Page 23 of The Devil Within

Stepping outside and into the cool rain, I race to my truck. Once inside the cab, I pull my phone from inside my back pocket and turn it on. Five missed calls and ten text messages. Pulling up my messages I see they’re all from Luke, and so are the phone calls. They range from apologizing to demanding I call him as soon as I can.What the hell is with this guy?Maybe Mr. Nice Guy isn’t so nice after all. I hover over his contact information, debating what exactly to do next. Finally making a decision, my heart pounds as I type out my message, but I hit send quickly before I have time to second guess myself.

Me: Meet me?

UNKNOWN NUMBER: Name the time andplace, sweet siren.

FOURTEEN

Olivia

Bad Guy by Falling in Reverse

The girl beneath me is visibly shaking. I hate it when they shake. Piercings are supposed to be fun and freeing. I don’t want to feel like an asshole when I stick the needle in them; however, after how stressed I’ve been lately, stabbing holes into people is a bit of a relief.

“Take a big breath in for me,” I coax her in the most soothing way I can. The sweet little nineteen year old on my table is clearly a good girl and follows my instructions without question. “Now breathe out.” The air leaves her soft pouty pink lips and Ifeel a tingle between my thighs.

I checked, this sweet little thing is absolutely legal. Young—yes, but also totally legal. She’s laid out on my table in just her low rise jeans and bra, exposing her soft, supple skin, and firm body to me. I’d have to be blind to not see how fucking hot she is. With her blonde waves, pale skin, and sweet little face, she’s absolutely delectable. I bet she’d scream so pretty for me while I fucked her tight cunt with my tongue. She’d be such a responsive little thing too, I can tell. I need to focus though. First the piercing, then I can try to get this hot little piece of ass to ditch the loser waiting outside for her and come home with me.

“Okay, on the count of three, alright?” I ask as I pull the skin of her navel taught and line the thick needle up right through the top of her belly button. “Keep breathing for me beautiful, alright?”

Her cheeks slightly flush when I compliment her. Apparently this sweet little snack likes to be praised.Good to know.

“Alright,” her sweet whisper tickles my ear as I lean in closely, trying to block her view of the needle. I don’t need this girl passing out on me and she seems like the type who’d do just that.

I look up to make sure she’s fine and flash her a seductive smile. But when I look up it’s not her pretty face that grabs my attention. The dark black holes of his mask are staring straight at me. The grotesque golden tongue of his mask reflects the bright lights from the ceiling. I’m frozen under his heated gaze. There’s something about this monster that sets every piece of me on fire.

I pull my eyes from his and I scan the store. Everyone is going about their business as normal. Chris and Paul are shamelessly flirting up front, Casey is deep in the zone giving a tattoo, and countless customers are engrossed in their phones throughout the shop. How is no one disturbed by the very tall masked man looming in the middle of the shop, staring at me like I’m his next meal? Maybe he really is a demon sent here from the dark pits ofHell to haunt me for the sins of my past.

“Everything okay?” the client poised beneath me asks.

My demon slowly shakes his head no. He doesn’t need to tell me what he means. I know what he’s here for. The needle drops from my hand and hits the floor with an audible ping, but even that can’t pull my focus from the apparition of sin and secrets that has appeared before me.

“Hey, are you okay?” the girl whines as I stand to my full height, my eyes never leaving his.

“I’ll be right back,” I mumble and begin to walk past my table and out of my booth, as if in a trance.

The demon spins on his heel, not even bothering to look if I’m following him as he slithers from the store. My feet move on their own accord, carrying me through the shop and past the various customers who seem completely oblivious to the chaos currently causing my life to crumble.

“Pink, you good?” Paul hollers as I walk past him toward the door.

“I’ll be right back,” I call back to him as I leave the shop and step outside.

The cold rain hits my heated skin, sending soothing rivulets skimming down my face and arms. It’s freezing and the rain is coming down harder now. My breaths leave my mouth in puffs of white and goosebumps pebble across the surface of my skin. I take a minute to let the fresh air and cold rain soothe my seething soul before I wing my head around and look for my demon. He’s nowhere to be seen. Stepping further out into the street, I scan the empty sidewalks. Everyone must have run inside one of the shops to get out of the cold, wet weather. I walk to the very edge of the shop and chance a glance down the alley that runs between our building and the next where we keep our trash cans.

Standing in the pouring rain, cloaked in shadows, is mydemon. Like some type of dark devil his mere presence seems to suck all the light from the space and steal all the breath from my lungs. He’s dangerous and approaching him would be a mistake, and yet I’m inexplicably drawn to him, as if fate demands I sacrifice myself before this monster and lay myself bare for him to take.

“Why are you doing this?” I shout as anger forces my feet to move closer to the danger that lurks ahead. “What do you want with me? We weren’t supposed to meet until tomorrow and then you just show up at my work? What the fuck?”

Each step closer to him is one step closer to possible destruction, but I can’t seem to stop myself. I’m sick of his games. I’m sick of the questions and the pain. I just want this all to end and for things to go back to how they were before.

When I get close enough to see his heaving chest, my anger-driven confidence begins to crumble and my steps falter. “Please, why are you doing this to me?”

He moves before I even have time to react. One moment we’re standing facing one another, and the next he has me pinned to a wall with his hand around my throat. His fingers dig into the tender flesh of my neck in a bruising grip as he holds me tightly against the cold brick wall. I can’t speak, I can barely breath, but I can feel each erratic beat of my thundering pulse pumping against his fingers.

Apparently I never learn when it comes to him.

“You were thinking about touching that girl in there, weren’t you?” he asks with anger eating up each word.

His fingers are so tightly wrapped around my windpipe, but I manage to breathe out a slight, “Yes.”

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