Next-Door Incubus, page 24
part #1 of Becoming Lust Series
He was probably shoving them against the walls, thrusting into them, making them beg the way he always made me do. And I was stuck looking at his asshole of a brother and wondering why I ever agreed to this.
When dinner was over, Lucifer pulled me up. “Smile, Darling.”
I hurried to the other side of the room, not being able to listen to those damn screams any longer. “What is there to smile about? I’m in Hell and my boyfriend is fucking two girls in a Lust Room right now.”
He grabbed my hand, grimacing. “What did Eros tell you the other day?” he asked. I shrugged. “Don’t do that,” he said.
“Don’t do what?” I asked.
“Didn’t Eros tell you that he didn’t enjoy fucking someone he’s not romantically attracted to? That he’s only faithful to you?”
“Yeah, but—wait.” I stopped walking. “How’d you know about that?”
He gazed down at me with those icy blue eyes. “He tells me everything.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I wish he’d trust me.”
“If he didn’t trust you, he wouldn’t have brought you here. He needs you to understand. He’s in a hard position right now. One wrong move down here and we all die.” After a few moments, he arched a brow. “Are you ready to help him?”
“How am I supposed to help him? He’s not here?” I asked.
Lucifer shook his head and smiled. “You know, when Eros told me about you, he never mentioned this little attitude you have. I’m starting to really like it.”
“This is not the time for jokes, Lucifer.”
We stared at each other for a few moments. Strands of his white hair hung loosely by his face; his jaw was as sharp as ice. “Well, then, let’s get on with the plan. First piece of business, you’re going to flirt with Javier.”
I blew out a breath through my nose. “You’re kidding me,” I said. He shook his head, his annoying aroma of apples drifting to me. “Eros would never want me to flirt with him. We both hate him.”
Eros told me to stay with Lucifer and to avoid Javier. Javier was pure wrath which meant danger—which really meant that he could hurt me more than he already has.
Lucifer placed his hand on the small of my back and lead me through the crowd of demons. Kasey waved me over from the make-shift dance floor, but Lucifer kept on pushing forward. “Do you want to help him or not?”
“He would not want this,” I said. I didn’t know what Lucifer was trying to pull because it was out of character for Eros to agree to something like this.
“You must.”
I stopped in the middle of the fuck-fest that was happening on the dance floor. “Eros might trust you Lucifer, but that doesn’t mean I have to.”
Well, Dani, you trusted him up to this point. You just made yourself look stupid.
Lucifer clenched his jaw. “I’m here to help the true leader of this kingdom claim the throne. Trust me or not, I’m on your side.” He lightly placed his hand on the back of my neck and steered me through the crowd. “Do you want to help Eros?”
There was a bar on the other side of the dancefloor with light pink accent lights under it. Javier was leaning over it, talking to the woman on the other side. I shook my head. “I can’t flirt with him. I’m terrible at it. Why don’t you find a succubus to distract him?”
“No.” Lucifer stopped. “You are going to flirt with him because he wants you and has been staring at you the whole night.”
A few mahogany tables stood in front of the bar. Lucifer placed his drink down on one, then grabbed my hands in his. “Listen, I don’t know where Eros is right now. He could be in that Lust Room or he could be somewhere in the palace. This wasn’t part of the plan,” he said. I closed my eyes. “I can tell you that he cares for you and is doing his best to keep you safe, but you have to do the same. If you don’t at least try to distract Javier, he will look for Eros. And if Eros is in the middle of enacting our plan, then he’s screwed which also means that we’re screwed.”
All I wanted was to run right out of the kingdom, throw away being Queen of Lust for a normal life as a human, continue my internship under Dr. U, and become a psychologist just like her, but I couldn’t. Not only were there guards in every corner of this castle, but I loved Eros.
I loved him, and that would be my downfall.
If I left and he died, I wouldn’t forgive myself. We would deal with this whole complicated situation later. I had to do the one thing I never thought I’d do.
Flirt with Javier to keep Eros safe.
I was going to hate myself for it, but I wasn’t going to let Eros die. It wasn’t who I was.
~~~
Okay, Dani. You can do this. Just distract him. It’d be easy.
Javier leaned over the bar, chatting up the bartender. One hand was stuffed into his pocket, the other was holding his Passion Delight. The cuffs of his shirt were rolled halfway up his forearms.
I stepped in his direction, but Lucifer grabbed my arm and pulled me close. “Do what you have to do—anything you have to do—to distract him. Do you understand?” he asked. I went to reach for Mom’s necklace and swallowed hard when I remembered it wasn’t there.
I had to do this all on my own.
Lucifer nudged me and sat at a table where he could easily watch. I kept my gaze low as I approached the bar—trying to gather all the confidence I had left in myself—and slid onto a stool a few feet away from Javier. I pursed my lips, pretending to look at the drink menu.
Once I felt his gaze burning into me, I glanced at him, eyes lingering longer than they should’ve to let him know that I was interested. His eyes were black pits tinted with the darkest color red. An odd combination that looked so wrathful, yet so alluring.
Javier strolled to me, his finger gliding against my bare back from shoulder to shoulder, making me shiver. “Lonely?” he asked. He rested his forearm against the bar and leaned closer to me.
I gazed at him through my lashes. “What makes you think that?”
He brushed his fingers against my elbow. “Eros has been gone for a while now, probably still fucking those whores.”
Stay calm, Dani. He’s just trying to get under your skin.
“Well, I’m just his pet. Nothing more,” I said. The words came out harsher than I wanted them too. I turned back to the menu. Passion Delight. Vodka with Passion. Red Sangria with a dash of Passion.
Javier smirked and sat next to me. “Really?” He placed his hand on my knee, fingers digging into it lightly. “Because to me it seems like Eros treats you like a queen. Always defending your honor.” He inched closer, and I could smell his intoxicating peppery scent. “I bet he worships your every move, doesn’t he?”
Flirt, Dani. Step up your damn game.
I turned in my seat to face him and watched his gaze flicker to my breasts. “He does, but…” I lightly brushed my foot against his, heart racing.
“But?” he asked, fingers rubbing circles on the insides of my thighs. His eyes were so captivating that if I wasn’t careful, I would fall under his spell too.
I blushed and glanced down, pulling myself away from him. “No.” I shook my head. “No—forget it.”
Javier paused, his finger stopping and digging into my mid-thigh. “But you want to be treated like a pet, don’t you?”
I sucked in a shaky breath and pressed my knees together. I didn’t want to be a pet, but since the other night with Lucifer—since my first night with Eros even—I was slowly discovering my love for lust.
Everyday something new excited me. First it was Eros, standing in my bedroom with black eyes and curved horns—too tempting to pass up. Next, in public while we took a leisurely ride in the bus. Then our threesome with Lucifer. And, now, as I flirted with Javier I realized that there was a world of desire down here and I knew nothing about it—but I wanted to.
This was what Javier wanted, and it had to be what I wanted from him right now too in order to keep him distracted.
Javier walked behind me, placed one hand on my hip as the other trailed up my body and roughly grabbed my chin. “You are a whore, just like I thought.” His breath was on my ear. “My brother never really knew how to treat a woman the way she wanted to be treated in bed.”
God, I really wished Lucifer never let me do this alone.
His fingers lightly traveled down my neck to my breasts. He ran them across the tender skin, so gently that I closed my eyes and pictured it was Eros teasing me, not him. Then he shoved me against the bar, so close that I could feel my breasts about to fall out of my top.
“I should let every incubus have a turn with this perfect little body,” he said. “I bet you love being filled, don’t you?”
I gulped.
He snatched my chin again. “Don’t you?” His voice was harsh.
“Yes,” I whispered. “I love it.”
He chuckled and stuck his fingers into my mouth. And I, shamefully, wrapped my lips around them.
Forgive me, Eros.
Javier chuckled against my ear. “What a good fucking whore you are. I think I’ll keep you to myself for tonight. But tomorrow you’ll get passed around until every incubus and succubus gets their share of you.” He pulled me off of the stool. “Come with me.”
I dug my heels into the ground. Oh, no. This was not part of the plan. I was to stay here and distract him. Not go with him to God-only knows where inside this castle and have him do things to me that I didn’t want to think about.
When I didn’t move, he clenched his jaw. “Come with me,” he said, his eyes turning a deeper red, and his peppery aroma almost becoming overwhelming. So wrathful. So damn terrifying.
Lucifer was leaning back in his chair and staring at me with an empty glass in his hand. This was not what Eros would have wanted.
Javier followed my gaze and frowned. Despite my best efforts to stay at the bar, he dragged me in Lucifer’s direction. “Lucifer, I’m taking your whore for the night. Hope you don’t mind. I’m sure Eros doesn’t.”
As if I were nothing to him, Lucifer stood and swung his suit jacket over his shoulder. “Have fun with her.”
My eyes widened. This wasn’t right. Javier was about to take me to a Lust Room, and Lucifer—Eros’s greatest friend in Hell—was just going to let him. He said that I had to do anything to distract Javier. But sex with Eros’s brother? Eros would never agree to something like that.
I surveyed the room. Guards of Lust and of Wrath were posted at each door. Eros’s parents were watching my every move from the dinner table. I couldn’t run, and, even if I could have, I wouldn’t be able to fight off Javier. He was too strong for me.
He pulled me along, heading directly for the Lust Rooms. At this point, I just wanted to make it out of here alive. I didn’t want to die in the hands of a demon, especially Javier.
So, I followed him in absolute terror. When we passed Lucifer, Lucifer’s fingers brushed against mine, and he pushed something into my hand. I furrowed my brows, balled my hand into a fist, and continued walking.
Whatever it was, I could feel its immense power pumping through me. Energy transferring from it to me. It was small and cool and felt exactly like Eros’s ring.
But why did Lucifer have it? What was I supposed to do with this? I didn’t have pockets, nor did I have time to stuff it somewhere secure. So, before Javier could notice, I slid the ring on.
The ring clamped down onto my finger, squeezing so tightly I thought that it would turn purple, then the metal itself burrowed into my skin until only the thin outer band and the newly added pendant, shaped like a v, was visible.
Javier placed his palm on the back of my neck and led me down a hallway. It looked nearly identical to the hallway at The Lounge, except the doors were far bigger and were spaced out much more. When we approached the end of the hallway, Javier pulled a key out of his pocket.
I had to think of some way to get out of this mess. Maybe I could flirt with him for a long time, play hard to get, hopefully buy myself some more time.
Javier pushed his key into the knob. “All of my mother’s children have a Lust Room, specifically for their use.” He nodded to a room a few doors down and diagonal from his. “This is the first time I’ve seen Eros’s door closed in years.”
The door was closed, and I tried not to imagine who or what was behind it. Thinking about Eros wouldn’t help me now.
Javier pushed his door opened and nodded into his room. I gazed back one last time toward Eros’s door and gulped. Sorry for this, Eros.
His door was suddenly swung open, and Eros stormed out of it and down the hallway in the opposite direction from us, shirtless. I wanted to call out for him to come and get me, but when I noticed the scratch marks on his back and the red bruises on his neck, I could barely move, let alone open my mouth to say anything. At that moment, my whole heart shattered.
Chapter 44
This couldn’t be real. This wasn’t the Eros that I knew. He wouldn’t cheat on me, and if he had to do it, he would’ve told me because he knew how much I hurt after Trevon. Eros loved me and cared about me and yet there he was walking down the hall with proof on his body that he really had sex with those two succubi.
My chin quivered, and I stormed into Javier’s room.
Fuck him. What was this all for now? To make Eros king and throw me to the side like I was nothing to him? Even if there was a sliver of a chance that he would have to do this to seize the throne, I would’ve liked a warning. Something. Anything.
The door shut behind me. “You’re not jealous, are you?” Javier asked.
I pushed back my tears. “No,” I said quietly, staring at the chains hanging from the ceiling next to the king-sized oak bed. “I’m not jealous.” There was a mirror on one side of the room, and I could just imagine Javier getting off watching himself torture women and men in here.
I felt betrayed. Hurt. Furious. Wrathful.
He loosened his tie and began to unbutton his shirt. “I guess you were only a pet to him. Just someone he could use to get off.” He let his shirt hang loosely off his shoulders.
The sensible part of me knew that Javier was trying to rile me up, and it was working.
“Take off your dress,” he said.
So many foreign emotions were rushing through me. Anger. Jealousy. Disgust. I’d never felt this demonic before. But one emotion flowed through my veins, so intensely, that it felt natural.
Lust.
“Take off your dress,” Javier said again firmly.
Would this make me feel better in the weeks to come? No. Would it make me feel better now? I’d have to see.
I reached behind me and unzipped my satin dress, letting it fall to the ground. His gaze traveled down my body, lingering on the lacey lingerie set I put on earlier. At the time, I thought that Eros would be the one to take it off of me when we got home from Hell. Now, it would be Javier.
He stalked toward me, eyes a mahogany red, and unbuckled his belt. When he drew his fingers around my waist, I closed my eyes. It felt so wrong.
Without speaking another word, he spun me around, pushed me onto the bed, and pressed his hardness against my backside. I felt disgusting. He grabbed a fistful of my hair and thrust his fingers into my panties, rubbing me roughly. “One minute you’re sitting in my brother’s lap, the next you’re wet for me.”
Pressure built in my core, and I closed my eyes. There was no going back from this, no trying to repent for my sins. I was in Hell, and I was going to stay here, whether it was my choice or not.
Javier left sloppy, rough kisses down my neck, then my shoulders, then my back. He pushed his hips further into mine until he was pushing against my entrance, and I clenched.
A feeling of disgust washed through me, and I tried to ignore it.
“What do you want, Dani?” he asked.
Not him. I didn’t want him.
He grasped my jaw, his mouth against my ear. “What do you want?” he asked again, so wrathful.
I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head, another feeling of disgust running through me. No matter how much I wanted to forget Eros and just survive down here, I couldn’t do this.
Javier’s palm collided with my cheek, making it numb. I clutched it, my head tingling.
“I said to tell me what you—”
I pushed him off and onto the bed beside me, threw one leg over his, and snatched his chin in my hand. “Don’t you dare slap me.”
“Start acting like a fucking pet and I won’t have to.” Javier grasped my wrist, trying to yank it away from him. But instead of letting go, I tightened my grip. “What are you doing?” He pulled on it more, but I refused to release him. “No wonder why Eros cheated on you. Not only are you a whore, but a crazy one.”
My heart was pumping with pure adrenaline, and I was so damn tired of everyone tonight. I’d been put down, cheated on, tossed to the side like I was nothing. I wasn’t about to listen to another word this no-good scheming piece of—
There was a loud crack. Javier’s eyes widened, and he grasped for breath. “Wha-what are you doing?”
I suddenly was overcome with a craving for pepper, a desire for mahogany eyes, and a power too strong to control. My hands shook, and Javier’s lips looked so damn delicious. I could just taste the energy inside of him.
My mind felt foggy, and everything about him seemed to become much sharper in my vision. The vein violently pulsing in his neck, the shape of his fangs in his mouth, his long and curved horns. There was only one thing I wanted to do.
I pressed my lips to his, feeding off his rage and desire. All I could feel was his wrath and his lust pumping into me, his fingers digging into my skin and setting it ablaze, an intense throbbing in my core. He felt better than Trevon and Eros ever did.
Javier squirmed under me, his claws digging into my wrists, but I didn’t let go. I liked this too much.
When his arms fell limply at his sides and the power between our lips ceased, I pulled away from him and took a deep breath.
