Page 34 of Reaper & Ruin
The sound of Atlas’s steady pursuit behind us made my pulse spike. He wasn’t running—not yet. But he was actively letting us hear him, which meant he was close to snatching us up for the rest of his wicked game. The heavy crunch of his boots was unnervingly calm, and I didn’t have to look back to know he was wearing the ghost mask he loved so much. The thought sent a shiver down my spine, and it wasn’t out of fear.
Turned out I rather enjoyed a masked man. Who knew? I didn’t.
Heather tugged at my hand again, breaking my focus. “Do you think he’ll really catch us? I want to win for once. Well, I win orgasms. But I mean, I wanna win the race.”
“Isn’t that the point of this game?” I asked, dodging a low-hanging branch. “He gets to be a sadist goth. You get your pretty pussy eaten and fucked, whilst you pretend to not want it.Youalways win.”
She panted harder, cheeks flushed. “You saying you don’t enjoy fucking me?” She teased.
“Not with whips and chains and macabre bullshit.” I grinned harder as I readied myself for my revenge. “I like to take my time and romance you. To lay you down and treat you like the princess you think you are.That’sthe best way for me. Love, and romance and sweetness.” A sharp snap of a branch behindus made her flinch. “You should run faster,amore mio. Atlas was grumpy when he left. He might not be in the mood to make you feel good for a while.”
If he edged her, I knew he would finish her off later on. But lately he’d been making her wait longer and longer, purely because he could. He got off on hearing her beg, and she got off on begging him. That was why we still chased each other in the woods, and why I bothered to play along.
If Heather had fun, I had fun. If she wanted to play innocent rabbit to Atlas’ maniacal fox, then I would play rabbit too. My rabbit was just bigger and had vicious teeth.
It also had no qualms about playing dirty.
“I didn’t think you’d be such deadweight. I thought I could win and be the king,” she quipped, then squealed as I suddenly pulled her to the ground with me.
We hit the forest floor in a tangle of limbs and leaves. Before she could scramble away, I rolled on top of her, pinning her wrists to the dirt. Her breath hitched, her chest heaving beneath mine as I smirked down at her. I knew she liked being beneath me, but I was not about to show her a good time.
I was going to punish her in a way I was comfortable with, because she really was a menace.
“Caught you,” I hummed, my voice low. “What was that about me being slow?”
She squirmed, her laughter breaking free. “You’re cheating! This isn’t fair—”
“Tripping me wasn’t fair, either.” I dug my fingers into her sides, finding her most ticklish spots. Her laughter turned desperate, her legs kicking uselessly as she tried to buck me off.
“Giovanni! Stop, stop—”
“Apologize,” I demanded, though I couldn’t stop my own grin.
“I’ll never apologize!” She gasped and with a sudden twist, and a filthy shot to my ribs, she slipped free of my grasp, rolling to her feet and darting away into the darkness. “Smell you later, motherfucker!” She called over her shoulder.
I groaned, brushing dirt and leaves off my clothes as I scrambled up. “You’re impossible,” I muttered, but a second later my laughter broke free, just as loud.
At least, it was until her giggles faded into the night, and the forest closed in around me, the silence almost choking. I turned in a slow circle, my heart thudding in my ears. The faint rustle of leaves and the distant hoot of an owl were the only sounds I could make out, and suddenly, it didn’t feel like so much of a game anymore.
“Heather?” I called, my voice barely carrying through the thick trees. The knot in my stomach tightened as I realized how easily I’d lost sight of her. “Amore mio, where are you?”
No response. A cold chill crept up my spine, the weight of the darkness pressing down on me. Itwasa game, and I was sure she was safe. But I couldn’t help worrying when she was out of my sight. One mistake on our part, and my father could win the battle we’d slowly been waging against him. His gangsters would find us; his paid hitmen would kill us.
His own hands would try to do horrific things to my lucky Heather, the same way they had to Missy… it was unacceptable. Foolish, maybe, to run around and get separated when we were still in danger.
I was forgetting more and more each day that passed, all the things I’d been taught—how a mafia man had to act. And I couldn’t do it. I needed to be smarter. Sharper. I had to be the Reaper. NotGio. Just until my new little family was safe.
As I was debating ways to make the woods safer, a sharp crack of a branch behind me sent my heart into overdrive. Before I could react, a heavy weight slammed into my side, sending mesprawling, and the gun I was reaching for on instinct into the dirt.
Atlas.
His strength was undeniable, his movements precise and calculated as he pinned me to the ground on my back. The ghost mask loomed above me, its hollow eyes almost glowing in the faint light. I hadn’t heard a damn thing as he’d approached, and once more I had a thought about how glad I was that we liked each other.
“Caught you,” he murmured, his Russian-tinged voice a low rumble as he reached into the back of his low-slung black jeans, withdrawing his ornate-handled knife. “I wonder what I should do now? There are so many options.”
“I was distracted,” I managed, my breath catching as I struggled beneath him and he slowly trailed the blade along my flesh. “Plus, you’re made of the dark and creepiness. You’re always going to win when we play in it,fantasma.”
Atlas tilted his head, the mask giving him an eerie, inhuman quality. I could see why Heather found it attractive. I did too. It was almost like it wasn’t Atlas there. It was just a monster without a face or soul, readying up to eat you alive any way he saw fit.
