Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 72340 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72340 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
“You should be…” he mumbles against my throat as he kisses the bruises that I’m sure are there. There is a tenderness in the way he caresses me. It is as if he is trying to scrub away the bad, like he wants to take the hurt away. He is conflicted and fucked up. I can’t even begin to fully describe him.
“I’m not scared of you anymore, and if I was, I wouldn’t show that kind of weakness to you.”
“Being scared doesn’t make you weak…” His eyes glaze over, hazy with a memory, I’m sure. He had to have had a fucked up childhood to have turned into the beautifully damaged man he is. He never speaks of his mother or father.
“In the eyes of a monster like you, it does.” His lips lick over one of my bruises and trails up to my ear. The hairs on the back of my neck stand, and I feel a surge of adrenaline go through me. His teeth nibble at my lobe, and I feel myself growing weak against him. My defenses are nothing when it comes to the things he can do with his mouth.
I want him. Despite how mean and ugly he is on the inside, my body craves him.
“You forget that every fallen angel was good at some point. Monsters don’t really want to be monsters. We just become this way. We’re just like everyone else, waiting for someone to come save us from our very own damned darkness.”
I pull away from him, frazzled and warm with need. Confusion must be evident on my face, he looks at me smiling. Maybe Addy was right. And maybe Enzo himself knows it.
“Why did you tell me that?”
I’m still wondering if someone so dark and hateful can actually come back from that? My mind goes straight to the moment I watched him shoot those people in their heads. The light in him had diminished and left in its place is a gaping hole of nothing.
A single treacherous tear runs down my face as I mourn those people I didn’t even know. Enzo leans down and kisses that tear away before he flops down on the spot beside me.
“Go to sleep, piccolo,” he whispers into the shell of my ear and pulls me into his chest.
Immediately, I relax, letting him soothe me even though he shouldn’t be able to. He should make me feel worse, not better.
Closing my eyes, I take in a deep breath. Letting sleep find me is easy, now I just need to be able to keep the nightmares away.
15
Amara
This time, I wake up before he does. Enzo’s body is wrapped around mine like a protective cocoon. I don’t think I could get up even if I wanted to, which I don’t. If it was up to me, I would stay exactly like this all day.
A deep rumbling groan fills my ears, and Enzo stirs next to me. I cuddle into his hold, not knowing if he’ll let me sleep in here again tonight.
“You smell nice,” he murmurs against my skin, his voice still dipped in sleep.
“You too…” I bury my face into his chest. “Don’t make me go downstairs again.”
“Don’t disobey me again.”
“I’m trying. It’s not that easy to abandon everything I’ve been all my life, to disregard my morals and values for human life. I can’t just change with a snap of a finger, nor do I want to. I can’t erase my mind or my feelings and become someone else. You wanted me here. If you don’t like who I am, you should have asked for something else as payment.”
He doesn’t say anything in return, probably because he knows I’m right. I can’t simply become the person who he wants me to be. Just like he can’t turn into the one I need him to be.
We lie in silence a while longer. Our limbs entwined and bodies giving each other warmth and comfort. I almost fall back asleep when Enzo untangles himself from me and gets out of bed.
“Get dressed so we can go and have breakfast.”
“Will Alessandra be joining us for breakfast?” I don’t mean to say her name with so much venom, but… never mind, I did.
“Maybe.” Enzo chuckles, amused by my jealousy, which makes me even angrier. “She likes to get up early, so we’ve probably missed her. Maybe I’ll introduce you next time she comes over.”
The jealousy that was a small flame before turns into a blazing wildfire at his words. He knows her well, knows how she likes to sleep, and obviously trusts her since she can freely come and go.
I slide out of bed and get dressed without any more questions. When I’m ready, he is already standing at the door, holding it open for me.
We walk downstairs together, my eyes scanning the house for Eli as we do. I spot two guards and a maid, but not Eli.