Next-Door Incubus, page 16
part #1 of Becoming Lust Series
I gazed around the room, hoping that nobody saw.
Kasey was chatting with Aarav—staring right at me—lips in a smirk. Just by looking at her, I could tell that she knew everything that had just happened.
Fuck. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I was going to Hell, and this time I wasn’t joking. Hell was real, it was all fucking real.
Chapter 30
“Are you jealous?” I asked on the ride home with Eros. Maria had insisted that I drive with him—not her—because she wanted us to spend quality time together, but I really think she just wanted to flirt with some other people that showed up at Kasey’s.
Eros stayed quiet, his hand tightening on the steering wheel. Under the dim streetlights, his ring was shining brightly. “No.” He took a deep breath. “It’s not in my nature to be a jealous person… I just don’t understand why he’s staying with you.”
I sighed. Trevon’s secret was going to be harder to keep to myself than I thought it would.
“He just has to.” I grabbed his hand resting on the gearshift. “If it makes you feel better, you can stay the night with me.” My words shook as I said them because I didn’t know if it was too soon to sleep over each other’s places.
“What are we, Dani?” Eros asked suddenly.
“What?” I laughed nervously. God, I didn’t expect him to just come out and ask that. I wasn’t prepared to answer that kind of question yet.
Eros pulled into the lot to our apartment building and parked. “What do you think we are?”
“What do you think we are?” I asked, playing with his ring. The shiny dark metal molded to his finger almost perfectly.
He pulled his hand away and faced me, his green eyes nearly glowing in the darkness. “I asked you first.”
“I—uh… think we are a lot of things.”
“Look at me when you speak, Dani,” he said.
My heart raced, and I looked over at him. What did I think we were? Well, that answer was probably much different from what I hoped we were.
“Calm down. It’s just a question.”
“If it’s just a question, then why can’t you answer it first?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Be confident. You feel what you feel, and you need to be honest with yourself. It’s the only way you’ll ever be happy.”
There it was again. Him telling me to choose happiness—even if that meant giving him up.
I parted my lips. “I think that we’re…” I swallowed my insecurities, ready to be vulnerable and happy. “I hope that we have something more than this physical connection. I—I feel something between us, and I think you do too, I just don’t know what it is.”
He just stared at me for four, five, six moments. Completely silent. His face was void of all emotion, and I gulped.
“But it’s totally okay if you don’t. I’m just being stupid and speaking nonsense and—”
He pressed his lips to mine, his fingers trailing up my forearm and creating a sea of goosebumps on my skin. I sat still for a moment—overwhelmed. The kiss was soft and gentle and full of love and I never wanted it to end. So, I closed my eyes and kissed him back for as long as I could.
His fingers laced through my hair, and he pulled me closer to him. Pressing his lips harder to mine and slowly devouring me. And, in that moment, I knew one thing and one thing only: I wanted us more than anything I’d ever want.
After another moment, he pulled away, leaving us both breathless. His eyes were a clear green. There was no tension in his face, except in his lips which were in a tight line. “I want you to be sure, Dani.”
I was sure. I hadn’t been surer of anything.
“Are you sure?” I asked, a smile on my face.
He chuckled. “You’re so weird.”
“What? I need you to be sure too!”
A lopsided grin stretched across his face. “I’m sure.” He took my hands. “Please just think us through. I need you to make the right choice for yourself.”
“What is there to think through, Eros?” I squeezed his hands and laughed to myself. “I don’t think that anything you can say or do would surprise me at this point.”
He paused. “Just every moment that we’ve been together.”
I sucked in my cheek. When I read that article the other day, I didn’t think that demons existed but after Trevon changed into that beast I knew that anything was possible. Eros could be a demon. I even wanted to ask him about it, but that meant I needed to reveal Trevon’s secret. And I wasn’t about to do that—yet.
If Eros ended up just being human, he’d freak out about Trevon staying with me. He’d might even call the police, get him arrested, or—worse—get him killed.
Instead, I nodded. “Okay.”
He brought my hand to his lips and kissed the top of it, just like he had done the first day I met him when all I wanted was to stay away from him because the attraction between us was too overwhelming. Look at us now.
“Stay with me tonight,” he said.
“In your apartment?” I asked. He nodded. “I—um… Maria doesn’t feel comfortable staying alone with Trevon.”
“Well, it’s good that Zane is staying at your place tonight, isn’t it?”
“He is?” I asked.
“He is now.”
“No, Eros, I don’t want to be a bother. It’s okay. I don’t have to stay—”
“Dani, it would make me happy if you stayed with me.”
And—because I wanted to—I nodded my head. “Okay.”
~~~
While Eros looked for Zane, I stripped off my clothes in his room. Though dull, the black walls and grey décor looked sleek at night when the city-lights gleamed on them through three wall-length windows. The only color in the sea of blacks and greys was the gold throw blanket, hanging off the edge of his bed, and a golden apple that sat on his black metallic side-table.
I gazed at the city and unclipped my bra, letting out a sigh. After the last few days, the simplest things relaxed me. I hoped that the demon really was exorcised from Trevon because if it wasn’t, I didn’t know when I’d be able to enjoy another night with Eros.
The door opened behind me. “He’s not her—”
I gazed over my bare shoulder, watching Eros’s gaze drift down my body. “Are you just going to stare at me?” I asked, the corners of my lips curling into a smirk.
He stepped back. “Sorry.”
I played with the ends of the throw blanket and smirked. “Don’t go.”
After Kasey’s party, I couldn’t get Eros off of my mind. I wanted to pick up where we left off. With him between my legs, his fingers inside of me, his lips hovering under my ear, making me beg for him.
He stepped back into the room and shut the door behind him. “Make me want to stay.” He leaned against the door, one ankle crossed over the other, dark eyes fixed on my hips.
“I don’t have to make you do anything,” I said, turning around. “You already want to.”
His gaze slowly traveled up my body until it reached my chest. “You really like teasing me, don’t you?” He undid his belt buckle.
I stepped closer to him. “Sometimes.”
He grabbed my wrist, drawing me to him until I was pressed against his chest. “All the time,” he said. He placed one passionate open-mouthed kiss on my lips, then laid wet and needy ones down my neck to my bare breast. I pushed my hand into his jeans, fingers grazing against him. He was hard for me already.
He sucked my nipple into his mouth, teeth grazing against it. I clenched. “You’re so fucking sexy,” he said. He tugged on my nipple, and I arched my back and moaned. “I love the way your body reacts to me.”
I pushed him away and knelt in front of him, toying with the buttons on his jeans. He stared down at me, lips parted, brow furrowed, eyes hazy as hell. “Dani,” he said under his breath. I slowly pulled down his pants and underwear, the head of his cock springing out.
My eyes widened at it. Here I was thinking that Trevon was big.
He pushed a hand through my hair and gently caressed the top of my head. I wrapped both hands around the base of his cock and sucked it into my mouth, tongue swirling around his head. I gazed straight up into his darkening eyes and took the rest of his inside of me until he hit the back of my throat.
“Fuck.” He curled his fingers into my hair.
I bobbed my head back and forth on him, and each time I reached its base, he’d push his hips closer to me, so I’d take even more of him into my mouth. He continued to curse under his breath, muscles tensing. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” He threw his head back. “Get up, Dani. Get up now.”
He snatched my arm and forced me to stand. Within a moment, he had spun me around, pressed his cock against my backside, and thrust his fingers into my panties, then into me.
“Oh, God,” I said, squeezing my eyes shut. I clenched around him, a wave of cinnamon suddenly striking me. “Please don’t stop.” I reached behind me and grasped his cock in my hand, stroking it.
I just wanted it inside of me, filling me completely.
“More, Eros,” I said. “Please, I want more.”
I turned my head to gaze at him, but he grabbed the back of my neck, forced me to turn back to the wall, and held me in place. “Stay like this.”
His breaths were heavy and ragged against my ear. I continued to stroke his cock, and he loosened his grip on my neck. I turned to face him again—hungry for his lips on mine—but I only had time to catch a glimpse of something sharp and black protruding from his head before his grip tightened on my neck, forcing me to face the wall.
“I said to stay like this,” he scolded.
Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God.
He continued to pound his fingers into me, adding another one, until I could barely hold myself up any longer. “Cum for me,” he said harshly in my ear.
And, just like that, my legs were trembling. I clenched harder on his fingers, pressed my forehead against the wall, and came for him. Like he wanted me to.
All I could smell was his cinnamon scent. All I could feel was the pure adrenaline rushing through me. And all I could think about were his horns.
After a few moments, he pulled his hands out of my underwear and placed it on the wall next to me. “Fuck, Dani.” His nails dug into the back of my neck. I placed my palm on top of his hand on the wall, brushing my finger over his knuckles.
My eyes widened when I saw the paint chipping right under Eros’s fingers. Holy Hell. His nails were sharper than Trevon’s were.
“Can you let go of my neck?” I whispered.
He took a deep breath. “Give me a second.” After another deep breath, then another, he finally loosened his grip. I turned around—expecting to see a more frightening creature than Trevon—but it was just Eros. No horns. No claws. No black eyes.
The vein in his neck pulsed violently, and his eyes were hazier than I’d ever seen them. He excused himself to use the bathroom but didn’t return for a while.
When he came back in, I was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. A billion thoughts were racing through my head. This couldn’t be real.
The bed dipped, and Eros slid under the blankets with me, wrapping his arm around my waist from behind. He pushed a stray piece of hair behind my ear. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, why?” I said, but I wasn’t okay.
“I just…” He hesitated. “I just wanted to make sure.”
We laid in silence, neither one of us actually sleeping. It started to snow outside again, and I would’ve thought it was beautiful against the city lights, but I couldn’t think of anything besides Eros.
“What’s bothering you?” he asked, lips against my ear.
“Nothing.”
“Don’t lie to me.” His fingers curled into my hips.
I couldn’t believe that this was real life. I couldn’t believe that I was really going to ask this. I gulped. “Do you believe in the irrational?”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Like supernatural stuff, ghosts and vampires and… demons.” I whispered the last word.
He tensed. “I don’t know. What do you think?”
“I don’t know either,” I said. But I did.
Demons were real, and one was lying right next to me.
Chapter 31
“So, do you think it actually worked?” Maria asked. I placed the bag of popcorn into the microwave, leaned against the counter, and gazed into the living room. Eros and Zane were sitting on the couch, talking amongst themselves. Besides the glare of the paused romance movie on the TV screen, the room was dark.
Hell, everything seemed dark since I discovered that Eros was a demon. The way his eyes shifted between a piercing green and a reflective black, the way he could turn into one of the monsters from Mom’s stories in a single moment, even the way he looked at me with that devilish smirk.
Chillingly terrifying, yet undeniably erotic.
“Hopefully,” I said. “Did Trevon seem different when he left yesterday?”
“He said he felt better.”
The microwave beeped, the scent of butter filling the apartment. I took out the bag and walked with Maria to the living room. “Let’s just hope,” I said quietly to her.
While Maria sat a whole cushion away from Zane, I curled into Eros’s arm on the loveseat. He was rubbing the black metallic surface of his ring with his thumb like he had done last night after I asked him about demons.
“Oooh, what do we have here?” Maria glanced over at us, a mischievous glint in her eye. Eros brushed his hand against my shoulder, fingers dragging lightly over my skin and giving me goosebumps. “What’s going on with you two? You’re always either fighting or flirting. This is different.”
I gave Maria a side-eye. “I’ll tell you later.”
Eros pushed a strand of hair behind my ear. “Why don’t you tell her now?”
“Why don’t you tell her?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
“She asked you.”
These two were determined to embarrass me in any way that they could. I sighed and turned back to the paused movie. “Eros and I are… a thing.”
Zane raised a brow at Eros, and Maria just smirked—like she’d been waiting for this since that Sunday morning when she brought him over. “And what does that mean?” she asked.
I rubbed my palms together. “It means that we are… a—”
Someone pounded on my door, the knocks hard and frantic. “Dani!” Trevon said. Damn it. “Please open up!”
Maria stared at me with wide eyes and I stared back with the same alarmed expression. It didn’t work. It couldn’t have if he was back again. Trevon still had a demon inside of him, and that same demon wanted only one thing the other night: to hurt my Eros.
When I leapt up, Eros snagged my waist and pulled me back down. “Don’t let him ruin our night.” His voice was sour.
Trevon banged again, and the hinges on the door shook.
“I have to. I’m sorry.” I pulled myself out of his grip and hurried to the door with Maria. I really, really, really hoped that I was wrong about this. Maybe he was just excited to see the two lovely women that let him stay in their apartment while he was possessed by the Devil. Not frantic and covered in blood with the stench of hell lingering on every inch of his being.
For a single moment, the thought of telling Eros crossed my mind, but there were many reasons I was against it. First, Eros didn’t know that I knew about him and he was hiding himself for a reason. Second, Maria knew that Trevon was a demon, but she didn’t know that Eros was a demon—and who knew if Zane was also one; that might freak her out even more. Third, I felt inclined to protect Eros from Trevon.
That was probably the stupidest reason of all of them, but it was true. Trevon stayed calm when I was with him. And, if that priest was right and Trevon was possessed by the Devil himself, I would have a hard time keeping him from tearing Eros apart, especially when I knew Eros would antagonize him.
“What are we going to do?” Maria said quietly to me. “He can’t come in here!”
I glanced back at the guys who were watching us from the couch. “Well, we’ll have to calm him down.”
Trevon was wrath, pure fury, and rage. Nothing like Eros’s lustful nature.
Maria and I slipped out of the room and slammed the door behind us. Trevon was on the ground and leaning against the wall, knees to his chest. His head was between his legs, and he was tugging harshly on his hair.
“Trevon,” I whispered, crouching next to him. I took his shaky hands away from his face and resisted the urge to cower away. Blood dripped from a hundred of his fangs down onto his chin and rolled down his sweaty neck.
This wasn’t his fault, Dani. He didn’t choose this. Don’t show him your fear.
“Trevon,” I said again, softer this time. He snatched my wrists—like he didn’t even recognize me. “It’s okay, Trevon. It’s me, Dani.”
After taking a few deep breaths, his fangs slowly started to disappear into his mouth.
Someone opened the door, but Maria pulled it closed. “Are you okay?” Eros asked from behind it.
“We’re fine!” Maria shook her head. “I can’t believe that I’m helping this loser,” she said under her breath.
“I thought you said you were better,” I said to Trevon.
Trevon clasped my hands tightly in his. “I was, but this morning I lost control again.”
“You can’t keep doing this.”
“Dani, I’m not trying to. You have to believe me.” He sounded so frightened.
“Did you hurt anyone?” I asked. He grimaced, and I closed my eyes.
God, was this the shittiest situation ever. My ex demon boyfriend, who wanted to kill my current demon boyfriend and who also had no control over himself and snapped at the smallest things, had shown up at my apartment while I was watching a sweet romance movie with that current demon boyfriend. Wonderful.
Eros said something else, but I couldn’t hear him. Instead, I pulled Trevon to his feet and stepped close to him. “As soon as we get inside, go right to the bathroom. Don’t even look in Eros’s direction. We will talk about this later.”
