Page 36 of Ricochet
Kieran smiled, his gaze never wavering from mine. “Leave us,” he requested.
“Dude, no,” Tristan protested.
“I said,” he turned toward them, “leave us. Don’t make me repeat myself.”
Vicious. That was how you could describe him.
Cold, dangerous, unrelenting. Even with all the shit going on in our lives, he used to be lenient, loving, caring. The way he was talking to his brothers now, I could see it was all long gone. Or was he locking his emotions up the same way I was?
“No! We are supposed to do this together, remember?”
“She won’t die today.” I won’t? “But I do need to talk to her. Alone.”
I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. His dark hair was longer, falling over his forehead. Those calculating, obsidian eyes raked over my face, my chest, my naked legs. My cheeks were burning, a thousand memories slamming into me.
Our first touch.
Our first kiss.
Our first time.
There is a very thin line between love and hate. Sometimes it’s hard to decipher which emotion you are feeling more, and I wonder how long it took him to erase me from his heart. Was it seconds, minutes, days, or was it years? I wonder what he saw when he looked at me. What did he feel every time he thought about me?
I wasn’t sure what hurt more -the fact that he didn’t know me at all, or that he could disregard me as if I never meant anything to him.
As if we were nothing.
He was always tall; much taller than my five foot five, but the animalistic, raw energy emanating from him now, made him look larger than life. His shoulders were broader, muscles straining against the black shirt he wore. Was I ever going to wake up and not be affected by him? He seemed calm, too calm for the situation at hand, but I knew better.
There was hell hiding inside of him, waiting to be let out. Cillian and Tristan weren’t happy with his decision, but if there was one thing I learned about him over the years, it’s that he just simply didn’t give a fuck. It didn’t matter if he loved you or hated you. Kieran Nightingale just couldn’t be bothered with other people’s feelings. What he wanted, he always got, in one way or another.
I knew it firsthand. I had been on the receiving end of his recklessness not so long ago. All he cared about was the power he could get, and it didn’t matter that I was the collateral damage. That the people I loved were the ones that got hurt.
No. When he had his sights set on something, he just took it. No questions asked.
He advanced toward me, while I stood still. Frozen in place.
“Little bird, little bird,” he started in a singsong voice, caressing my neck with one hand, his eyes focused on the skin there. “Why did you fly away?”
“You know why.” My voice was shaking, and the grip I had on the fire iron started loosening. Why was I letting him affect me this way? His scent was everywhere around us -the smell of wood and a fresh spring day.
“What are you doing?” His lips skimmed over my jaw, tasting me. His other hand snuck into my hair, tugging at the loose strands. “Kieran?”
That’s right, K. Show me what you want to do to me. Show me, because the destruction you showed me once wasn’t enough to erase you from my memories. Give me pain, Kieran, because that was the only thing you were good at giving.
His grip became tighter, almost painful, tipping my head up. The soft touch of his lips was replaced with his teeth, biting and marking.
“I am tasting you.” He continued his onslaught, moving to the other side. “I always wanted to know the taste of death, and your skin is reeking of it.”
Death. Such a funny concept. It was supposed to be the place of eternal rest, but what about those left behind? We never found peace when death came to those we loved. And this poor thing, he wanted me dead.
I mean, that made two of us, but all in due time.
I slammed my hands on his chest, pushing him from me. His chest was rising and falling with each breath, matching my own.
“You’re a piece of shit.”Slowly, Ophelia. You aren’t supposed to rush this. Savor it, savor him, remember him and all he did.I had to remember the pain, because if I didn’t, I might as well sign my own execution and it was still too early for that.
Eternal rest wasn’t in the cards for me. It probably wasn’t in the cards for any of us.
