Page 25 of To Love a Monster
His grin widens.“Okay.Well ...hello.”I start to pull away, instinct maybe, but he catches my wrist.
“No, don’t back away now,” he says, his voice dipping.Then he leans in and kisses me.Softly, slowly, and I let it happen.My phone buzzes again.
This time it’s a call from an unknown number.I stare at it with my heart pounding and Carl pulls back slightly.
“You wanna get that?”I flip the phone face-down on the coffee table and look back at him.“Nah.It’s just a crazy ex that won’t leave me alone.”He laughs, brushing hair back from my face.
“Well, then,” he murmurs, “where were we?”And I smile as he leans back in.His mouth moves over mine, soft at first, just a gentle press like he’s asking for permission.The kind that pretends to be sweet before it turns demanding.I let his hand rest on my waist, his fingers are warm and his thumb brushes slow circles across the thin fabric of my hoodie.
His other hand slips beneath my hooie and past the hem of my shirt, gliding over the heat of my skin.He sighs against my lips like he means to worship me.And that’s the problem.I don’t want reverence.I want to be claimed.His hand moves up, skimming the underside of my breast, and I arch into him.Carl kisses me harder, his tongue brushing mine as his fingers dip under the waistband of my leggings and I don’t stop him.
My breath stutters as his hand glides down to the fabric clinging to the heat between my legs.His fingers press against the thin cotton stretched over me, stroking slow, careful lines that make my thighs twitch.It feels good and I gasp but it’s not Carl’s name I want to say.It’s not his face that flashes behind my eyes.“Jesus.You're so fucking wet.You wanna come all over my fingers, Lila?”
He slides his fingers beneath the elastic, fingertips dragging along the slick seam of me, parting folds that are already wet with want.My hips jolt at the contact, a broken moan spilling out before I can bite it back.My thighs fall open with a breathless gasp and my hips grind against his hand, chasing the friction like it’s the only thing keeping me grounded.
Every stroke of his fingers sends another pulse of heat straight through me and I can feel my release building, tight and unbearable.But I needmore.I want him rougher, harder.Not careful fingers, but teeth.Not sweet sighs, but threats and hunger and hands that don’t ask.It feels like trying to scratch an itch under my skin that’s just out of reach.Like the burn of water when I’m used to the taste of whiskey.It feels good, but it’s just not enough.
His fingers push deeper, slipping up and around, stroking my clit like he wants to tame it.My breath catches and my back arches as I let out a soft moan.
“Fuck, Lila,” he whispers as I tighten around him and his fingers move faster.“I can feel how close you are.”I throw my head back and gasp, my body greedy, wanting.My thighs begin to tremble and I’m so fucking close.And that’s when it happens.
Crash.
Glass explodes behind us like a gunshot—sharp, violent, and merciless.The sound tears through the air like a warning fired point-blank into the heart of the moment.Carl jerks back, already scrambling to his feet.
“What the fuck—?”But I don’t move.I can’t.I’m frozen, breathless, panting and shaking.Every nerve in my body still clenching around the high I was moments from chasing.A breath from release, shattered by a ghost with a sledgehammer.
Crash.
Another window.Then another.It’s like he’s circling the house, announcing his arrival the only way monsters know how.Not with words but with destruction.
Carl spins toward the hallway, heart hammering almost loud enough for me to hear.
“What the hell is going on—?”he mutters, voice thin with disbelief as another window explodes in the back room and glass rains across hardwood.
“Stay here,” Carl says, voice low and tight as he backs away toward the living room.“I’m going to see what the hell that was.”But I already know.
Nikolai.
He’s here.He’s close and he’s fucking furious.
The windows are his way of announcing his arrival.The shatter of glass, the weight of his tread around the house, it’s like gunfire and footsteps.Lethal and loud and too fucking much, but I asked for this.I did this.Iwantedthis, and now I can barely breathe.
Soaked and trembling, heart pounding from the need, the thrill.Almost humiliated by how much it affects me.How much this turns me on.And after what I just did, I know I’ve pushed him too far.I know that tonight is the night he finally comes for me.
