Page 22 of Reaper's Hunt

The woman rings me up, albeit not fast enough, and then I dash back through the aisles, following that cackle that already has me hard. It’s coming from the stockroom, a place I know I’m not supposed to be but I can’t resist my need to see her up close. Carefully, I push inside, the cramped space shrouded by towering boxes.

It takes me a minute to find my prize but there she is, Selene bent over a few boxes, sorting through some of the products, her crop top riding up and exposing the curve of her waist. I hurry over and press up against her ass, pinning her to the wall of boxes, my body flush with hers as I murmur into her ear. “Sparrow, I had to see you.”

She gasps as her body tenses, gearing up to shove me off. “Where the fuck is my hammer?” That’s not what I expected her to ask, but she’s talking to me and I call that a win.

“It’s safe,” I purr, my hands sliding to her hips, holding her in place. “I’d never let anyone hurt you. Who’s Annabella?”

She grunts, a flash of confusion in her stormy gray eyes as she twists around to try and see me. I curse under my breath, realizing I’ve slipped, mentioned something I shouldn’t know. “Sorry,” I murmur, my lips brushing her ear again, my cock hardening against her ass. “I just needed to see you. One day, you’ll let me kiss you, taste you.”

A huff escapes her, but she doesn’t pull away, her body softening just a fraction. My thumb reaches around her to trace her bottom lip, the crimson lipstick smudging against the pad of my finger as her tongue darts out to taste my skin. Then she slowly sucks the digit into her mouth, her lips closing around my thumb, and I groan, rocking myself against her ass. It’s fucked-up, doing this in the stockroom, surrounded by boxes, her coworkers just beyond the door, but the risk only sharpens the need. I want her so fucking bad; I want her blood, her screams, hereverything.

Her hips push back, meeting my rhythm, her breath hitching as I grind harder, my free hand sliding under her crop top, fingers grazing her skin. My knife’s in my pocket, a temptation to draw it, to nick her skin, mix her blood with the crimson on her lips. But I hold back, my control fraying. My free hand starts to move south, fingers fiddling with the button of her pants.

Her hand grabs my arm, nails digging into my flesh as my thumb falls from her lips. “What the fuck are you doing?” It’s like she hits a bout of sudden clarity, realizing that she doesn’t actually know the man behind her, but that makes it more fun.

“I want to taste you, Sparrow,” I say, before licking up the side of her neck, savoring the mixture of salt and coconut on her skin. She lets out a wanton moan, her head tilting just enough to give me access, but then her voice cuts through the moment.

“I’m really over guys taking what they want from me.”

She bucks against my hold, her elbow jabbing hard into my gut. A wild grin splits across my lips as I clutch my stomach, already about to step forward again when a searing pain explodes in my thigh. My eyes drop to the sensation, a small knife lodged in my leg, blood seeping through my pants, a perfect little gift from her. As much as I want to stay and play with her, I can tell that this isn’t the time or place.

Besides, I got what I came for. My sparrow is okay.

Before she can do more damage, I scramble for the back exit, mumbling to myself. “Didn’t know my sparrow was so feisty. I like her. Can’t wait to play again.”

I yank the little knife from my flesh, groaning as the blood trickles down my leg. Medical training tells me I should have left it in but hobbling down the sidewalk with a knife in my leg isn’t an option. People will ask questions and then they’ll take my sparrow away from me, and that can’t happen.

I round the corner, eyes widening as Dante comes into view. “Told you to stay in the fucking car,” he snaps, his gaze firmly focused on my face. I hide the knife behind my back and twist just enough so that Dante doesn’t see the crimson stain growing across my dark pants. “Look, just go sit in the car. I’ll be there in five minutes.”

I don’t fight him, just nodding as I make a beeline back to Dante’s car and slip into the front seat. Blood’s soaking my pants now, a pretty stain spreading as I stare at the knife, a memento from my sparrow. I’m gonna treasure it, keep it close, maybe press it to my lips later, taste the blood we share.

Slowly, I lift the knife to my lips and then drag my tongue across the blade, imagining it being her blood I’m tasting, a mixture of copper and coconut. My nostrils flare as I reach down to grab my cock, playing into this fantasy of her moans and screams before I’m edging myself right off the cliff with no return.

In my head, she’s writhing beneath me, yelling for more,harder, faster, deeper.And I’m giving it to her as she bleeds so prettily over my white sheets. I’ll mark her and make her mine, let her ache and remember just who gave them to her.

A guttural groan tears from my throat as I fall apart, coming in my pants, my head falling back against the headrest. Soon, that will be my cock inside of her. For now, I’ll have to be happy with my fantasies.

Selene

Frustrationboilsinmyveins as I step back into the main part of the boutique. I’m turned on and pissed off at the same time, angry that I wanted more from that fucking guy while also wishing I could drag him back to my apartment and carve him up. Cornering me in the fucking stockroom? Really?

My real problem is not getting caught. It’s the fact that my panties are damp because the sick part of me wantedmore.The memory of his grin, the way he laughed as he limped out, only makes me hornier, my pussy throbbing with need. Doesn’t help that Dante’s cryptic text this morning—You okay?—has my head spinning, or that I keep picturing Ronan bending me over a counter, his hands bruising my hips, fucking me until I can’t think. I hate when I get like this, drowning my problems in sex, because that’s when shit gets sloppy, and sloppy gets you caught.

I let out a heavy breath as I head toward the front, straightening a display and then a few of the foundation blocks along the way. I’m a picture of normalcy, but inside, I’m a mess, horny, pissed, and trapped in a game I didn’t start. Aside from the fucker in the stockroom, I now have a new target to worry about and less than twenty-four hours to pull the job off. I could wait until tomorrow, procrastinate, but that’s a recipe for disaster.

It’s why I dug into him this morning, gathering public records, social media, the works so that I can slip into his life tonight and end it clean. Problem is, he’s predictable, a cheater who’s loud about it, flaunting his side pieces on that stupid dating app,Catch Me.

His wife’s too naive to notice or she doesn’t care and it only took a few swipes to find his silver-fox face smirking on my screen. I’ve been texting him all morning, on and off, playing the flirty bait, and he’s eating it up, his messages dripping with sleaze that makes my skin crawl.

I stop by the lipstick display again and grab a new one for the display to redo my lips. The guy smeared it all over my upper lip and chin. I look a mess, wrecked now that I see it and quickly use the wipes beside the little mirror to clean myself up. Heat races to my core because I look freshly fucked despite nothing happening back there.Jesus Christ, Selene, get it together.

I need my head screwed on straight to weather all of this bullshit.

Of course, when I get to the front, Dante is leaning against one of the displays, Karla eyeing up the man like she’s owed something. “Fuck off, Karla,” I growl out. Dante isn’t mine, per se but that doesn’t mean I won’t cut a bitch for touching him. God, if he only knew that I’d been around two men since he fucked me last night…

And my traitorous little pussy throbs at the thought of him threatening to kill them or actually going through with it before fucking me over…Nope, not thinking about that.“What the fuck do you want?”

Dante snorts as if he knows what’s going on through my head, his gaze raking over me like he’s already picturing me naked. “Just checking up on you.”

---