Page 28 of The Devil Within

I look out at the street below while my mind wanders back to a time and place far away from here. Her slender fingers slip into mine, the warmth grounding me back to the here and now.

“A shitty yesterday only makes us stronger today, right?” she says with a soft squeeze of my hand. I look down at her and offer a sad smile. Tears rim her emerald eyes. She’s so beautiful—my broken and beautiful siren.

“Enough of this heavy shit.” She pulls her hand from mine and swiftly wipes the impending tears from her lower lids. “Point meto your booze.”

A chuckle leaves my throat as I point her to the direction of my custom built-in bar. It used to be some type of alcove for when people had giant ass televisions that they needed to fit inside their walls. It was a stroke of genius to rework it into a built-in bar.

“Bourbon.” The tone of her voice as she appraises my extensive collection makes my lips turn up into a small smirk. “I knew you were a good guy.”

I turn back to the window, letting her fix our drinks while I run through the words in my head. It’s time to tell her. She’s ready to know the truth. She’ll be pissed. Rightfully so. She will definitely be upset about Celeste. But it’s time. She’ll come around. If I can just get her to listen, she’ll understand everything.

“Come on, drink with me.” She plops down on my gray couch holding two glasses of amber liquid with one held out in my direction.

I join her on the couch, gladly accepting the drink and throwing back a healthy gulp. The liquor burns, stinging my throat as it slides down. But the burn quickly melts away and I’m left with the rich, smoky aftertaste that only a really good whiskey can provide. Liv follows suit and swallows down a very healthy drink of bourbon.

“What does Will want with you?” I ask as I balance my drink on my knee. She glances from the glass back at me before shooting back more of her own.

“You don’t have any taxidermy,” she states after a long pause.

“What?”

“You said you were a hunter but you don’t have any trophies,” she says as her eyes flit around my sleek and modern space.

“Don’t avoid the question. How are you wrapped up with Will?” I ask her in a tone that leaves no room for debate.

She sighs and hangs her head before finally conceding. “Hewants me to make one of his videos, or more like participate in one with his ‘friend,’ Erika, to pay off some debt.”

My hand squeezes my glass so tightly I fear I might break it.

“Your debt?” I question but I already know the answer.

She hesitates for a moment before admitting, “My fathers. He’s had a gambling addiction for as long as I can remember. My mother left when I was younger and he went off the rails after that. His old bookie, the casino’s owner, Erika’s father, used to do stuff to me when I was a kid…”

She trails off, lost in the ghosts of her past. Her eyes go vacant as her mind travels to a place far off. Some of this I knew, some is new information. I didn’t know about the casino owner but his name just got added to my list.

“He did things to Erika too,” she continues in a whisper. She sounds so small and vulnerable. It makes me want to break shit, preferably this asshole’s neck. “And his favorite was making us do things to each other. It was fucked up, but I was used to it. Then Will took over some of the bookie shit and now he wants me to make fucking movies with him or some shit and I just—” she trails off as sobs rack her entire body.

I throw the rest of my drink back, place the glass down, and take her in my arms. I hold her tightly while she curls into me. The smell of her is so utterly intoxicating, lavender mixed with honey and something that is just uniquely her. She feels so small in my arms, but it’s like she was always meant to be here—to be mine.

A sudden wave of dizzying lightheadedness runs through me, sending the room spinning. I pull back slightly as I take a deep breath and try to calm myself. I must have raised my blood pressure so high that I’m making myself dizzy. I tilt her chin up to me, forcing her to meet my gaze. Even with makeup running down her cheeks, puffy face, and sorrow filling her normally bright eyes, she looks stunning.

“I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise,” I whisper against her plush lips before laying a soft kiss on her mouth.

She immediately leans into the kiss, deepening it, and slipping her tongue into my mouth. We both fight for dominance and moan into each other as our tongues tangle with one another. She’s so warm and soft in my arms. My hands fall to her hips, squeezing possessively and pulling her into me. A soft squeal of delight leaves her lips and it has my cock throbbing to be unleashed from the confines of my slacks. I’m going to chain her to my bed, tell her the truth, then stuff her so full of my cum that it’ll be leaking from her for days. Nothing, no one, will ever keep her from me again. She ismine.

She suddenly pulls back from me, biting her lower lip with her teeth and flashing me her most seductive eyes.Fuck me. This girl is trouble.

“Get me another drink?”

How could I deny her?

Standing from the couch, the world immediately shifts sideways. Everything is spinning. I raise my hand to my head, trying to hold myself steady. But it’s no use—the world is still a swirling mess. Black dots spot my dizzying vision. I stumble forward, trying to maintain my balance but failing miserably. In my periphery, I can sense Liv stand and follow me, watching as I stagger across the floor. With the next step, my knees give out completely. I fall to the ground and catch myself with my hands before my head hits the hard wood below. I close my eyes and take several deep breaths, trying to tame the vertigo.

When I open my eyes again, all I can see is Liv’s signature black platform combat boots in front of me. I try to raise my head to look at her, but it’s no use—I’m too weak. With a firm kick to my chest, she flips me over. I land on my back, staring at my ceiling while blackness begins to take over the edges of my vision.

“Wha—what’s going on?” I hear my own voice mumble but itsounds like I’m underwater. Something is definitely wrong.

Liv’s face suddenly appears in my limited field of vision. She’s crouching over me. At least, I think she is. Everything is starting to get very hazy.

“You thought you were clever, didn’t you?” Her voice is cold and calculating.

Why is she not helping me?

“You thought a mask and voice distorter would fool me?” She scoffs and my vision darkens further, the blackness threatening to pull me under completely.

Then it dawns on me—the fucking drink. She drugged me.

“Night, night, my demon.”

That’s the last thing I remember before everything goes black.

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