so smitten with her.”

“Figures.” I scoffed. “She’s a pain in my ass.”

“You do not share his same feelings towards her then?”

“I don’t know. Maybe? I can’t tell the difference anymore.”

When Ava had stormed in demanding to exorcise Vain, a part of me had wanted to let her try. It would have been a fun show of watching her exhaust herself as she struggled with Vain to no avail.

“Has it gotten worse?” Alastair asked as he led me over to the bed.

Shutting my eyes when I laid down was a mistake. Fearing I might vomit, I kept them open instead, fixing on a single point on the ceiling in an attempt to steady the rest of the room around me.

“Yeah.”

There was no use denying it. Not anymore.

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