Page 51 of Pretend
Her hair is wet, and her face is completely natural without any makeup. The smell of my shampoo wafts into my nose, but it isn’t enough for me to snap out of my haunted thoughts. I’m scanning her head to toe like she’s a threat. Watching her every move like my life depends on it because for a second there…I thought I was in Iraq. I thought she was one of my captors trying to kill me, and I was merely a centimeter from cutting into her throat and taking her life.
I look around, doing a quick evaluation of my surroundings like I’m expecting The Surgeon to slice my face again. The lamp has been turned off, sending me further into ominous terror. The day I was kidnapped, the same dream I dream of every night haunting me, and tonight is no different. The torture that lasted days still hazing my mind with no end in sight.
I glance back down to a scared, confused Alessia. I’m pinning her down, my knife grazing her neck, and the blade is now painted with crimson. She’s bleeding. I’ve cut her good, but not deep enough to concern me.
Shit.
I should remove the blade from her neck, but something about the way she’s bleeding so majestically beautiful in front of me has me wanting to see more of it.
Her brown eyes widen with obvious fear for her life. Her wet lashes flutter open and closed rapidly as she tries to find her words. I can’t find any of my own. Blood rushes down, and I can’t move.
“Mr. Hannibal, it’s—“ she struggles to suck in a breath, a vein presently bulging on her forehead. “It's just me, let me go.” Tears fall down the side of her face.
I huff out a frustrated breath and let her neck go, granting her the air that was forced out of her.
Chokes follow suit, and she whimpers.
“Why? Why did you do that to me?” She coughs out hoarsely, turning her head to the side.
“It doesn’t matter,” I scold her.
“I came here to tell you I’d be taking the couch, and you can go back to your bedroom!” She shouts, attempting to turn on her side like she’s trying to escape me, but my waist still pins her down, my blade resting on the side of her face against the wooden floors.
“Don’t you ever wake me up like that,” I snarl, getting into her face. My mask is still on. Our body heat becomes one, and I swallow the lust that wants to spill over.
Fuck I’m so hard.
Seeing her bleed little tears for me, my hands around her neck, and she’s in nothing but a towel. I want to rip it off her. Tempting…so tempting.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t know,” she bites out, her lips shaking.
My cock is hardening the more she cries, I know she can feel it.
We stare at each other, holding each other’s gaze, getting lost in the moment. She doesn’t try to fight or shove me off her anymore.
I took two shots of tequila before I went to bed. I needed to do something to stop myself from taking her. Some type of outlet that stopped me before I lost control and went into that shower, and let my desires take over with no mercy. I wanted to avoid a moment like this, but here she is, wiggling underneath me, trying to get away, and it only makes me crave the screams I want to force out of her throat.
“Why aren’t you in bed? Is that the only reason why you’re waking me up?” I groan in frustration.
Why are you making yourself that more tempting, Alessia?
“Because I…” she stutters, blush creeps into her full cheeks, and she arches her back, one of her legs going in between mine. I’m harder than a fucking rock, and she’s making it worse.
“Spit it out, Valentine.”
“No, Mr. Hannibal, I…I never thanked you for standing up for me,” she says slowly like she’s afraid someone will hear us. It’s almost like she’s ashamed….but why?
My eyebrows raise.
“Something happened to me when I saw you stab Frankie. Something that scares me.” She confesses calmly. Her tone is the opposite of fear.
“What happened?” I ask.
“It turned me on…” She reaches for my knife slowly, and I let her. She takes it from my hand, looks at the blade that’s covered in her blood, and does something that has me questioning my sanity. Or what’s left of it anyway.
Her pink tongue licks her blood off the Damascus blade clean.
Fuck.
