Page 35 of My Hunger, Your Soul

“Ivan, can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” he says, eyes still following the path of his finger. His touch singes my skin and if I don’t start to ask the questions that are burning my mind, I’ll be ready for another round.

“Your work, I know what happens here isn’t, you know, legal. But…I’ve just been thinking. Do you hurt people?”

He stops his movements and clasps my jaw with his hand, but gently, my lips slightly pursed from the pressure. But I won’t react, as I don’t want to distract him. His brown eyes search mine, scanning for something, but I don’t know what. Does he think I’m untrustworthy? Shit. Am I trustworthy? I don’t even know.

“Yes. And before you ask, yes, I love it, yes I've done it more times than I can count, and yes they all deserved it.”

Okay, that was more blunt than I expected.

“Have you killed anyone?”

He tightens his grip on my jaw, and I’m pretty sure I can feel him getting hard through the sheet. Is this turning him on?

“Are you flirting with me, Ty?”

“No! I just want to know who I’m sleeping with.”

“Hmmm I think I’ve now cracked your lying face. Don’t lie to me again.”

His face darkens with warning before he leans in and licks my lips, before retreating back to the same position and waiting for me to speak.

“Fine. I’m scared and need to know so I can either tell the police or run as far away from here as possible.”

“Tyler, Tyler, Tyler. You already know the answer to your question. But I have one too. What makes you think I will let you leave here once you know all my secrets?”

My breathing turns frantic as he stares right through me, the mask has dropped. Ivan looks like a beast, a beast that would only keep company of the devil. His eyes are black, his face stoic, no emotion or hint of feeling as he watches me. I know I’ve been playing with fire here, but this is the first time I have an actual fear that he may hurt me.

“Are you saying you’d kill me? Kidnap me? Keep me locked up against my will?”

“I wouldn’t kill you, sweetheart. You're the only thing that takes the boredom away. But I won’t have to kidnap you. You’ll never tell on this family.”

“What makes you so sure? You don't know me.”

“Oh but I do. You may not like the bad things that bad guys do, Ty. But you will crave my attention. You’ve been a loner for so long you’ll embrace this family. You’ll eat up the excitement it gives you, because I know you’ve never felt the way I made you feel tonight. So serious. So organized. That wound up brain of yours will become addicted to the chaos and heat we create. You won’t be able to live without me. And I have zero intention of letting you go now that I’ve got you.”

“Stop. You can’t say things like that, like I don’t have a choice,” I whisper.

“Your only way out is death, but you don’t have it in you to end your life. Curiosity will always be a weakness of yours, and I’m happy to feed it. Give you it all.”

He removes his body from mine and gets into bed next to me while I lay there dumbfounded at his little speech and lesson in psychology. His words make me dizzy as I try to dissect each statement to make sense in my head. What the hell is wrong with me? I’m in bed with a killer! Not just a killer…he sounds like a psychopath.

“Sleep. You’ve got work tomorrow.”

“I’m not a child.”

He pulls me into his body until he is wrapped around my back like a shell and I have no room to move. His body is the human form of handcuffs, telling me I’m not leaving. But god, does it feel good. How can someone who’s just offloaded all that information, make me feel safe?

“Sleep, Ty.”

I take a deep sigh and go somewhere else in my mind, where this is make believe. Where I’m wrapped up in the arms of a hottie who isn’t this family mafia guy, he’s a…I don’t know, an accountant, or a mechanic who does honest work but can throw me around the bedroom. I can pretend. For now.

A shrill sound wakes me from a peaceful sleep that I would prefer to stay in. As I slowly open my eyes and snuggle deeper into the soft pillow beneath my head, it takes me a few seconds to remember where I am. Black bed sheets, Ivan’s smell imbedded into the sheets, my sore ass. Wow. It wasn’t a dream.He’s a killer.No, shut up voice in my head, I’m not going there, especially while I’m on their turf. The last thing I need is an anxiety attack while surrounded by all things mortally evil. I look to the other side of the bed, which is empty, and a sinking feeling of disappointment hits my gut like a lead weight. Was everything he said bullshit? Has he fucked me and left me now that he got what he wanted? Subjecting me to the horror of leaving here like a discarded one night stand?

I rub my hands over my face to wake myself up, and decide to take things one step at a time. I wince as I stand at the sting in my asshole as I gently walk to the bathroom, trying to ignore the wet feeling in my destroyed ass. His cum. I’ve no idea where Ivan is, but I’m not leaving this room without a shower. Hopefully nobody will notice I’ve stayed overnight and that I’ll be wearing the same clothes as yesterday.

I turn on the light in the bathroom and take in the beautiful marble tiles and chrome fittings. The shower is a large glass box with enough room for four adults. This is wealth at its finest. Murder pays. I take the quickest shower known to man, as I don’t want to be found in here by Ivan. I wash as much of him off me as I can, until I feel like the fake innocent version of myself. I dry myself off on the large white cotton towel and quickly dress into my used clothes. My hair is damp, but I style it with one of the many brushes Ivan owns. His hair product collection is impressive. I’ve still not seen him with his hair down, and now that I’m thinking about it, I want to see it.

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