“Tonight,” I say quietly, a frown tugging at my lips.
What are you doing, Addie?
Zade picks me up in a classic Mustang. The metal gleams in the moonlight, glinting off the rock in the sky as if it was built to be seen after sundown.
Shakily, I make my way down the porch steps. I wrap my long trench coat tighter around my body, partly to ward off the chill and partly to ward off the anxiety stirring in my gut.
I can’t tell if I have a bad feeling about tonight or not. What I do know is that whatever happens, I’m going to see Zade in an entirely new light and discover new things about him. Things that might make me hate him more… or less.
And the latter is what I’m scared of most.
Before I can make my way to the car, his driver’s side door is swinging open, and a suit-clad leg is stepping out.
Oxygen crystallizes in my lungs as Zade takes one last hit of his cigarette before flicking it to the ground and stomping it out. Smoke billows from his mouth as he looks at me from beneath hooded eyes.
Jesus Christ.
“You shouldn’t litter,” I say hoarsely, earning a slight grin in return. He bends and picks up the cigarette butt and deposits it in his pocket.
“Sorry, baby,” he rasps. “Won’t happen again.”
I can hardly say thank you when I’m too enraptured by the dark God before me.
He’s absolutely breathtaking. And I’d like to blame the cold autumn air on the ice in my lungs, but I know better.
Zade is adorned in an all-black suit. Every single inch of the fabric stitched to the exact millimeter of his body. It fits him impeccably, molding to his muscular arms, trimmed waist, and thick thighs.
My knees weaken, along with my resolve.
I have the most insane urge to turn around, walk back in that house, bend over the couch and let him fuck the rest of whatever sanity I have left out of me.
I want to be delirious from his cock, and to make matters worse, I know he would absolutely surpass every one of my expectations if I let him.
God?
I don’t even get to finish that thought before he’s walking towards me, a sinfully dark smirk on his face.
The black suit does nothing but darken his aura. Zade is Hades, stepping out from the underworld and wreaking havoc on my quiet little life. The wicked scar cutting through his nearly-white eye, with his other nearly-black eye is a combination that could only be forged in Hell.
It’s just not fucking fair.
“You’re fucking magnificent,” he growls as he stalks towards me, his shiny shoes reflecting the moonlight. His voice is deeper than normal—smokier. Deadlier.
It’s only when his hand rises towards my face that I notice the single red rose in his hand. He slips the flower behind my curls, biting back a smile as he does.
I hold my breath. I feel just like a mouse caught in a trap, with my predator licking his lips, ready to eat me alive.
Before I can open my mouth, he’s pressing into me and grabbing my trench coat, wrenching it apart and down my arms. I gasp, both shocked by his actions and the cold licking against my skin.
“What the he—”
“You wore the dress I bought you,” he interrupts, his mismatched eyes roving over the entirety of my body.
I swallow and give him a look. “I wore it out of convenience. I hate dress shopping.”
He barely acknowledges me—we both know that’s not why I wore it—and focuses his attention on every inch of my body. Flames lap at his pupils as the heat in his gaze intensifies.
My coat dangles in his hand, and I glare at it, willing it to magically appear back on my body.
A cold sweat breaks out across my forehead. I feel exposed, and the way he’s looking at me is searing me from the inside out.
I’m just… really fucking uncomfortable right now.
I hold my hand out expectantly. “Are you done holding my coat hostage? I’m freezing.”
His eyes finally draw back to my own. A shiver snakes down my spine, slithering against my shot nerve endings.
God, the way he’s looking at me should be fucking illegal.
Instead of doing as I ask, he grabs my outstretched hand in his own and inspects it closely, his brow lowered as he concentrates.
“The hell are you doing, Zade?”
The slightest curl to his lips and my mouth instantly dries. I’ll never get over how easily he morphs from man to beast.
“Just trying to picture what ring would look best on your finger,” he says lightly. As if he didn’t just send my heart flying into my throat.
Swallowing, I slide my hand from his. “What if I don’t want one? I would say no.”
Slowly, he drags his eyes up to mine, and the intensity of his stare has me questioning why I just can’t be agreeable for once. It would save time and spare me from his smooth lines that never cease to fail. At least not completely.
Maybe I’m just addicted to the fear and excitement he awakens in me when he looks at me… just like that.
Like the beast readying to consume its prey, painfully slow. And I hope he does go slow. Drags out the torture of being caught between Zade's teeth.
His hand drifts slowly up past my chest, gently grazing his fingers across the column of my neck. And then, in an instant, his hand is snapping around my throat, gripping tight.
I gasp, my eyes widening as his lip curls into a sinister smile.
“I can put a collar around this pretty neck of yours instead. Then you wouldn’t have the option to say no. You would just be my good little girl that does whatever your master says. Would you like that better, baby?”
“No,” I snarl, but it tastes like a lie. “You don’t own me. You never will.”
His eyes narrow, and my heart drops.
“Take off my belt, Adeline.” I gape at him, and when I don’t make a move, his hand tightens. “Make me ask again and see what happens.”
Clenching my jaw, I reach out and undo the black belt around his waist. I rip it off, not caring if it breaks. The movement jerks him, and he only grins in return.
He’s evil.
I dangle the belt between us like I’m holding a dead snake. With the grin still on his smug face, he grabs it from me and lets my throat go.
Just as I suck in a deep breath, he’s wrapping the belt around my neck, looping it through the buckle, and pulling tight. My eyes bulge like a fish, the metal biting into my skin as the belt constricts.
The snake wasn’t dead—it’s become a python wrapped around my throat.
My hands instinctively claw at the belt, but Zade swats my hands away. “You can breathe, little mouse. Don’t panic.”
It takes several seconds of hyperventilating to realize he’s right. I can breathe. Just not very well.
When I calm, tears spring to my eyes as I glare heatedly at Zade. His grin only widens.
“I think this will do for now,” he murmurs, observing my trembling body. Icy wind gusts, and I shiver in response, goosebumps smattered across my exposed flesh.
“Now get on your knees.”
Again, my eyes widen, though this time in outrage. “You’ve got to be fuck—”
He tightens the belt again, and I cough from the strain. Glaring at him some more, I snap my mouth shut, lift up my dress and crouch down, making sure the fabric is gathered on my lap and away from the muddy ground.
I’m not ruining this dress so he can get his power trip in.