PaigeI blinked at Tom, who was holding onto my wrist. He wanted to know if we were okay. It was the question I’d been asking myself all morning, the question I’d been trying not to ask him when I came in here. The stoic nothingness I had seen on his face before he left this morning was gone, replaced with something raw and open.“Yeah,” I said slowly. “Yeah, I think we are.”A grin blossomed over his face. “Good. Great.”He stood, and we walked to the car hand-in-hand. Outside, birds started twittering back and forth to each other, the first sign of early spring. I smiled at them.“You like those chatty assholes?” Tom said with a grin.“Oh, come on, you’re telling me you don’t like them?” I nudged his shoulder before dropping his hand to climb into the car. “They’re basically a musical promise it won’t be cold anymore soon.”He shook his head. “Some of us have the body mass to survive a little winter.”I swallowed, waited for the comment to sting. I’d lost more weight than I thought
TommasoI glanced at Paige out of the corner of my eye, singing along to some rock song I’d never heard before. She seemed different; she had since she’d answered my question in my office. There was a lightness to her now. She barely stopped touching me, and she never stopped smiling. I couldn’t deny that I liked it. Her cheeks still had a little hollowness to them, and I knew from last night that she still wasn’t totally physically healed from her encounter with Zahur, but she seemed so much better. Like a woman I might meet in the real world and fall in love with, not one I pulled out of the worst depths of human filth.Still, I kept glancing at her like this, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Like at any moment, she’d realize what she’d done and be afraid of me again.“Good therapy session?” I asked as the song ended, not really expecting anything.“The best,” she said.“Great.” I smiled at her. “That sounds good.”“It totally was.” She grinned at me, her hair bouncing as she bob
PaigeI stared down at Tom, looking for any hint of rejection in his green eyes. Desire threatened to overwhelm me, but if he didn’t want this, I’d curl back into myself forever.His own want warred with a gentle love in his face. My panic dissipated, and I grinned at him.“Scared?” I kissed a line down his bare chest. “I’m starting to think you should be. Last night was all about me, and I’m ready to repay the favor.”“Paige, we don’t have to—”I started unbuttoning his pants, eye-level with the massive bulge I’d been grinding against since the car. “Stop me if you don’t want this.”He bit his lip and stroked my hair.“Exactly.” I yanked his pants and underwear down and licked my lips. I’d only read about doing this with someone I actually wanted to be with. I’d refused to try it for Eric because he refused to do the same for me, but Tom deserved it. He’d been so good to me, so sweet.“I love you,” Tom said. “We can stop whenever you want.”The promise resounded through me, but I did
TommasoI gathered a sleeping Paige in my arms, twisted, and lifted her off the couch. My legs ached as I lifted her. Whatever had gotten into her today made her wild, and the sun had disappeared over the house, a sure sign we’d fucked into the early evening. I laid her gently in bed and tucked the covers over her, then scribbled a little note that I’d gone to get some work done. She’d understand.I tugged on my suit pants over my still-sticky dick and padded out of her room with the rest of my clothes in my arms. I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. The little voice in the back of my head kept nagging that something had to be off, that she couldn’t have changed this much this quickly, but I ignored it. If I was going to follow Paige’s lead, I had to follow it wherever she led, not just when her lead made sense to me.I stopped in my room for a shower and another change of clothes. There’d been lots of dry cleaning this week, and more if she insisted on coming onto me like she did i
SeraJim Harrison. Tall, blond hair, big baby blue eyes. And dimples that showed off every time he flashed his dashing white smile. Everything about him screamed American Dream—broad shoulders and a finely defined jaw, well-fitting Levi jeans, and the kind of face that made me envision a life where we got married, bought a condo in Jersey, and adopted a Golden Retriever named Buddy. Jim would train him to heel, sit, and stay. I’d let him sleep at the foot of the bed. We’d argue about it, but Jim would eventually forfeit and lose a quarter of his half of the bed. Buddy deserved the best. I’d been crushing on Jim on and off for the better part of a year, but so had every single other teacher in the Ardmore, Pennsylvania district. Yet, somehow, on a sunny Thursday afternoon in October, Jim walked me out to my car after our students left for the day and started flirting with me. Reality turned to sand, running between my fingers.Finally.“Sera?” He laughed, waving a hand in front of my
SeraBreathe Sera.Fingers fisted my hair and pulled upward, forcing me to look up at the man who’d just pulled a bag from over my head. He wore a suit and mask, both so black in color they seemed to suck the light right out of the room. There were no designs on the full-faced mask. It was just a void, a black hole, a vacant space where his face should have been. His hands were bare, and in the light of a huge crystal chandelier above our heads I caught the glint of the gold ring he wore on his right ring finger.I sucked in my breath as my focus locked on the ring and the insignia woven across the golden band.Il mio sangue scorre per la famiglia.My blood runs for the family.The Marino family motto.Hot, uncontrollable tears blurred my vision as my body trembled with terror. I stole a glance around the room, seeing nothing but gold trim and gilded wallpaper that brought a fresh wave of tears to my eyes. I knew where I was. I knew this place. Worst of all, I knew what was rumored to
KillianIt’d been years since I last stepped foot in Sala delle Rose, the grotesquely enormous mansion situated on the Jersey coast. I avoided this place if I could help it. Grecian columns lined a long foyer as I walked toward the ballroom. Yes, a fucking ballroom. Riccardo Marino’s grandfather had built this place back in the early nineteen thirties and had apparently thought of everything when it came to what his descendants might get up to when he was six feet under and nothing but a mural on the wall.The Marinos were once the family—the ones calling the shots and ruling over practically the entire east coast. But Riccardo’s rise to power some thirty years ago saw the end of their reign. Now, the man threw his fancy parties and sat on his throne, which was exactly that: a big golden chair with red velvet cushions that overlooked the entire ballroom.I smirked as I entered and looked around.“Your mask?”I turned, looking Riccardo’s son Niccolò in the eyes. His pupils widened befo
SeraBright lights momentarily blinded me as Niccolò shoved me onto the stage. I’d been fighting him the whole time, screaming in terror at the top of my lungs as he dragged me through a narrow, dimly lit hallway. He’d cuffed my hands behind my back and slapped his hand over my mouth, threatening to beat me within an inch of my life if I didn’t shut up.“I’ll keep you alive,” he’d rasped, “only because killing you would be a merciful act compared to what will happen to you after the auction.”Now I stood on a stage practically naked. A black chemise two sizes too small hugged every curve and was so tight on my breasts that the silken fabric did nothing to hide the hardened peaks of my nipples. It was freezing, but I couldn’t tell if my teeth were chattering because of the cold or only the sheer, paralyzing panic I felt.My knees bit into stone as I looked up at the crowd through the thick tangles of curls falling over my face. They were all wearing masks. Some people tilted their head