Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 151410 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151410 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
“What happened?” I whispered. I couldn’t see any obvious injuries, nothing that would explain the amount of blood, except for a couple of bruises here and there. Tonight, hadn’t been a cage fight.
The stench of blood quickly became oppressing in the narrow hallway. Considering my line of work, I wasn’t sensitive about blood, but this was more than usual.
“I’ll grab a shower,” Nevio said, and I simply nodded, wondering why he was here. Maybe I should have sent him away. He had to be on edge. This was his doing, no doubt. He’d slaughtered one or more people tonight, and now he was here. Maybe I should have been afraid, maybe I had reason to be, but after the initial shock, my pulse was already slowing.
I stepped past him and opened the bathroom door for him so he wouldn’t have to touch it, then I did the same with the shower. Nevio came in and unbuckled his belt. He didn’t wait for me to leave. He simply shoved down his pants, and I merely stood in the middle of the bathroom, feeling a little lost. When he got out of his boxers, I didn’t blush like I usually did. Blood had trickled down even to his penis. It had gathered in the ridges of his six-pack.
Nevio stepped into the shower and turned it on. Soon, the water washed away the first layers of blood. I backed away, but I didn’t leave. I closed the door, in case Carlotta woke. If Battista started screaming, I’d hear him. I was glad he was too little to get up on his own and roam the apartment. He didn’t need to see the blood, even if he’d probably think it was paint. Nevio washed his hair but his eyes were on me as I leaned against the door. Steam slowly filled the room, creating a visible barrier in addition to the one I could feel between us tonight. There had always been a push and pull between us since that night, but no matter how hard I’d pushed the pull had always been stronger. Tonight, it felt different. It felt as if we were on the verge of a push that would pull us apart farther than ever before, and I didn’t think the push would be coming from me.
Maybe it should, maybe seeing Nevio covered in the blood of his victims should have been the final straw—and maybe in a day or two it would be, when it had sunk in—but right this moment, I felt drawn to him. I was attracted to someone whom many people would call a monster, and I feared it was his monstrous side that made out part of his appeal.
In less than ten minutes of showering, no trace of the carnage remained. Nevio was clean and he shut off the water, then got out of the shower completely naked.
Droplets of water meandered along his muscles, caught on them and the scars that covered his chest and stomach. One wayward drop traveled lower and caught in his trimmed pubic hair.
Nevio didn’t bother drying off. He stalked straight toward me. His hair dripped down his face, making it appear as if he were crying, but I’d never seen Nevio shed a tear, and I doubted anyone else had either. I wasn’t sure if he was capable of it. Nevio stopped close in front of me.
“You are pure light,” he growled.
I didn’t say anything.
Tears filled my eyes. Nevio brushed his thumbs along my cheeks, catching the droplets. “I don’t know why I’m crying,” I whispered.
His lips pulled into a bitter smile. “I think you do, Rory.”
I bit my lower lip, the tears now coming harder.
Nevio’s darkness was impenetrable.
I’d always known Nevio carried plenty of darkness. You couldn’t know Nevio and not know. But I’d always thought the darkness was a small part of him. Over the past year, though, it had become clear that the Nevio I loved was part of a dark even he couldn’t control. Or maybe he just didn’t want to control it. The dark meant freedom for Nevio. He didn’t try to control his nature, he lived it.
“I’m not made for companionship. I’m better off alone, free to go bump in the night.”
I shook my head. “That’s not true. Look at your bond with Alessio and Massimo. You’ve been best friends all your lives.”
“They joined me in the darkness but they never quite needed it as much as I did.”
“Nevio—”
His lips came down on mine. I opened up. I didn’t want any games, any push and pull, not tonight, not when this felt horribly final. I wasn’t even sure why I knew, and why did this make me so sad. I had tried to get Nevio off my trail for months, and now that it felt as if he might be backing off, it crushed my heart.