Chapter-8, part-2

CONTINUE

“Such a pretty bird,” he murmurs, satisfaction tightening his

voice.

Breathless, but somehow even hungrier, I lift up on my toes

and crush my mouth to his. He hums his approval, spearing my

lips apart with his tongue. Then, his hand drifts up and breaks the

kiss with a digit drifting across my bottom lip, spreading my

arousal.

“You’ve left a mess on my hand, Addie. It’d be rude not to clean

it up.”

I

hold eye contact while my tongue darts out, the tip sliding

across his finger. He smiles wickedly, prompting me to open my

mouth wider.

Just as his finger goes to slide in, an icy feeling washes over

me. It feels like the waves I was drifting in have turned angry and

are ramming my body into the unforgiving rock.

My mouth stalls and my eyes dart over his shoulder. It’s dark in

here, save for the moonlight and bright sky, but it feels like I’m in a

room filled with stadium lights.

A movement straight ahead turns my heart upside down and

sends it crashing to the pit of my stomach.

He’s out there.

I can’t see him, or even make out his silhouette. But I know he

is. I can feel him.

Noticing the change, Arch pulls away, breathing heavily and

looking at me like he can’t decide if he wants to ask if I’m okay or

just keep going anyway.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, grabbing my biceps in an attempt to

grab my attention.

“Nothing,” I rush out, bringing him closer. “Let’s go upstairs to

my room instead.”

I’m no longer feeling cocky enough to fuck a man in front of a

crazy person. The high from my release has completely dissipated

my confidence.

But I’m too stubborn to stop. I want Arch. I just don’t want any

voyeurs while I take him.

“You don’t want to get your pussy eaten under the stars?” he

asks incredulously, looking at me as if I’ve grown a second head.

“I do, but I…” I trail off when another movement draws my

attention away.

Arch steps forward, pressing against me and pulling my

attention back to him. I have to crane my neck to see him properly

and the sight is one I’ll never forget.

“I think you should strip off your clothes and show me that sexy

little body of yours. Then I want you to lie down, spread your legs,

and let me clean up the mess you made.”

An entirely embarrassing squeak slips out. A sound that

immediately brings a smirk to his face and blood rushing to my

cheeks, the creep momentarily forgotten.

Real smooth, dipshit.

I take a step back, heat slithering across my body as I drift my

hands down my sides and hook both thumbs into my jeans.

Just as I go to slide them down my legs, a loud bang disturbs

the charged silence and sends my heart flying to my throat. I yelp,

startled and way too close to pissing my pants from the angry

knocking.

Arch's head snaps towards the sound, clearly just as startled.

“Expecting company?” Arch asks, his voice a tad breathless.

My own erratic breathing is uneven as I say, “No.”

It’s fucking de ja vu, and even though I saw it coming this time,

I’m incredibly close to stomping my foot like a child. Unlike with

Greyson, I was actually enjoying myself.

He rushes back into the hallway and down towards the front

door with me hot on his heels. I’m buttoning and zipping my pants

as I go, already sensing that this night is over.

The hallway leads straight back to the foyer, the entryway to

the right of the staircase. Pausing before the entrance, he turns to

me and grabs ahold of me.

“Stay in the hallway. Whoever it is, I don’t want them seeing

you.”

He hesitates, a weird look passing on his face. Before I can

decipher it, he’s speaking again, his voice strained. “Call the cops

if shit goes south.”

I’m not capable of stringing together a coherent sentence, the

panic stealing my sense.

I

should’ve told him I have a stalker, and I thought I saw

something when we were in the sunroom, but everything

happened too fast and now he’s actively putting himself in danger.

The situation turns me on just as much as it terrifies me. I need

to check myself into a mental hospital if I survive this night.

Because my shadow is pissed. Just like he was when Greyson

was here, and I have no idea how dangerous this guy is, but he

could be here to kill us both.

Especially now that he watched another man make me come

with the very hand he threatened to cut off and put in my mailbox.

I drop my head in my hands, instant regret filling up my body

like a waterfall in a lake. I’m bursting with it because if the stalker

is as insane as he says he is, then I just possibly got a man killed.

Or at least brutally mutilated.

I hear the door creak open. My head snaps up in response.

“Come on out, fucker. I know you’re out there,” Arch threatens

loudly.

Peeking around the corner, I watch Arch step outside. But not

before he pulls a gun out. Eyes bulging, my mouth falls open and I

wonder just who the hell I let in my house. He shuts the door

behind him, the resounding click of the door echoing in my head.

Looks like I was wrong and did happen to find someone willing

to kill for me. Jury's out on the fucking part, but if his foreplay is

any indication, I think he would’ve done well in that department,

too. Now more than ever, I want to kill this creep myself.

I finally find a man capable of satisfying me, and this asshole is

ruining it.

God? I know we don’t always agree on my life choices, but

please don’t let this poor man die because of me. I’ll stop drinking.

I mean it this time.

And I also pray that Arch has good aim. If I walk out and find

the weirdo with a bullet in his skull, I won’t mourn his death.

For the next several minutes, I hear nothing at all. It’s hard to

when my heart is pounding in my ears, but there would be no

mistaking a gunshot.

Fuck, I can’t handle this suspense. No longer capable of

waiting, I rush over to the window beside the door and peek out.

Arch's car is still sitting in my driveway, but I don’t see anything

else. No bodies. Nothing.

Shooting a quick prayer to my least favorite person at the

moment, I open the door slowly, listening for any sounds of

distress or fighting.

When I’m greeted with nothing but the chirping of crickets, I

open the door wider and step out.

The crunch of something under my foot cements my body into

stone.

I close my eyes, another prayer on my tongue. If I stepped on a

body part… oh my god—I’m going to freak.

Taking a few short breaths, I move my foot away and look

down.

A rose, the petals crumpled from my foot.

“Oh, fuck,” I mutter, bending down to pick up the rose. The

thorns are snipped, preventing it from cutting me, but it doesn’t

matter—this rose has not been deprived of one’s pain.

Dripping off the petals and onto my boot is fresh blood. Arch is

gone, and all that’s left of him is a bloody rose.

Yanking my phone out of my back pocket, I unlock it to call the

cops, hands trembling. The phone lights up and that’s when I see

another text—the one that came through in the club, and the one I

dutifully ignored.

UNKNOWN: Don’t feel guilty, baby. I don’t make idle

threats, so consider this a lesson learned.

Red and blue lights brighten the world before me, and the

flashing colors make me feel sick. Dread is pooling in the pit of my

stomach while police officers and dogs search the surrounding

area.

An officer has confiscated the rose, yet the blood has stained

my hands—physically and metaphorically. I rub my fingers

together, watching the dried blood flake from my skin.

A tear escapes, but I quickly wipe it away.

I killed a man.

I brought him here knowing someone dangerous was lurking,

and I did it anyway.

And now he’s gone.

“Ma’am? I need to ask you a few questions,” Sheriff Walters

says, walking towards the porch steps that I’m currently sitting on.

I’ve known him since I was a child. He went to school with my

mother, and they were good friends. Every now and again, she’d

invite him over for dinner. He’s always been kind. Quiet and soft

spoken, he always seemed more interested in listening than

speaking.

He’s a tall, built man, towering to at least six-seven. I think his

family descends from giants because his father and brothers are

just as freakishly large. His father was a sheriff, and his father

before. Pretty sure a couple of his brothers are cops, too.

One big family of gigantic cops. Just what the world needs,

right.

Scruff peppers Sheriff Walters’s cheeks, and his brown eyes

are tired and wary.

I already gave the run down to the responding officer, but when

I told him a man was missing and I was gifted a bloody rose, he

was more concerned about getting a search party going.

Considering dense woods surround me, it’s likely the man took

Arch on foot until he managed to get him into a car somewhere

and drive off.

I sniff, wiping snot from my nose and nodding my head.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Can you give me the name of the man who was with you here

tonight?”

“Archibald Talaverra,” I answer robotically. I guess Arch being

pretentious and giving me his full name paid off. I almost smile,

yet it’s anything but funny.

The sheriff doesn’t speak right away. I glance at him and note

his bushy black eyebrows are raised high on his forehead.

“Talaverra, huh? This man might’ve done you a favor,” he says,

muttering the last part.

“What?” I squeak out, the corners of my eyes rounding.

The sheriff sighs and runs a hand through his thick, dark hair.

In his younger years, I’m sure he was attractive. But now, silver is

invading his hair, and wrinkles line the edges of his eyes and

mouth. He looks aged and weathered, and over the years, I’ve

watched his eyes grow dull and tired.

“The Talaverra’s are known criminals,” he informs me.

My eyes pop, and in that moment, I realize my mother did a

terrible job raising me. My life choices are questionable at best

lately.

I’m going to need to have a long hard talk with the She-Devil

from above. She’s been trying to kill me off, I think. And I’m

starting to wonder if I should just let Her.

“What kind of criminals?”

Sheriff Walters twists his chapped lips to the side, seeming to

contemplate what he wants to say.

“Nothing has been proven. Never any sufficient evidence. But

they deal in cocaine primarily. Allegedly,” he tacks on at the end,

side-eyeing me. “What I can say is Archibald has been accused of

domestic violence by his ex-wife several times. He’s gotten out of

the charges unscathed, of course. But he’s known to be a very

violent man.”

I turn my head and cover my face with my hands.

Sheriff Walters pats my back awkwardly, assuming I’m crying.

But my eyes are as dry as the Sahara Desert. I’m too angry to cry.

Angry at myself for being so stupid and taking a random man

home.

Angry for getting that man killed. A man that is connected to a

dangerous family.

“Will his family come after me?”

“No,” he responds sharply. “That family has a list of enemies a

mile long. They’re not going to concern themselves with a random

girl. They might look into you, but when they don’t find anything,

they’ll start looking into whoever they pissed off.”

I nod my head, slightly assured by that.

“That is, if they don’t find out about the rose.”

My heart sinks like a rock into a well. I lift my head and look at

him, catching onto his meaning.

“That rose was personal, Adeline. Do you know what it

means?”

“I… I have a stalker. I’ve made several reports lately about my

house being broken into and roses popping up everywhere I go.”

The sheriff’s brows scrunch.

“I looked into your file. There are no reports made about a

stalker.”

My spine snaps straight as shock blasts through me.

“What do you mean?” I ask, my voice shrill and angry. “I’ve

made several!”

“Calm down,” Sheriff Walters says, splaying his hands out in a

gesture that matches his words. “I’ll take a deeper look when I get

back to the precinct. Can you tell me now what’s been going on?”

Forcing my heart to slow, I relay everything that’s been

happening. With the random glasses of alcohol being drunk while

I was home alone. The roses. And the notecard with the ominous

threat.

Sheriff Walters listens tentatively, pulling out a notepad and

taking notes as I speak. When I’m finished, I feel even more

exhausted than before.

“I’ll

look into it. But Adeline? You understand that if the

Talaverra’s find out you have a stalker, they might place blame?”

I rear back, completely baffled that a cop is warning me that a

criminal family could come after me. But he’s never been one to

sugarcoat or hide truths. On several occasions, my dad would ask

details about certain things, and the sheriff would always divulge

whatever he was allowed to.

There were a few times Mom had to snap at the two men for

grisly conversations at the dinner table—in front of a child, no

less. Sheriff Walters would apologize, but he never actually looked

sorry.

“I’ll do everything in my power to stop that from happening,” he

assures. Somehow, that doesn’t make me feel any better in the

slightest.

Sighing, I turn away and stare out into the dense trees, the red

and blue lights flickering and creating a shadow dance party.

I nod my head, accepting his help for what it is. This man isn’t

going to be able to do a damn thing to stop a criminal from

walking up to my doorstep.

Whether it’s a crime family or a fucking stalker

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