Page 20 of Hostile Rival
Ruben opens his mouth to answer, and Jorge just laughs. “I can smell bullshit around here. You three…” He clicks his fingers and starts walking. “Follow me. I’d hate to spill blood on my new carpet.”
9
MATHEUS
PRESENT
I jerk awake, my heart pounding and my breathing fast. I can’t see shit, because the drapes are pulled and there aren’t any lights on.
The same noise that had startled me comes again. Prickles rush over my scalp.
A haunting wail like a motherfucking banshee invades my head, then I hear a name scraping from my roomies throat.
“Margo…Margo!” Dani cries, her tone panic-stricken. “Where are you?”
In the darkness I hear every breath she takes, frantic and––scared. Not wanting to freak her out even more, I grab my phone and switch on the flashlight, shining it across the room where she’s still sleeping.
She’s kicked off the sheet, thrashing intermittently as the nightmare she’s lost in keeps a hold of her.
I’m drawn to the woman, even now, and strangely driven to comfort her. Those terrified sounds she’s making have me unsettled. I don’t like them. Not one bit.
I’ve never felt a mix of possessiveness and concern for a woman before. Right now, looming over the top of her, I’m thinking about slipping into bed beside her to soothe the demons running wild.
Why the fuck would I do that?
Instead, I sit on the edge of the bed, rest my hand on her shoulder and squeeze gently.
“Dani…it’s okay…you’re safe,” I assure her, my voice thick from tiredness.
She stills for a second, and then, in a blur, jackknifes upright, almost head-butting my chin.
Wide, wild eyes search my face in the shadows. Her skin is damp, and her lips are parted as she sucks air in and out, her lungs starved of oxygen.
Twisting, she reaches a hand under her pillow, drags out a handgun and points it at my bare chest, still panting.
“It’s okay, Dani,” I say again, lowering her aim and carefully taking the revolver out of her shaky hand. “It’s Mat. You were having a bad dream.”
She blinks and swallows, staring at me as I raise the flashlight, shining it on her face. “No…Not again…Not the light…” Her frightened voice sends chills all over me.
Shit. I’ve triggered her.
In one alarming move, she lunges at me, her body weight coming at me like a storm. I drop the phone to get a better hold of her waist, purposefully cushioning her fall as we crash to the floor.
She hurries to straddle my hips, her chest heaving, and the lengths of her hair sticking to her hot cheeks. I let her pin my hands at either side of my head and give her the control she needs, recognizing part of her brain is still captured in the nightmare.
“Dani…” I say her name as she snarls and whimpers.
Light arcs through the darkness, masking half of her beautiful face. Lying here, under the weight of her, I’m getting really horny, at the worst possible time.
“Dani!” I repeat, firmer now. “You’re safe.”
Her head cocks to the side as her lashes bat slower, and she finally sees me through the black mist. “Mat?” she asks, uncertain. “What the fuck?”
“You were having a bad dream,” I explain, still flat on my back, willingly captured by Blanco’s top sicario, and secretly loving it. “Your screams woke me up, little firecracker.”
“It wasn’t a bad dream.” She pushes off me and crawls to the other side of the room. Sitting her ass on the tiles, she draws her trembling knees to her chest and presses her spine into the wall. “The show is over. Let’s pretend that didn’t happen.”
My pulse is on fire and adrenaline is pumping hard. Sleep isn’t an option anymore. The hot-blooded urges she’d somehow kick started have returned in full force, and my swollen dick still throbs. For her.
