Heartless - Jade West Page 0,25

him before he spoke.

“It’s my friend Jemma’s place. She’s away saving the world. Please don’t leave too many bloodstains on her carpet for her to come home to.”

He didn’t reply, just stepped in after me as I headed through to the kitchen. Jemma’s coffee machine was waiting ready on the counter, just like always, and I got it fired up without a word.

I dumped my clutch on the side and grabbed a mug from the cupboard, then held another up for the monster.

“Hey, asshole. How about a coffee before you kill me?”

I guess that pushed my cheek too far. He was on me in seconds, slamming me into the counter top as the mugs went crashing to the floor with a smash. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

But it wasn’t Lucian Morelli’s hands that attacked me next . . . it was his mouth. His lips. His breaths.

He was fierce as he ripped my coat from my shoulders and flung it aside. His fingers were savage as they tore at my dress, ripping it clean open, revealing my lace bra.

Kisses. Hot kisses. Deep kisses.

I wanted them. Oh, fuck, I wanted them.

“Don’t you ever fucking speak to me like that again,” he snarled, squeezing my face in one big hand. “Speak to me like that again, and I’ll cut your filthy fucking tongue out.”

I don’t know what consumed me as I wrapped my arms around his neck. I didn’t know what depths of insanity were possible until I panted into the next round of kisses and rode the pang of desperation for more.

This was doomed. Forbidden. Madness on every level.

“This sure isn’t you killing me,” I managed to hiss, but there was no impudence in my voice this time.

“Plenty of time for that,” he hissed back, and his voice was full of hate, but there was no true venom in it, not to the depths of him. Maybe, just maybe, I’d survive this night.

I should’ve been grateful for the chance to live another day. I should’ve been playing every card in my deck to tempt him to keep me alive, but I wasn’t. Part of me had always wanted to die. Part of me had always wanted to say goodbye to this world, farewell forever.

With another deep kiss, the beautiful monster yanked me away from the countertop and shunted me backwards into the hallway, charging us both through into the darkness of the living room. He threw me down onto the floor so hard I tumbled onto my knees and cursed at him, but that didn’t matter. He got the light and was down on me in a heartbeat, tearing at my dress.

The fabric let out one hell of a rip as it tore right open. He was strong. So damn strong I was just a ragdoll in his arms. I closed my eyes and let him strip me, knowing full well what would be coming.

Wanting what was coming.

I heard him groan under his breath as he tugged my tits free from my bra, seeing just how hard my nipples were straining for his touch. His fingers were savage as they gripped and twisted my flesh, but they didn’t stop there. They slid right down my ribs and over my stomach, hooking into my tattered tights to pull them down.

Oh fuck. My thighs. He’d see my thighs. He’d see the scars.

I bit my lip before he tugged the tights down to my knees, feeling the self-consciousness brewing under the harsh glow of the bulb, even in the face of the mortal terror I should be racked with.

Sure enough, he saw them. Brutal under the overhead light, he saw them.

The cuts were fresh, painful lines over scars. So many scars my thighs were a dance of them. Always high, out of view. Always deep enough to bleed nice and hard.

I’d been hurting myself since I was young, and I needed it. I needed the hurt in my body to free me from the hurt in my head.

“What the fuck–” Lucian began, but he knew when he looked into my eyes. He knew exactly what the fuck was going on with me.

I took hold of my tights and tried to pull them back up, but he wouldn’t let me.

“Why the fuck would you self-harm?” he asked, and I should’ve given him a shrug and kept my silence, since it was none of his damn business, but again, I guess I had the beer and the coke to thank for my loose tongue. The words flowed from