Page 54 of Sweet Deception
What if I snapped and fucked her all over this house?
That definitely would’ve been bad.
I blow air from my lungs, trying to not trip over the thought of that.
I need the open road, the night air, the stillness of the starry night, and the rush of speed to clear my cluttered mind.
Decision made, I march up to the second floor, pace to her bedroom, and let myself in. The water in the shower isn’t running anymore.
I tap my knuckles against the bathroom door with more force than intended. “Veronika, get dressed. We’re going out.”
Without waiting for an answer—I know she heard me—I head back downstairs and find Napalm stirring from his slumber. I pet his little back, and he stretches and climbs onto me. With him snug in the bend of my arm, I walk over and wait by the front door for his mama to get her fine ass down here.
Ten minutes later, Veronika emerges in some more of my clothes. Sweats and one of my black hoodies. The hoodie hangs nearly to her knees, but she has the sleeves rolled up several times. Her hair’s still damp, and the scent of her freshly washed skin is going to haunt me soon enough. I can already tell.
Something primitive and possessive awakens inside me at the sight of that hoodie. I push those batshit sensations down with all the strength I have.
“Where are we going?” Veronika doesn’t even meet my gaze when she asks this, and her voice has changed. Cautious doesn’t cover it. She sounds almost…defeated.
“Does it matter?” My own voice is strange too. A bit too harsh. “You’re either coming with me or getting locked in again.”
She lifts her chin in my direction, but she still won’t bring her eyes to mine. Her evasive gaze annoys me, though I’m not sure why.
“That’s not much of a choice.”
“Never said it was.”
Napalm meows from my arm. Veronika’s eyes go wide when she notices that he’s hitching a ride with me.
Good.
Now she’ll follow me without complaint.
I unlock the front door and stride out into the early morning’s darkness. It’s almost three, according to my watch.
Once we’re in the car, I place Napalm in her lap, careful not to touch her. But the vibe remains unbearably fucking awkward. The electricity from earlier is still present, and it’s like a roadblock with no detour.
Jesus. The fact that she still won’t look at me is really starting to piss me off.
When the hell did I start getting angry about not receiving the attention of some random woman?
Gripping the steering wheel more than necessary, I turn the engine over, whip the car around, and drive off the safe house property. The silence is already so painful that it instills within me the urge to shoot something, so I switch on the radio and search for a station to fill the enormous void.
All the while, Veronika sits rigidly in the passenger seat.
When my fingers fumble onto a classical music station, I see the tension in her posture ease by a few percentage points. Itake that as a sign she’s into Mozart, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and the like. Leaving the dial where it is, I focus on the dark road stretching out ahead.
I lean on the gas, and we fly forward, the climbing speedometer suppressing the chaos rattling around in my mind. Doing everything in my power to forget that she’s with me, I floor it like I would on any other night, taking curves at ninety.
The scream of the engine soothes me as I put distance between us and the safe house. But nothing stops her soft, soapy scent from permeating this enclosed space, bringing to mind the memory of her body twined around mine. I’d crack a window, but at this speed, I feel like the wind might be too much for little Napalm.
Shit.
I push the Aston Martin harder as the scenery of upstate New York scales back to reveal the outskirts of Manhattan. The surrounding woodland areas morph into suburban avenues with shopping plazas and small park areas. From there, the night begins to brighten, the beacon of the Manhattan skyline twinkling on the horizon and stealing attention from the few visible stars.
Barreling toward the city, calming the beat of my heart as we go, I decide this is a perfect time to head to the docks. The most effective way to relieve my stress is by testing my driving abilities.
And there’s only one proper way to do that.
