AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The faucet turning on in the bathroom had my already rapid heartbeat skyrocketing. A full minute or two rolled by before the water shut off.
I could have run. Maybe I should’ve. But I had nowhere to go, and I didn’t want to run anymore. It wasn’t going to bury or erase my reality.
So I stood where I was, crossing my arms over my chest when he came around the corner. It was nearly three in the morning, and he looked better than ever.
I was in a pair of black yoga pants and a white t-shirt. He was in a three piece suit, neatly pressed. The thick onyx hair I loved to touch was swept back in its usual style. His smoldering eyes swept over me from head to toe.
I wasn’t sure what to say, and he didn’t bother to speak. He came towards me, his mask solidly in place.
Nothing about the way he moved was any different than usual but, everything about Mateo was overwhelmingly intense. He exhumed raw, masculine power without trying.
I stood my ground, refusing to look away. I wasn’t afraid of him, not in the slightest. I was always more terrified of how I felt about him.
He stopped when we were just a few breaths apart, and stared down at me. This was how it always went between us. Pre-determined roles it felt we’d played a thousand different times since the day we’d met.
I had to slightly tilt my head back to look up at him. He came a little closer, bringing us nearly nose to nose. He lifted his hand and very gently wrapped it around my throat.
My palm went to his chest, barely making impact with his solid form when a warning flashed in his eyes, making me drop it down to my side. I sharply inhaled, pulling the familiar scent of him into my lungs.
“You ran away from me. Didn’t I tell you I’d find you?”
“I don’t see it as me running away. I told you I needed space,” I calmly replied.
“Anjo, are you now telling me you forgot what I told you about space?”
“I thought you’d make an exception, considering.”
“Considering what?”
“Oh, I don’t know. How about the fact that Eva’s dead after you told me she wasn’t? Or what—”
“I never told you that,” he swiftly interjected. “What I told you was that she was closer than you thought—not hungry or hurt, but detained. Come on now, Elena. Use that beautiful brain of yours. You know I didn’t leave you that box of ashes. I only left the card.”
“But you knew,” I said harshly.
“No, I didn’t know, and just like the day of the wake, I’m not sorry for your loss, but I’m sorry you’re hurting over someone who never deserved the arresting emotional attachment you had for them in the end.”
I blinked, still floored by how flippant he was about everything. I should have been used to it by now; very rarely did things seem to faze him.
“Why can’t you just be transparent? Why does everything have to be so damn complicated with you?”
“Maybe I like the illusion of mystery.”
“Ugh, stop fucking with my head!” A frustrated growl erupted from my throat and I tried to push away from him.
He had the audacity to chuckle, tightening his grip and maneuvering me around, practically lifting me off the floor.
The pressure was enough to make swallowing difficult, but not so bad that I couldn’t breathe.
Suddenly, I found myself airborne.
I landed on the bed and my back flounced off the mattress, causing me to nearly fall off the other side. I clung to the comforter to prevent myself from landing directly on top of the dead body.
Taking in the man who had called me a bitch less than fifteen minutes ago, my eyes honed in on the perfectly round bullet hole in the center of his forehead. His face was distorted at an odd angle, and blood had already settled into the navy carpet.
Mateo’s hand clamped down on my shoulder and pulled me back to the center of the bed. He planted himself above me, forcing me to lie flat.
“Why is he in here?” I pushed at his chest, trying to dislodge him. He let out an inconvenienced sigh and easily caught my wrists, pinning them on either side of my head.
