Page 41 of Felonies are Forever

He chuckles as he turns to the bar tended by a group of blue aliens, complete with moving antennae, and raises his hand to indicate he needs a refill. “I bet you’re enjoying this, right? How many times have you watched that old Dracula movie? Or Frankenstein. The black and white one. You’re a horror fanatic.” He swivels his head around, taking in the theatre of it all.

He’s tall, but a little shorter than me, and while you wouldn’t exactly call him fat there’s definitely a rounder look to him than when we were both military, him in the Air Force and me in the Rangers.

I think it’s what they call a ‘Dad-bod’ these days and from what I gather, it’s all the rage. So much for six packs and hard bodies I guess.

He’s since had enough of military life and got out to start his private security firm which has done pretty fucking well from what I can see.

“I’m not a fanatic, I just like the classics,” I answer slowly, distracted by the thudding in my chest as I scan the room. The opulence of the space, as well as the elegance of the estate, makes me feel uneasy for some reason like there’s someundercurrent of danger that has nothing to do with the show being put on.

Maybe it’s that I’m just not comfortable around the extravagance. Growing up, my parents were salt-of-the-earth types. My father worked at the Stroh’s factory until it closed in the mid-eighties. From there, he and my mom ran a bar in Owendale, a small town in the Michigan thumb. The pride in their eyes when I signed up for the Army was only surpassed when I was accepted into Ranger training.

Unfortunately, they never got to see me graduate. A fire took the bar and both of them with it as they slept upstairs in the living quarters they called home, leaving me pretty much alone in the world, which, for the most part, besides missing them, I’m okay with.

There was insurance money. And I sold the bar, or what was left of it, but that money still sits in an investment account. I can’t seem to bear to touch it.

It grew into a hefty sum while I was incarcerated so by most standards with that money, and what was bestowed upon me by the mob boss whose son I helped out on the inside, I’m technically considered rich. Although, it doesn’t mean much to me, just gives me the freedom to figure out what’s next now that I’m out.

It would have killed my parents to see me go to prison, so it’s a small consolation but there, nonetheless. After eighteen months, it's an adjustment being out again and around all these people, so that’s not helping. It’s only been a couple weeks since my release, and my senses are still on the inside, looking around for danger. Not knowing who’s friendly and who’s a threat.

Dimitri takes a sip of his drink and shakes his head. “Your new neighborhood has you movin’ on up. Still can’t believe Castori gave you that house. And the million to go with it. Pays to save a mobster’s son.”

Tension clutches my chest. “Leave it alone.” Dimitri is the only one that knows what happened and how I landed in the house across the street from my new neighbors. Part of the agreement is I keep the details secret.

The last two weeks, getting glimpses of her, have been the best and hardest of my life, no pun intended. And standing here, waiting to share the same air as her, has a voice in my head telling me I’m about to figure out what I’ve been waiting for my entire life. Because when I saw her in her black spandex body suit, running down the sidewalk at one in the morning, my heart changed. It’s not just the twitch in my dick she’s awoken; it’s the twitch in my heart that has me scared shitless.

Besides that, running by herself that time of night is dangerous. After the first night, I couldn’t stand it and bought a pair of high-powered binoculars and followed her at a safe distance, making sure she was safe until she was back behind the gates of her house.

“Wow.” Dimitri elbows me and jerks his head toward the entryway of the grand ballroom. “Would you just look at that.”

Fuck.

There she is. Every head in the place turns, and a weird kind of stillness descends as she—and what I’m hoping are her parents—enter though the archway that separates the ballroom from the marble entry of this enormous estate.

There’s this ethereal glow around them, and I glance up to see if there's a spotlight aimed at them, but there’s nothing.

I say “hoping” they’re her parents, because honestly, I can’t tell if the woman standing with them is her mother or her sister, and the man only looks barely old enough to be her father. Maybe it’s just a good-looking family, or maybe it’s a lot of cosmetic surgery, but I’m praying to God that’s not her boyfriend or husband because if he is, I’ll have a lot of explainingto do when I knock him the fuck out and drag her back to my lair like a fucking caveman.

There’s an explosion in my chest, and in a flash my blood is like fire in my veins, making my heart pound and my cock thicken.

I want her.

No, that’s not right. I don’t just want her. I can’t think of any scenario where I could be without her.

And we’ve never even spoken a word.

This is crazy.

“Are they real?” Dimitri says on a disbelieving laugh. “They don’t look real. They’re actors, right? Like, I bet if we get closer we’ll recognize them from some movie or—”

My feet are already moving me through the crowd, without conscious instruction from me. It’s like I’m on a rope and she’s winding me in; there’s a tug in my center that’s impossible to resist. I can’t take my eyes off her plump lips, blood-red now just as they have been when I’ve watched her before. Her skin is flushed a perfect pink, and those blue eyes make me feel like I’m falling towards her, towards my own demise, but I don’t care.

Suddenly, there's no air, my lungs burning as I break through the crowd, watching them as they graciously greet the children, seemingly unaware of the press cameras flashing all around. Her smile so luminescent, I look up again for the spotlight that doesn’t exist.

I ache at the sight of her red satin dress, hugging her curves up top, pushing her tits upward, and the image of my teeth marking her soft flesh flashes through my mind, like I’m some sort of monster with a newly discovered bloodlust.

“Jesus. She’s fucking unbelievable.” It’s Dimitri’s voice to my left. I glance over to see his eyes trained on what’s mine, and a flood of white fire erupts behind my eyes, blinding me with rage.

“Don’t fucking look at her,” I growl, lowering my stance, ready to tear his limbs off as I reach over and grab him by the tie.

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