Page 10 of Black Widow's Bite

As soon as Addy left the building, it was as if the air grew stagnant again. The buzzing in my head, which was the constant, unending torture that had plagued me for most of my life, started up as soon as the door closed, and I gritted my teeth. Austin didn’t make a break for the door at least, which I’d been half-expecting, but he sat dejected like an abandoned dog, the snakes on his wrists coiling and shifting along his arms restlessly. After a while, he got up and trudged upstairs, and I followed him a moment later, just to make sure he was only going to his room and not trying to sneak out the front door. I waited until I heard the click of his door shutting before traipsing back down to the basement, grabbing a cigarette out of my pocket. When I checked back in on Piper, he was passed out, snoring in the chair. I took a long drag, letting the smoke curl in my lungs, and went back upstairs. Of course, the groceries were still strewn across the floor. I swore under my breath and started to put everything away in the proper places, not that anyone else fucking cared.

The cigarette dropped ash on the floor as I loaded some apples into the fridge. Piper had done a halfway decent job shopping this time. It was honestly a miracle that none of us had gotten scurvy by now. Once everything was put away, I threw the empty bags under the sink and grabbed one of the apples, chewing on it mechanically as I sat down at the kitchen table.The buzzing against my temples increased and for a horrible moment it drowned out the world, my vision clouding in a haze of red. When it finally subsided a few minutes later, I gasped in a breath, blinking to get my eyes to clear. There was a charred handprint on the table where my hand had been resting, and the only thing left of the apple was a smoking pile of ash on the floor by my feet.

I scowled and brushed the ash off my jeans as best I could, feeling a headache growing at the base of my skull. The attacks happened randomly, and usually without warning. I’d almost burnt the kitchen down once before, so now Wyatt had fire extinguishers stashed in every room of the house. We had no clue why they happened. I just accepted that they were part of the nightmare that was my being. This is why all of this shit with Addy was so dangerous. We were isolated here for a reason. Each one of us was dangerous, either to others, or ourselves, or both. We couldn’t just keep inviting in strays to live with us, especially not the ones who made us feel so fucking good. Someone was going to end up hurt, or dead, and then I would be left cleaning up that mess as well.

The door opened on the main floor, and I swore again. Fucking Austin always forgot to lock up after his clients left. I shoved myself up from the table, bracing for the inevitable burst of nausea that usually accompanied the headaches. When nothing happened, I frowned, rubbing my temple, checking to see if my head was still attached to my body. It was, unfortunately, but the headache did seem to have subsided, which was a wonderful and suspicious occurrence. The buzzing settled down, barely a thrum behind my eyes. I groaned in relief, but it morphed into frustration when I saw Wyatt trudge up the stairs, Addy close behind him.

“What the fuck, Wyatt?” I snarled, clenching my hands at my sides. “I thought you were taking her home. She was supposed tostay there.” My jaw clenched as Wyatt squared his shoulders and dropped a duffle bag on the floor.

“Plans changed,” he replied shortly. “Addy needs to stay here for the night.”

“You guys are impossible,” I announced, throwing up my hands. “I will take her home then if you can’t manage it.” I took a step forward just as Addy stepped out from behind him, her eyes red with tears. She looked a lot smaller than she had when they’d left, as if she’d shrunk somehow after leaving the house.

“Some dude broke into her apartment and slit his throat in her bed,” Wyatt grimaced. Oh fuck, well wasn’t that just our luck. I sighed and threw up my hands, sitting back down at the table.

“Fine.” I snapped. “Fine, she can take my room. That way, you drug addicts won’t end up smothering her in her sleep.” I rubbed a hand over my face, fucking exhausted with life. Now I got to sleep on a dirty old sofa. That was just the perfect end to this day.

“I don’t need your room,” Addy huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’ll just sleep in the basement.”

“Don’t be stupid, you’re sleeping in the damn room,” I growled at her, feeling the faint hold I had on my temper starting to fray. “I can’t be worrying about you wandering around the studio during the night.” That comment earned me a withering glare.

“What, do you think I’m going to trash the place?” Addy exclaimed, casting a glance around the kitchen. “I think that’s already been taken care of, don’t you?” She had a hard edge to her voice that hadn’t been there before they’d left. Clearly, she was pretty worked up over the dead guy in her apartment.

“Why don’t you stay in a fancy hotel if our home isn’t fucking good enough for you?” I yelled. Rage flashed in her eyes and shelooked like she wanted to hit me. She stepped over her bag, her hands balled into fists.

“I never asked to come here!” Addy yelled back. I saw Wyatt sidestep out of the room, disappearing upstairs before things turned violent. Coward.

“Then maybe next time keep your fucking hands to yourself so nobody offs themselves in your bed.” I snarled. That seemed to do it. I watched with a twisted sense of satisfaction as her temper spilled over. Addy shoved me in the chest, and I fell back a step, smirking as visceral rage flashed in her eyes. She swung her fist at me and I caught it, trapping her hand in mine. My mind quieted when I touched her skin, the pressure that normally pushed against my skull fading out into blissful calm. Oblivious to her effects on me, Addy yelled in frustration and swung at me with her other fist. I caught that one easily as well. She struggled to free her hands, cursing me and kicking at me viciously. I kept a firm grip on her, dodging the kicks as I propelled her back until she bumped against the fridge. I pinned her hands above her head, looming over her while she struggled.

“Let me go!” Addy shrieked, her eyes blazing with a fiery rage that threatened to scorch me from the inside out.

“You’ve got quite the fucking temper, don’t you?” I remarked, earning another glare. “I will let you go once you calm down and behave,” I told her evenly, trying to ignore the shot of pleasure that ran through me when she snarled, aiming a kick at my thigh. Moving swiftly, I used my legs to pin hers against the fridge, pressing flush against her.

“Quit trying to hurt me and I’ll let you go,” I smirked down at her. I watched Addy’s chest rising and falling with each shaky breath, her face tilted up to meet my stare with a glare of her own. No wonder the guys were losing their minds over her. She was gorgeous even when she was furious - especially when she was furious. My head was spinning, being this close, with herhips pushing up against me. Heat curled in my hands, and I saw her face flush with the sudden warmth. Her lips parted with the smallest gasp, and I moved my face closer to hers, letting a little more of the heat lick at her skin. She narrowed her eyes at me, wriggling her hips against mine.

“You said you would let me go,” Addy murmured, her body tensing and arching against me. I clenched my jaw as my body responded to hers, and she smirked.

“Are you going to behave?” I growled back, sending another lick of heat through my hands, making her gasp. As an answer, she captured my mouth with hers. Her kiss was like an electric shock, jolting every nerve in my body. I groaned when she sucked on my bottom lip and hissed when she bit it. She drew back with an impish grin and I licked at the blood welling up on my lip. She was a twisted little minx, and my dick was painfully hard, pressing against the fly of my jeans.

“I guess that’s a no,” I murmured. Shifting, I moved her hands up above her head, and grabbed both her wrists in one hand, freeing up my other one. I slid my finger down her jaw, almost hot enough to hurt. She hissed out a breath between her teeth as I trailed it down the side of her neck. “There’s a lot I can do with this,” I whispered in her ear, and she shivered as I slid my finger down her chest and across her stomach. I undid the button of her jeans and slipped my hand inside, and she let out a shuddered moan when my fingers brushed against the damp fabric of her panties. I circled her clit through the thin material, sending another quick rush of heat through my finger. She moaned louder and bucked into my hand, the noise making my dick throb.

“How long has it been since someone touched you?” I asked, feeling her desire against my fingers. Addy whimpered, arching as I pressed against her clit again with another stroke of heat. I leaned down to capture her mouth, letting her taste the bloodshe’d drawn from my lip. I toyed with her clit mercilessly until she moaned into my mouth, writhing against me as she came and soaked my fingers with her juices.

I finally released her wrists, and she brought her hands down to rest on my chest. Her eyes were softer now, her rage apparently forgotten for the time being. Her face was still flushed, lips swollen and stained red from my bloody lip. My head was spinning, like I’d had too much to drink. I pushed away from her abruptly, freeing her from where I’d trapped her against the fridge. “Put your bag in my room down the hall,” I ordered, pointing down the hall. “You’ll sleep in there for tonight.” Before she could protest, I stepped over her things and headed downstairs to clear my head.

She was going to be trouble. I just knew it.

Chapter 13

Addison

Ididn’t know if I could take much more craziness in my life. On top of everything else, I mourned for my apartment, the safe haven that I’d lived in since I started my master’s thesis two years ago. I didn’t have much in the way of earthly possessions, but the ones I had meant a lot, and I’d packed up as many of the undamaged ones as I could to try to preserve at least some piece of my home. I don’t think I could go back there now, not after what Pete had done.

Poor, sad Pete. Why the fuck did he have to do that on my bed? I sat in Cain’s room, my bag at my feet, trying to figure out what to do next. I’d called the faculty head and let her know about Pete because there would probably be some kind of process to sort out with his project and the grant money he’d no longer be using. She let me know how sorry she was and told me to take the week off to recover. I thanked her and hung up, falling back on the bed with a sigh.

And what the fuck was up with Cain? I could still feel the ghost of his hand around my wrists. He ran so hot and cold that I couldn’t keep up with him from one moment to the next. Did he hate me? Was it just my weird, addictive skin that had made him touch me like that? How would I even begin to sort that out? Ugh. I pushed the heels of my palms against my eyes, which were sore and puffy from crying. I grabbed for my bag, digging through the mess of stuff I’d shoved inside while thepolice officer had been standing next to me. He hadn’t even been decent enough to turn away when I’d gone through my underwear drawer, the fucking perv. Cain’s room had an on-suite bathroom, which was convenient. I needed to clean off after the day I’d had, and I felt grimy after walking through my desecrated apartment.

The shower helped somewhat, the cool water soothing my swollen eyes and washing off some of the horrors of the day. I was feeling moderately better by the time I was done and I threw on an oversized shirt that I’d turned into a nightgown years ago. The fabric was fading and thin, rubbed soft after hundreds of rounds in the laundry, and it was my favourite thing to sleep in.

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