“Sorry about him,” he says, his tone reproachful. “He can be a little…”
“Adorable?” I fill in, warmth seeping into my bloodstream.
“I suppose you can say that.” Completely back in control, Jack places his hand on top of mine, the edge of his thumb brushing against my breast. “Tell me what’s wrong.” He smells like pine and cinnamon, the fragrance curling around me addictively. It settles something inside of me, soothes my monster.
“You sure?”
“Positive.” His tone brooks no room for argument.
Taking a fortifying breath, I admit, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’ve never been a normal monster, but something has changed in the last month.” I push myself up all the way until I’m sitting cross-legged across from him. His hand is still on mine, warmth suffusing me in a delicious, golden glow. “I think I’m scared.”
What is more pathetic than that? A monster being scared.
If my dad could see me now…
“Scared?” Jack winces, rubbing at his forehead. “Hux demands to know who you’re scared of. He offered to…” He pauses briefly as he listens to Hux’s message before relaying it. “He offered to find the…errr…perpetrator, hang them by their toenails, and gut their innards. Then, you’ll dance together in their blood beneath a full moon.”
I practically fucking swoon.
Bloody moonlit dances? I need to take a fan to my overheated ovaries.
“It’s not a person,” I assure my psychopathic monster, and the fire in Jack’s eyes dims to embers. “It’s…it’s you!” Yup. Real smooth, Violet. Real fucking smooth. “That’s not what I meant!” I make a move to facepalm myself only to remember my hand is still connected with Jack’s. Our combined hands end up awkwardly touching my forehead before I drop them both to my lap. “Look, I don’t know how to explain this. I have feelings for…people. Lots of feelings. Feelings I haven’t ever felt before. And…and I’m scared because I have all of these feelings and I don’t know how to deal with them.” My words leave me in a burst of air. Immediately, I want to capture them all and shove them back into my mouth. Embarrassment floods me as I stare intently on a sliver of bamboo flooring visible through the torn carpeting.
“Violet…” Jack begins in a soft voice. It wraps around me like a tightening leash, threatening to propel me straight into his arms. Once I’m there, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to leave again.
“Look at that spider web!” I deflect quickly, pointing to a spider web in the corner of the room. “That’s one sexy-ass spider, if I do say so myself.”
“Violet—”
“Oh, look. There’s a bloodstain on the wall. I never noticed it before. I wonder who was killed here.”
“Violet…”
“And there’s a—” Before I can finish my next observation, Jack breaches the distance between us and kisses me.
Kisses me.
Internally, I’m screaming like a fucking tween holding the hand of her crush. His lips are soft against my own, and licks of fire erupt on my skin.
I hesitantly tangle my fingers in his thick black hair as he kisses me faster and faster, nails pressing into my waist.
You shouldn’t be doing this,a voice whispers in the back of my head. Darkness nips at my heels as Jack’s tongue prods the seam of my lips, demanding entrance. Frankie just confessed that he is your mate. Isn’t this…cheating?
Then why does it feel so right?
I shove those thoughts away—fucking annihilate them—and focus on kissing Jack back with reckless abandon.
For a brief moment, I think that Jack has transitioned into Hux without my knowledge. The kisses are harsh and brutal. He bites down hard on my lower lip, drawing blood, before licking it up. When I meet his hooded eyes framed by glasses, I know that it’s still Jack kissing me, still Jack gripping my waist with a bruising intensity.
I tilt my head to the side, giving him access to my neck. He kisses down the column of my throat, his breathing just as ragged as mine.
I did that. Me. I caused this collected man to unravel in my arms with lust.
Jack stops abruptly, his lips hovering over my fully covered breasts, and wrenches himself away from me. His cheeks are flushed, and his hair is wildly tousled from my hands. The sight of him sends a pang of primal satisfaction and possessiveness through me.
“Hux is so freaking pissed at me,” Jack murmurs, gripping his head. His glasses begin to slide down his nose, but before they can fall off completely, I crawl forward and push them back into place. His eyes flicker up towards mine, a myriad of emotions lurking in those fathomless depths. I could drown in them.
Which would be a pretty shitty way to die, if I’m being completely honest. I met a ghost once who died by drowning, and the girl is still bitter about it to this day. Though I can’t decide if it’s because of how she died or because she died. Semantics.
“These feelings are new to all of us,” Jack begins in a hushed voice. His eyes caress my face, lingering a moment longer on my lips, before he meets my gaze once more. “But you can’t just ignore us, Violet. You can’t shut us out.”
“I…” I don’t know what to say, so instead, I clamp my lips together.
Score one for Violet!
“Please don’t shut us out,” Jack continues, planting a tender kiss to my forehead.
I want to tell him that I’m scared—fucking terrified— that my “feelings” are going to get these men killed. I want to tell him that my heart is a fucking minefield, and no matter how carefully I tread, it always ends up blowing back up in my face.
I don’t.
Instead, I blurt out, “I’m naming the spider Jerry!”
Fuck me.
CHAPTER 4
VIN
I cross my arms over my chest and lean back in the stiff plastic chair. At the front of the room, Mr. Van Helsing—a distant cousin of
