Page 10 of Voracious

“Will you behave and marry my daughter then?”

I try to glare, but whatever drug is pumping through me has me dizzy. It seems she doesn’t care for a response as she straddles me.

I close my eyes and sink the back of my skull into the pillow, revulsion and murder crashing into me. I think about dark hair, a soft voice, the way she feels under my fingers and ignore my body betraying me. It makes me sick. No matter how much I fight it, the drugs she’s given me win over my denial. I’m not attracted to Bernadette. I hate her more than anyone I know.

Death would be better. But me dying risks everyone else.

If I’m dead, how the fuck will I keep her off Stacey’s tail?

Barry could protect her – I trust him the most out of everyone – but he’s due to have a kid. Will he leave Stacey alone when his wife gives birth? Who will keep Stacey safe?

Fuck, my heart is racing again – the beginnings of a panic attack. I try to breathe through it, think about something calming.

Stacey is safe. She’s fine.

I haven’t laid eyes on her in so long and it’s killing me inside. Before, I could sneak away and log into my laptop, watch her on the cameras while she danced, or in the manor with my sister, or I’d park my car near the studio and wait for her to leave so I could see her face.

I can still taste her on the tip of my tongue. Just one fucking second of her, one drive to the studio for one goddamn look, that’s all I need – it’s fucking torture. Maybe worse than my current position.

Bernadette grabs my throat and squeezes. “Eyes on me, boy. Think aboutme.”

I don’t look at her, even as she crushes my airways. I look right through her – dissociating like I always do.

I’m too weak to snap her neck. Too fucking useless as I keep my eyes unfocused and imagine I’m somewhere else. A tent. My bed. On my motorbike with Stacey’s squeals of excitement in my ear while I speed through traffic. The look on her face when I showed her the tattoo I made for us both. The first time she told me she loved me.

My fingers mentally trace over imaginary paper as I stare at the last ever drawing I made of her – unfinished. Gathering dust in my apartment, locked away in my safe where all my drawings are. I once drew what I assumed our daughter would look like – my most prized possession.

I fist the sheets at my sides when Bernadette leans down to kiss my throat, breaking my focus. I’m not sure where the energy comes from, or how I manage, but I drive my forehead into her face. Her screams are the last thing I hear before she gets off my dick and stabs me with another needle, and I welcome it now, because I can go back to where I want to be in my mind.

4

KADE

FLASHBACK

Leaving Stacey in my bed this morning is a struggle, but when I kiss her forehead and untangle her limbs from mine, I know it’s going to be worth it. She’s wearing a hockey top my dad sent over from America, and it’s fucking huge on her. She seems to have claimed half my wardrobe.

Sweats and a top to hand, I lean down and kiss the tip of her nose, grinning as she groans and rolls onto her front. I check the time on my phone, seeing four messages from Base andDez, both of them in Russia for some family party.

Dezsends an SOS with a picture of a guard standing with a gun, and Base accidentally sends me a message that was clearly meant for my sister.

Sebastian the Third: Aw please don’t cry. Don’t be worried, princess. I get why you’re scared, but you don’t need to be. If you need to chat until you feel better, then you know I’m always a phone call away. You’re going to fucking smash it over there, and anyone who gets to be by your side is lucky. Safe flight and let me know when you land xx

Sebastian the Third: Fuck. Of all the fucking people, I send it to YOU. I will hang your ass if you screenshot that.

Any other time I’d give him hell, but the fact that he’s trying to make my sister feel better, to comfort her while on the other side of the world, is fine with me. Hell, he has every force under him to keep her safe and could crush a skull with his bare hands if he wanted to.Luciellacouldn’t have landed with a scarier yet more caring guy. If only she’d rearrange her moral compass and give him a chance.

She won’t.

Which is probably why Stacey is even more scared for her to find out that we’re seeing one another.

Freckles has been on the pill for two months now, and the side effects are starting to get to her. Her tits are swollen, her face is breaking out and she has a constant craving for ham sandwiches.Tylarasked her why she was gaining a bit of weight, considering she works out twice a day and is usually very careful with her diet.

Stacey called me as soon as she left the studio in tears, paranoid that I’d lose interest if it didn’t stop.

It took me days to convince her that I wasn’t going anywhere. It took me another few days to finally have Stacey believe that regardless of how she looks, she’s beautiful.

Now she keeps putting her tits in my face and trying to suffocate me with them.

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