Page 34 of Beautiful Things Obey
Besides, it’s another way to monitor my little raven. With Leonore’s friend working there, it gives me another entry point into her world—even when uninvited.
I might have convinced myself I’m using her as a lead, which to an extent I am, especially since the other crews seem so interested in her. I also may have advised myself to monitor her personally, since she works so closely with the other crews.
In truth, I’m curious to see more of this woman as she shows me her true self. As she blooms into the Grim Reaper everyone’s nicknamed her to be. I think they’ve only seen her with the dead bodies, and I wonder if any of them understand the threat that she is, because the way she held that gun tonight—she’s killed before. Blood is on her hands, and she’s comfortable with death.
Like a moth to a flame, I’ve only fallen more curious.
15
LEONORE
Ihear when they arrive, but I choose not to get up and let them in right away. I know it’s weird that I lie on the cold floor when there are dead bodies in the room. Well, at least it would be weird to others, but it’s not weird to me. I can hear them knocking on the door, and I close my eyes and count backward from ten very slowly. It’s been a while since I’ve been the cause of someone else’s death, but that death bothers me. The last time I was to blame for someone’s death, I was sixteen, and a grown-ass man was putting his hands on me. I didn’t know it at the time, but I somehow killed him. Luckily for me, I had the right people around me at the time, so it never tracked back to me. But what they found on his phone, non-consensual pictures of other women, was more of an issue than who killed the bastard.
Tonight, I was drawn back to that same dark place, different from the controlled version of myself I display to others. The polished version of me that hides in the shadows, under the radar. And I showed her to the last person I ever wanted to meet her. Silas Vescari. Fuck.
“You are very peculiar,” a dark voice fills in from behind me, then I hear more footsteps.
My temple pulses. I’m certain I locked the fucking door. Turns out that the rules he expects to be applied to others, as in others not being able to break in and steal the body of one of his crew members, don’t seem to apply to him.
No, Silas believes he owns everything and everyone, and right now, I do everything I can to drown him out, trying to ground myself and bring me back from that violent, twisted version of myself, whether he’s watching or not.
“Where do you want him?” one of his men asks who, I assume, is carrying the body. I sigh. As the old saying goes, if you can’t beat them, join them. I don’t want to fuck around with Silas tonight. I want him to drop the body off and be gone, so we can both pretend tonight didn’t happen.
I remain on the floor, not moving, eyes still closed, as I point at one of the empty trolleys for them to put him on. They walk past me, and I crack open one eye as I watch them place him down. Then they both look down at me, eyebrows pinched as they leave the room.
“Do you plan to just lie there?”
I close my eyes to his voice. “Since you seem to know how to break into my workplace, break yourself out.”
The room seems to drop another degree, and I try to keep my breath as I feel him close, the hair on my skin prickling with his proximity.
I open my eyes to find him directly above me.
“Go on a date with me.” I blink a few times at his words. Did he really just say that? I’m pretty sure I just threatened not that long ago to bite off his penis and shove it up his ass. Yet here he is asking me on a date.
“No,” I say immediately. He doesn’t seem turned off by my answer. Instead, he smirks and offers his hand to help me up.Huffing out a breath, I take it, and he pulls me up so fast that my body slams into his. Hard. But his other hand falls to my lower back, locking me into place.
“Why not?”
My hands press against his chest, and I go to push back. At first, I think he won’t let me go, but then his hands drop.
“Because we work together,” I tell him.
“Is that the only reason?” he asks.
“And I don’t date,” I say with a shrug.
“Okay, so how about you come and spend the night at mine, no dating.” I walk to the prep station, grab a pair of gloves, and start snapping them on.
“No.”
“So you don’t fuck either?” he pushes. A hot flush runs between my legs because the thought of this man?—
“Oh, I do. Just not with you,” I throw back at him quickly. I will never let this man know that I’ve thought about him once or twice. A release I’m certain this man can give me. Fuck no, not going down that path.
This is business. And I don’t mix business and pleasure.
“Now that’s rude…” he says with a smirk.
