A moan erupts within her. Broken. Soft. Pleading. “Please, Ace.”
Despite wanting to just feel the high only she can give, I grunt. “What now?” What are you doing to me?
She doesn’t answer. Eyes big, panting she doesn’t have any words for me. Only more questions. More hesitations. More betrayal in those amber eyes. I have to drag my fingers through her hair and tug them hard for her to look at me. Even now, she’s so guarded.
“What’s wrong, Barbie?”
“When they took you away, no one told me anything for months. I thought you were dead. I mourned you, you were...just gone.” She shakes her head, bewildered at the idea of me being alive. Years ago I could have said the same thing. “But you are really back. For good this time?”
“I swear on my life.”
We don’t need any words after that. Maybe we never did. Back then, we tore each other apart, I ruined any goodness that could have been survived in her heart. I killed her, the old Raine for my Queen to have a place in our vile world.
And I can’t even apologize for it. So, I make her moan softly. Let her watch as I take off her gown, kissing along her body to drag her panties down when I see it.
“Gun? Smart.”
She shrugs. “I wasn’t being that stupid.”
“No, you weren’t.” I grin, throwing the gun on the side table. And, when I look back at her, all I have to do is touch her and she breaks. Into a cry, into words like more. My favorite words, her deepest secret. And it doesn’t stop even when I have her in my bed, my fingers invading her in the cruelest way.
She didn’t expect me, but she has never known any other drug than the King of La Eme.
“Tell me I’m not dreaming. Ace, please-” She holds me tight, almost begging. Does she think it’s not real? So, I take her deeper, harder until she’s screaming into my ears. Until she knows it isn’t a dream, it’s me. I’m real. Until my cock is so hard that I can’t take it anymore.
“You’re not dreaming, Barbie. You’re fucking here, you’re fucking me, always me.” I say just before ramming into her again. Another scream clogs into her throat, making me curse. Fuck, so tight. So wet for me. She’s like a vice I can’t smother.
Slow.
Go fucking slow.
I tell myself that. But my mind has other ideas. It wants to set her on fire, make her so damn warm that she has no choice but to take me like this every time we fail to understand each other. She can kill me like this and I wouldn’t even fucking stop her. Not when her arms snake around my neck to push me farther into her. Selfish little Raine wants it all. So, I break her open to give her that.
“You feel that?” I’m like a crazed man running after his purpose of life. Fucking her doesn’t do it anymore, I have to play with her little button for her to melt against me. “That’s what you force me to do. Lose my mind, I fucking lose my mind around you.”
She wants to trust me. Maybe giving her some of my secrets will be enough. Not in the long run. But just for now. Until my name is the only thing on her lips.
“Please, please, please, Ace...”
Tightening my hands around her throat, makes her eyes drift shut. But her mouth is still open, forming a scream before I let go for her to breathe.
“Look at me.”
“Ace?” She looks like hell, feels like fire. And, there’s nothing that’s stopping her from swallowing me whole.
“Just like that. Let me help you. Let me.”
And she lets me as we both fall apart with a chorus of fucked up promises.
She’ll never let me go either.
CHAPTER 12
RAINE
I WAKE UP TO A SCREAM.
No, not wake up. It’s like someone has snatched me right into the land of the living with that one little wretched howl. Like every other time, like every night for five years. But today something’s different. The sound is too rough to be mine, too volatile to be a human’s. And, when my eyes finally register what’s happening, I feel that maybe it’s just another one of those secrets I wasn’t supposed to know.
“Mierda! It wasn’t me. Por favor, stop, I told you it wasn’t me!”
Each word is delivered with a familiar shiver. Until the words are said over and over. Until even the sheets curled around his body isn’t enough to stop his struggle as if he fought the whole night with invisible monsters. Or real ones as I peer over to see his back for the first time. A back that is filled with so many old scars that the skin is almost battered at this point.
My blood runs cold.
What happened to him?
Trembling, my fingers rise to touch his back, but only to touch air as suddenly I find a fist wrapped tightly around my throat, cutting any scream that might have left from the small gap. Eyes wide, I can only wait until he sees who I am. Until the exhaustion finally catches up to him and he drops his head right between my shoulders with a tired whisper.
“D-Don’t touch.”
My muscles stiffen for a minute, horror running through my mind to feel bumps under my fingers. Small and big. Rough and soft. I didn’t even notice touching him until his voice stops me from exploring any farther.
“Barbie, don't.”
Before I can apologize, he leaps away from me, preparing himself to leave the room. Blinking, I’m ready to let him do just that but as usual, my curiosity wins.
“What happened?”
He shrugs, putting on a shirt to hide his back. It’s like he’s always hiding. Behind his games, behind a monster, behind a lost man. So, who really is Ace when he’s bare to the world?
My eyes shut immediately. I’m still sore, my throat feels still raw to touch. But that doesn’t stop me from snatching a shirt to put on from his closet. In the end, it only takes me a second to decide before I take the gun, following him out of the room. Limping, I have almost caught up to him when I hear the sound of shouting coming from the kitchen. True to my thoughts, I find him pacing around with a phone pressed against his ears, and his fists dangerously curled over his chest.
“I did everything for fuck’s sake! It’s not my problem if your people aren’t as clever as you thought. How hard it is to follow someone?”
Your people?
Is he working for someone? The thought is almost laughable if not impossible. Ace Martinez doesn’t work for anybody, no matter what. But then again, did I ever knew him truly?
“Dante. It’s Dante I want. Everything else you can burn to the ground for all I care.” He nods along for a few minutes before his eyes darken. “Not her. I warned you what will happen if you go after her. Don’t forget our deal.”
Deal?
“Look, your punk ass detective ran the first sight of a fight, so I took care of it. He failed, I didn’t. Giving me a warning for that is actually pathetic."
I'm still stuck in a corner with shock written in my eyes when he laughs, taking my breath with him. "No! I’m capable of thinking with my head, officer. If I wasn’t, your people would be six feet under by now.”
God no. It’s not what I think it is. Officer. He just threatened an officer. Before I can voice out anything he stops short with rage in his eyes. He found me eavesdropping. Dropping the phone on the counter it doesn’t take him long to rush toward me.