Love and War: Part One (Shadows in the Dark Book 1)
Love and War: Part One – Chapter 14

I park the truck, waiting on the others to show up. “I like that outfit much better.”

She’s smiling at me when I look at her. “The only costume I had was ruined. Ripped up jeans and a tee shirt with fake blood was all I could come up with. Besides, I don’t know what the big deal is. I’ve worn that costume before —why I had it on hand.”

“What you wore, who you did, or where you went before your cunt was hungry for my cock I have no control over. Now I do. It ended up exactly where it belongs. The trash.”

“Funny. I was under the impression guys thought that kind of thing was sexy. I guess I was wrong . . .”

“Secrets are to be kept, not shared. I don’t want other guys looking at your body like that. I kept my mouth shut over the pink underwear you called shorts.”

“Because you can avoid it with more clothing? And you did not keep your mouth shut, you just let it go. People are going to look if they want to. You don’t show much of anything and I see the way girls drool over you while you tattoo them.”

“I wouldn’t know anything about that. When I tattoo I’m inside my head not staring at the tits and ass of who’s in my chair.”

She rolls her eyes. “You’re the only guy I would actually believe that coming from. Getting your attention is hard as fuck. But you’re missing my point. If someone wants to think of me that way there is nothing you nor I can do about it.”

“I can lower the ratio this way.”

“Because you’re crazy like that.”

“Call it what you want.”

“I don’t know why it bothers you. My body isn’t that great anyway. I just don’t give a shit whether other people think so or not.”

“Delta, have you lost your damn mind?”

“It’s still there as far as I know.”

“Your body is fine.”

“That’s what I’m saying. It’s average.”

She digs through her purse and pulls out a cigarette and lighter, placing the filter between her lips. I grab it before she gets the flame to the paper. “Your body is fucking perfect. If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t want to keep it for myself, so stop trying to destroy it.”

I snap it in two and put it in the trash bag. She dramatically tosses the lighter back in her purse. “Are you kidding? That was a perfectly good cigarette you just broke. You’re going to force me to snort cocaine but you’re not going to let me smoke? That is hardly sensible.”

“That will not become a habit. Drugs are part of the job, not a pastime. Recreational use will never happen as long as you’re with me. I don’t tolerate addicts. These are permanently bad for you. Just research the ingredients. You may need your body for something one day aside from looks.”

Her head falls back against the seat. “God, you’re nuts. Why do you have to be so damn hot?” She turns toward me. “I haven’t had one in hours. You can’t expect me to just quit cold turkey. I’ve been smoking since I was sixteen. I promise I’ll try.”

I open my console and hand her the pack of gum sitting inside. “It’s just an oral fixation. It’ll only control you if you let it.”

She snaps her fingers, getting angry. Too bad anger is something I handle very well. “Oral fixation, my ass. I need it, my nerves need it, especially to deal with your secretive lifestyle. Unless you want me to resort to sucking your dick every time I get a craving then leave the smoking thing alone. Gum doesn’t do shit.”

I stare at her, my hand pressing down on my inner thigh. “You can’t just say that kind of shit to a guy.”

“Kross, I accepted your bad habits. It’s kind of hypocritical to not accept mine.”

“You’re not going to keep putting that shit in your lungs. If you want to kill yourself with someone else, then fine.”

She glares at me. “It’s really unfortunate you have such an amazing dick that you know how to use so well.”

“If I have to fill one hole to keep that out of the other that’s fine. Stop being dramatic.”

“Speaking of, what are you going to tell them when they get here and ask why we’re together? I could have driven myself.”

“The truth, if anything. No reason to lie.”

Remington’s truck pulls up next to mine, Wesson sitting in the passenger seat. “Which is?”

“You’re with me. Let’s go.”

“Like my boyfriend?”

“That’s what was discussed, wasn’t it?”

“I hardly thought you’d take that seriously.”

“You thought wrong.”

Delta

I scream when a hand reaches out and touches me as we walk through the dark house, running into Kross’s back, my heart pounding. “Shit.”

I’ve been holding the back of his shirt in my fist just like everyone else in this single file line the entire time. He’s in the front and hasn’t even flinched. I think I underestimated this a little. It’s much worse when they’re popping out of corners and touching you instead of being trapped behind the television screen.

The creepy haunting music is blaring. I watch scary movies on mute just to avoid this. It’s always less scary without it. Even the house looks fucking abandoned. It reminds me of the Blair Witch Project. I was not the same for a really long time after watching that twisted, fucked-up shit. Creepy wooded areas at dark are nowhere on my radar.

A flashlight beam blinds me. I turn my head, realizing a fucking clown with sharp, pointy teeth, blood running down the corners, is holding it, waving a bloody knife at me. “Fuck you!” I scream, taking off in the opposite direction, quickly getting lost in a maze of darkness and lights and sounds, completely leaving the line behind against the instructions at the beginning of the tour.

A hand grabs my arm in a dark spot, causing me to kick, jerk, scream, and hit as I’m pulled through a door, my eyes clenched shut. I can’t breathe, my chest feeling like it’s caving in. The adrenaline pumping through my body is making my head hurt. His body wraps around me, holding me to his front, and then he starts laughing. A real laugh, something I’ve never heard out of him. It’s a beautiful sound.

Laughter.

I wasn’t sure a trait of something so light and happy existed in such a man as him. In all of his coldness and arrogance, I never thought I would experience it. Dry laughs don’t count.

It’s as if a small window has opened in a room of darkness with a beam of light shining through and he’s letting me see the tiniest bit of what lies within him. It may not be sunshine, but moonlight is good enough. And in consequence, I melt into his hold in a way I’ve never done with a man, and I soak it all in.

Safe.

I feel safe.

My arms wrap around him and I finally open my eyes. We’re outside. The chaos has ended and what remains is nothing but peace. He feels stronger this way. I stand completely still, feeling and listening, all of the fear disappearing.

His laugh runs dry, but the slight smirk sets in place. “I thought you were supposed to be a badass.”

“Shut up. I never want to discuss this again. I don’t do fucking clowns. Everything else I can deal with.”

“What? Why? They hardly belong in a world of horror. They’re completely harmless and more of a happy kid-friendly circus thing than anything else.”

“You have your opinions and I have mine. They’re scary. They live under beds and probably in closets, waiting to show you that they’re anything but ‘kid-friendly’. Haven’t you seen Stephen King’s It? And before you ask, no, I didn’t watch the remake.” I pause, realizing he’s not tense in the least. “Does anything scare you?”

He actually pulls me tighter, surprising me, the smell of his cologne attacking every feminine molecule in my body, making me crave more. I never want this to end. “The scariest things are disguised as normal people, Delta. That stuff in there is a walk in the park compared to what I’m scared of.”

And this is the moment that I realize his demons are so much more real than I originally thought . . .