Page 27 of Heir of Darkness

But then there was the kiss and the tight fucking leather pants she wore. He sighed, walking upstairs to his room. He needed the coldest shower he had ever had.

Just as the sun was rising, he slipped into sleep, only to be awakened by a phone call from his father demanding he look at some new contracts. From then it was a long workday that only added onto Valerio’s exhaustion.

Every night, he begged his mind and body to go to sleep, but most nights it never came. It had been that way since his mother died. He was haunted by waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of a gunshot and then proceeding to find her dead in the bathtub. That moment played through his mind late at night when he lay alone, and it was enough to keep him awake. He buried himself in any work he could do, keeping his mind busy.

His schoolwork was easy, but it was unnecessary. He would be taking over his family business no matter if he got his degree or not. The only reason he really attended was to be close to Luna and get some sort of college experience before he was thrown into the working world completely. It was his last chance to fuck around before then. It wasn’t like Valerio knew how to completely let go anyway. He was always on the lookout, making sure everyone was safe, making sure he was the upstanding heir his father had raised him to be.

He wished he could be careless like Dante and Allister, who got away with everything because they had Valerio to cover for them. But he didn’t get that luxury, and he never would. In his defense, he wasn’t interested in doing the wild shit they did. He had his responsibilities, and at this point in his life, he’d preferred a night in with his Luna over anything else.

Except that was also a complicated shitshow now.

He closed the laptop, giving it a break for the day. Valerio got up, showered, and changed into a black T-shirt and black jeans. He could already hear Dante’s and Allister’s anticipation when he finally got down into the kitchen as the sun was only an hour away from setting.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever seen you this excited before,” Valerio told them.

“Since you’ve missed a couple initiation weekends, you don’t fully understand just how exciting the night is. The adrenaline from running, beating the shit out of people, getting drunk and fucking someone later, that’s the dream,” Dante said. His eyes gleamed.

“I need a fucking night off,” Allister said. He massaged the back of his neck with his hand. “Blair has been driving me up a fucking wall these past couple of weeks.”

“You both would benefit from fucking it out,” Dante said.

“Shut up,” Allister told him.

“I might meet up with you guys later,” Valerio said, unable to listen to this conversation any longer.

“What? You’re not joining us?” Dante asked.

“I have my own chase going on.” He gave them a final smirk before walking out of the house and to his car. He listened to the purr of it for a moment before speeding off into the night to collect what was his.

She’d refused to answer any of his calls or texts all day. He knew she would try to avoid him today after what happened the night before. No doubt she was freaking out about the kiss, struggling to understand why she liked it so much. He could read her like an open book. Her face when Allister walked in told him everything he needed to know. But Valerio wasn’t giving up so easily.

The drive to her apartment was engraved into his memory, and in no time he was pulling into the parking garage. Usually it was blocked by security and only opened for people who lived in the complex, but Valerio had a way in. He even had a spot reserved just for him right by the elevator so Luna wouldn’t have to walk far.

Energy was buzzing through him by the time he entered the elevator. When he looked at the cameras earlier, the other girls had left for some party or maybe they would be attending The Chase themselves. Valerio wasn’t sure and he didn’t care. All he knew was that Luna was home alone, hiding out from him.

The thought made his skin burn. Too bad for her, he would chase her down to the ends of the Earth if he needed to. And knowing Luna, she would make him do it just to spite him.

He found himself in front of her apartment door, taking his key out of his pocket. He’d had one made just in case there was ever an emergency, but also so she wouldn’t be able to keep him out.

He unlocked the door, closing it quietly behind him. He walked slowly through the apartment, taking in the white couch in the center of the room, pink pillows and what seemed like hundreds of blankets covering the thing. Magazines sat on the table with some nail polish, the odor still lingering in the air. He looked at the kitchen table, his heart stopping when he saw a bouquet of flowers still sitting there, looking like they were on their last leg. It was one of the many bouquets he had ordered for her. He was going to need to keep sending her some every week to replace the dying ones.

He continued walking, passing the big windows in the living room that showed off most of the campus. Could his house be seen in the distance? He moved slowly, careful not to make a sound. He was skilled enough to enter completely undetected, but he also didn’t want to give his future wife a heart attack.

He passed several different doors, all decorated to indicate whose door was whose. Luna’s was at the end of the hall on the right side, little moons and gold stars surrounding her name. He opened the door, hearing music coming from the bathroom.

Surely he should have called out to her by now, but he couldn’t stop from taking a moment to surround himself in herspace. The entire room smelled like her. He took a deep breath: the perfect combination of coconut and something sweet. Big bookshelves lined one entire wall, books of all genres sitting on them. Her bed was unmade, too many pillows lining the headboard. Small twinkling lights lined the room, casting it in a warm glow. Her room was peaceful and fit her perfectly.

The bathroom door was ajar, so he pushed it open farther, seeing Luna with a towel around her body leaning against the sink and looking into the mirror. She screamed when she saw him standing there. She turned around with wide eyes, clutching the towel closer to her.

“What are you doing here? You scared the shit out of me,” she told him, her chest rising and falling.

“I tried to be quiet to avoid that.” He couldn’t help the way his eyes dragged along her body.

“You could have knocked on the door like a normal person,” she said.

“Where’s the fun in that?” he asked. “Get ready, we have to go.”

“Go where?”

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