Page 112 of The Cruelest Chaos
His eyes turn angry as he looks up at me from his lashes. “I told you. I can’t leave. You have to understand that.”
“But Lucifer killed his father, you said—”
He laughs. “You say it so calmly, Ella. I don’t think you really understand this.” He runs his hand through his hair. “Not that I expected you would,” he mutters under his breath.
I sit up straighter, folding my arms. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
He snorts. “Don’t be stupid, Ella. It’s hard for evenmeto wrap my head around, and I was born into it. You’ve known about it for a night.” He sighs, resting his head against his headboard, staring up at the ceiling. “It’s all so fucked. I don’t even know the worst of my father’s crimes.”
“The woman in the basement,” I press, “Ria.”
He closes his eyes, his hand on my foot tense.
“Where is she?”
“I wish I knew.” He furrows his brow, eyes still closed. “Actually, no. I’m glad I don’t.”
“What’s going to happen to her?” My words are quiet even though I don’t feel afraid. He’s right. This is all so…unbelievable. A cult worth billions, and this beautiful, broken boy is part of it? I guess that last part is the most believable of all of it.
His voice is hoarse when he answers me, “I don’t know.”
“And me?” I press. “What’s going to happen when this ends?”
His eyes snap open and he dips his chin to stare at me. “You’re mine.”
I shrug. “For now.”
He moves so fast I don’t have time to react when he slides me down so I’m lying on my back, pinning me in with his hands on either side of my head, his chest brushing against mine as he leans down to speak over my mouth.
“Sorry, kid,” he says, not sounding at all sorry, “you’re in this now, too. I can’t ever let you go.”
I smirk up at him. “I’m only nineteen,” I tease him, my fingers skimming the hard muscles of his shoulders. “I’m just akid. What if I want out? I barely know you.”
His eyes darken. “Should’ve thought about that before you let me fuck you in the woods and treat you like the little whore that you are.” He presses his hips against me, and I suck in a breath, wanting him inside of me.
“You treat every girl you fuck like a little whore?”
He swallows. “Yeah, but it’s different.”
I trail a finger down over his arm, over his tattoos. “How so?”
“I never want them again.” He buries his face in my neck, kissing and sucking me. I close my eyes and arch my back. “But you… Ella... I’ve never wanted anyone like I want you.”
“Not even Sid?”
His teeth sink deeper into my neck and I cry out, my nails digging into his back. He gasps, his mouth coming off of me as he moves his head to stare down at me. “We’re not talking about Sid right now.”
“I want to.” I let my fingers skim over his wounds, the flesh still rough under my fingertips. And it feels like…there are more wounds. Suddenly, I want to see it all. I want to look again, but I know he won’t let me up right now.
If I keep talking about his sister, though, maybe he’ll get up.
I don’t know why I find it so fascinating, knowing this perverse part of him. But I do. “Is she why you hurt yourself?” It’s a guess, but I did a search. Saw what marks from a whip look like, what they can do to someone’s back.
That’s what these look like.
He presses his brow to mine. “We’re not talking about that. Or her.”
“You feel bad for fucking her, Mavy?”
