I can tell her interest is piqued by the delicious look smeared on her face.
“What can I unlock?” she asks in lustful anticipation. Her breath quickens.
I know she carries wounds that her soul has been trying to stitch together, but in time, she will see why I brought her here. But first, I am going to devour her with my tongue and key. Half pleasure, half punishment. Can’t let her think snooping around is tolerated, though it’s really just an excuse to get closer to her once more.
“It’s not a question of what you can unlock, it’s a question of what you want me to unlock for you,” I answer.
Chapter30
Sienna
As soon as the words leak out of his sadistic mouth, I feel an unfamiliar sensation begin to take hold of me. My heart feels like it is going to burst out of my chest, though it’s unclear if it’s from nerves or from the unhinged desire I feel creeping into my dampened center.
The need I feel in my subconscious is steering me down a dangerous path, with all routes leading to him. I must reach for whatever logic still lingers inside of my brain to resist the storm he is stirring inside me. If I don’t leave now, my fate will be sealed, and I will be lost into the dark abyss that is him.
With my heartbeat drumming inside my chest, I abruptly rise from my chair, causing it to let out an ear-piercing screech against the hardwood floor as it falls behind me. The storm he has created inside me has me working on a two-sided adrenaline, both fueling my desire for him while giving me the power to attempt to resist him. I use the concoction of adrenaline as my cue to leave if it isn’t already too late for me. Nothing good can come from his callous ways, just like nothing righteous can come from how my body will react to his depraved intentions for me.
My vision tunnels to my leather tote bag. “I think I am going to head out now,” I declare, though not as confidently as I intended. It’s like my body and mind are in a war, toying with me, dangling this man in front of me.
To my surprise, he says nothing. He doesn’t fight me or try to convince me to stay. I don’t know whether I should feel disappointed or relieved. Either way, I take it, and with both hands grasping the leather strap now slung over my shoulder, I head to the open doors. Expecting him to follow me, I turn back, spotting him standing by the fire, holding the ominous chain draped around his neck in one hand with Nada perched at his side.
We lock eyes just as a devious expression takes over his face. I ignore it, saying nothing and just as I am about to take another step, a whooshing sound penetrates my eardrums. Before I can process where the noise is coming from, the pocket door that stands just mere inches in front of me zooms past me, slamming shut. Followed by the sound of wood doors crashing closed, the image of a skeleton surrounded by florals flashes before my eyes.
I lower my gaze to see Carmine’s hand locking the door. I see the fury he feels inside in the veins that are now raised throughout his hands. Exhilaration begins knocking at my chest as the familiar pulse of arousal continues beating between my now slick thighs.
The flash of ink escapes my peripheral as I am spun around, viciously. My purse drops from my trembling shoulder but doesn’t fall to the ground as Carmine’s hands are gripped tight on my wrist. He moves his hand for a second to let the bag thud against the floor before returning his hand to my wrist with an even firmer grip.
He leans into my ear, and before he can mutter even a syllable, the heat from his mouth sends shock waves throughout my body. “Don’t kid yourself,mi reina, you can try to run all you want, but you can’t hide from me. If I don’t find you first, your soul will remind you that right here, right now, is where you belong … with me.” He clicks his tongue as his stern tone radiates through me.
He wraps his massive hands around both my wrists, handcuffing my hands together. He had me in such a daze I didn’t realize that all this time I had one wrist free, I could have fought him off, but I didn’t. It’s like my body wouldn’t allow me to.
Cuffing my wrists in his palm, he walks me back as his eyes pierce me with his ravenous expression. The chain around his neck swings as he takes one ferocious step after another. We continue to glide across the room, until my back hits the wall, making athudsound. He raises my hands above my head, still clasped together by his grip, pinning me against the wall.
He leans into me, towering over my frame as I look up to his dark eyes. The scent of lingering tobacco mixed with his cologne invades my senses, as does the vibration of his baritone in my ear. “I know you recognize a part of yourself here in the dark corners of this room, don’t you, Sienna?” His whispers send goosebumps all over my body.
I nod, unable to formulate a quick-witted response or any attempt at denying that his vague statement rings with truth. There is something about this room, about him, even about that fucking box that feels as familiar as it does mysterious.
In the short twenty-four hours I have known Carmine, it’s obvious that he finds a sick pleasure in hypnotizing my body into submitting to his wicked ways. Everything is a riddle to him, a game of dangling snippets of truth in front of my face, making me grasp for hidden clues that only lead to more dead ends. It’s like everything he does is with the intention of getting beneath my skin. Whether it is to pleasure me or irk me, he clearly gets off on getting a reaction out of me.
He leans in closer, this time it’s close enough for me to feel his hardened length beneath his pants rub against me.
“Admit it, you don’t want to leave. You’d rather indulge your curiosity and play a game with me.” As the words melt off his tongue, he extends it and moves his tongue to the base of my neck, and in one swift motion, licks up my neck, melting me beneath the heat of his mouth.
I don’t want to leave, because somehow, in some fucked up way, I feel like I am supposed to be here. The gala, Halloween, all of it seems too coincidental. I think about what this night has meant for so long, Mama’s and Papa’s murder, losing Leo, all of it, and I feel like Carmine knows who is responsible. I can feel it. He harbors secrets that belong to me, and I want to know them. Just as I want to know him, because maybe sharing the pain I have tried to run away from these last few years will somehow hurt less.
He releases my arms and reaches for the chain with the key around his neck.
The quiet yet calculated way he moves makes everything in me come to life. There is something within him, a beast, perhaps, that he tries to tame in almost every interaction I have had with him. A monster like that should scare me. But if monsters look like him, the only thing I should be afraid of is how much my demons want to come out and play with his.
I watch as he slips off his chain, burying it in his palm. He doesn’t let go of it as he slowly unbuttons his pinstriped jacket. He walks to a garment hanger near the mantle and places the jacket on there before making his way back to me.
He has on a half-buttoned-up white shirt that does a terrible job of concealing the ink splattered across his skin. Murals of black and grey are painted all over his muscular body. I don’t know where to rest my eye first as he begins to undo the remaining buttons of the shirt, until he takes it off, revealing a white undershirt that hugs the muscles of his torso.
He waltzes over to me, chain in hand, as I stand there in a trance still, with my back against the door. He brings his free hand to my neck, squeezing it just enough to make me gasp, but not too much that I don’t enjoy the pressure of his grip.
His teeth gently nibble on my ear before he licks his lips to speak again.
“You and I have something in common. You see, when tragedy plagues your life, it brings with it a cloud of darkness that follows you wherever you go. You can try to run from it or …” he stops for a moment, taking a deep breath in. It looks as if he is trying to tame the literal beast that is trying to work its way out of him. “You can take the power that the dark cloud gives you and make it work for you instead of against you. We share a common enemy. An enemy that has created a dark, ominous cloud over both of our lives. Now, the question is, do you want to go on living life broken or take the revenge that is rightfully yours?”
