Page 64 of Grotesque
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Hey! You can’t be doing that in there!”
I jumped as another series of bangs shook the door. I looked from it to Corban. Quint’s eyes were rolling back in his head, his tongue slightly poking out between his swollen lips.
I slid my hand up over Corban’s where it gripped Quint’s neck and pushed down, slowly lowering it until Quint’s feet touched the ground.
“I’m going to need you all to step out or we are going to drag you out. This is a place of business, and we can’t have you in there doing… whatever it is you’re doing.”
I might have laughed at the situation if Quint hadn’t fallen like a sack of potatoes out of Corban’s grip. He hit the ground with a solid thud. They thought we were in here screwing. My gosh, they had no idea someone was almost murdered.
I kept a firm grip on Corban’s hand as he came back to himself, his eyes flitting over Quint. He ran his tongue over his teeth, the split ends curling over his upper lip.
“I’m not going anywhere. I was never going to,” I said.
“Dammit! Open this door right fucking now!”
“We’ll be right out!” I called.
“Now!” The man shouted back.
How were we going to just walk out when Quint was unconscious between us? I looked down at him sharply andstared until I saw the shallow rise and fall of his chest. Oh thank God, hewasbreathing.
“Do you trust me?” Corban asked.
I looked back at him, at those eyes that remained blood-thirsty red. Not even a little bit, and yet I nodded that I did.
Corban yanked me to his side without warning. The darkness that had been writhing in the corner erupted into pungent black smoke. Cold suffocating shadows enveloped us. I gasped as the chill forced its way into my nostrils, down my throat. I clawed at Corban’s chest as the world froze around us, encasing me to him like a vice.
As quickly as the shadows attacked, they disappeared. I heaved, sucking in air and stumbled back, my hand still firmly grasped to Corban to anchor myself. He kept his hands on my elbows, his fingers flexing.
I blinked and nearly stumbled again.
We were outside. We were beside my car, to be more precise.
“What?” I looked around. There were no stars out, no moon. The sky was lightless, heavy with gray clouds.
“We should leave before they think to come looking,” he said, rounding to the passenger side.
I could still feel his shadows crawling on my skin, prodding. “What did you do?”
“You’ve seen me meld into the shadows before. I brought you with me this time.” He tapped the roof of the car with a long claw. “Hurry up, Sorcha, before I change my mind. My will is strained, and I would love nothing more than to march back into that bar and finish what I started.” He slid my keys over the roof of the car. I touched my purse absentmindedly. When had he stolen my keys? Did he think I would have left him?
A car passed by, and his eyes flashed bright as the headlights caught them. I grabbed the keys before they fell to the ground. With shaking hands, I shoved them into the lock and then intothe ignition. I was so numb to everything, to Corban teleporting us, to him nearly killing Quint, that I couldn’t feel anything. I couldn’t feel the smooth curve of the steering wheel beneath my clenched palms or the stick of leather to the back of my legs. I felt nothing until Corban reached over and slid his hand over the top of my thigh.
And then it all came crashing down like wild lightning, shocking my senses to life.
Corban’s magic was like fire in my blood. The heady thrum of it pounded the entire drive to Glamis.As his hand slid higher, my stomach coiled and my breath caught.
I looked over at him. His lashes brushed the top of his cheeks before he looked up at me, pulling his gaze from my lips, or heaving chest, I couldn’t tell which. He slid that wicked forked tongue between his lips slowly, as if he was tasting me. As if he could taste that despite the fear warring in me, that I was growing warm and wanting beneath his icy, yet burning touch.
I focused back on the road, but try as I might I couldn’t focus on it.
Corban had nearly killed someone for me, killed thembecauseof me, and a twisted part of me liked it. I liked how he had rushed in to save me. I liked even more the way he was currently sprawled out in my passenger seat, his eyes locked on me like I was prey. I didn’t want him to kill Quint, not then and not now, but fuck if it wasn’t hot knowing he could do it. Would do it if someone threatened me.
A bolt of magic shot out of his fingertips to my center, making my thighs clench.
I’d barely put the car in park before Corban unbuckled my seatbelt and was dragging me into his lap. I grunted when my head hit the ceiling. Our mouths locked together while I fumbled for the lever on the seat and it tilted back with a jolt, giving mebetter access. I ran my hands under his shirt, his broad muscles coiling and flexing beneath my shaking fingers.
