Page 107 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

“Over and over again, Alice. I will destroy you. I will take everything you know and love. I will be ruthless. I will put you in the ground. There won’t be anything left by the time I’m done. Only ashes.” He said it like a mantra, not like he was threatening me. “You don’t even remember saying that, do you?”

I swallowed and took a few more steps back, but he followed me. Pressed against the wall, I tried to breathe, but I was starting to feel lightheaded.

Maybe Alex could feel my panic from this far away? Maybe if I prayed to God, He’d send a chariot of fire to come and rescue me?

Except I also desperately wanted him to keep me here and not let me run. What the hell is wrong with me? My voice shook. “What are you talking about?”

“Those were the words, Alice. Those were the words I heard in my head when I was sixteen, the same ones I’ve heard every night since then.” He stopped in front of me lifting my chin with one finger and staring down at me in wonder and fascination. “It’s your face I saw that night, and every night after that. I rescued Becca because I thought she was you. I was wrong, but I continued to look for you. Every new shipment of girls that arrive, I wait on the edge of my seat, praying I’ll find you. Every time I go to The Lounge, to The Underground, the fucking coffee shop... Sweetheart. I’ve been looking for you for twenty-four years.”

A whole lot of shit made sense really damn fast.

Him not wanting to explain his fascination with me yesterday. Him not being able to ignore my antics. Alex saying she knew I had a place here and that I could trust him. And...

“Oh. My. God.”

“I know. I don’t have an explanation, and I know it’s crazy, but–”

Call me Borderline or call me crazy, but I burst out laughing, and I could. not. stop. I think at first Reuben was worried I was crying or screaming. I sat back down on the couch and belly laughed myself into a headache.

“I’m not sure why you’re laughing, but I hope it’s for a better reason than the tears.”

“Holy shit, that’s why you were so damn mad!” I laughed again, barely able to speak. Tears were rolling down my face and I was sure I looked like a fucking racoon from my eye makeup being ruined. I tried to breathe and get my head back on straight.

He pursed his lips, and the concern evaporated from his face. No longer worried about me, he sat down in the armchair beside the fireplace, glaring and looking a little exasperated. He kicked his feet up on the ottoman in front of it and put his chin in one hand, watching me silently. Don’t worry old man, I can’t keep up with my yo-yo mood swings either.

“That’s why you said you would have recognized me if we ran into each other at The Underground.” I smiled as I walked his way. Placing one knee between his leg and the arm of the chair, I climbed onto his lap to straddle him. His eyes widened every so subtly and his nostrils flared, but he was doing his damndest to keep control over his reactions.

“That’s why you couldn’t just ignore me,” I whispered. I draped my wrists over the back of the armchair behind him, bringing our faces close together. His Adam’s apple bobbed. “That’s why I catch you staring at me all the time.”

“I did not stare at you all the time.”

“You do too. That’s why it was so much fun to annoy you. Because you couldn’t get me out of your head...”

I settled myself down on his lap. Oh yeah, he was happy to have me there, that was for sure.

“That’s why you were so angry. When we first met, you ran out of the room like a bat out of hell. Because you finally found the girl of your dreams, and I’m a brat, and it pissed you off.” I bit my lip to contain my laughter again.

He clenched his jaw and glared.

“Oh, I bet you thought about it for years, too. Imagining I was some sweet service sub masochist who would just drop to my knees as soon as I saw you.” He tore his eyes away from mine and I knew I’d hit the nail on the head. “Maybe you even hoped I’d had my own dreams, and we’d run into each other’s arms like star-crossed lovers.”

“Okay, that’s enough. Very funny. Get up.”

“But I like it here.” I wiggled my ass against his lap a little.

“Alice,” he growled, and I could feel the vibration of his voice in my chest, and all the way down. His voice was nothing more than a quiet whisper. “Don’t push me, little girl.”

“Or what?” I asked with as much innocence as I could muster.

He set one finger on my bottom lip, and then pulled at it slightly as he traced a line down my chin, my neck, and right between my breasts. I thought he would continue, but he slid his fingers into my cleavage. He moved slow enough that I could stop him if I was inclined to, but he knew I wouldn’t. I shivered under the feeling of his fingers on my skin, waiting for a squeeze or a pinch, but he fished out the brat coupon he’d presented me with earlier.

“I believe this still applies. You’re going to be good for me and honor it, aren’t you?”

Yes of course I’ll be good for you, if you keep looking at me like that. “Maybe,” I said. “What’s in it for me?”

His eyes narrowed. “Good girls get what they want. Bad girls get punished.”

I bit my lip. It’s so much more fun to be bad, though. “What if being punished is what you want?”

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