Where’s Molly
: Chapter 19

Two Weeks Later
2022

I call her a little ghost, yet for some reason, I never considered that the brat would actually ghost me.

My blood simmers as I watch her from the depths of the woods surrounding her barn. As usual, the double doors are wide open, allowing the barn to air out. It’s beginning to rain, the cold droplets doing little to cool my temper.

She’s cleaning up after feeding her pigs, having just hung up the phone with the lady who confirms the corpses are disposed of.

She’s meticulous. Has a routine that she doesn’t stray from. And everything has a place.

Except for me, apparently.

A couple of weeks ago, Legion called to inform me Eli was back on the job, but immediately, I knew something was off when he not-so-kindly told me to forget where Molly lives and stay away unless she contacts me herself.

That was all I needed to hear to recognize that she was running.

It shouldn’t have surprised me. Yet, it did.

More than that, it fucking hurt.

And it absolutely enraged me.

I have no doubts that Molly returns my feelings, except she’s completely fucking clueless when it comes to being able to handle those emotions.

She may not have ever been in love, but she also has never met another like me.

And what she seems to forget is that I will never give up on her.

I’ve left her alone for two weeks, sticking to the shadows nearly every night since I got that call. Just observing her go through the motions of life as if I’m not the one who gives it to her. Waiting to see if she’d crack and reach out to me.

She hasn’t, and my patience has waned.

God, how tempting it is to walk up behind her, wrap my hands around that dainty little throat, and show her that the only reason she can breathe is because I fucking allow her to.

“Fuck, you really piss me off,” I bite out beneath my breath. I plunge my hand into my pocket and pull out my pack of gum, popping two pieces in my mouth this time.

I wait until she’s finished at the barn, clicking off the overhead lights before making her way out into the trickling rain. She’s not carrying the bag of clothes and hair that she typically burns when she’s finished, likely due to the rain. Which means she’ll probably wait to scatter the teeth in the mountains.

I contemplate leaving her be for another night. But that lasts all of half a second. My control snaps.

Legion will have to come out of hiding if he wants to try and stop me.

Two weeks without being able to inhale a full breath is torture enough.

Quietly, I make my way through the tall grass, keeping to the shadows as I approach her from behind.

She doesn’t sense me until it’s too late—her instincts having lightened over the past nine years.

She freezes, her shoulders stiffening and hiking to her ears, the panic snapping her spine straight. And then her damp, thick curls are fisted in my hand and I’m jerking her against my chest, my lips at her ear.

“For a little ghost with so many bones, you’re just begging for me to break them,” I growl.

A sharp gasp breaks through the melodic pattering of rain, and a shiver races down her spine so violently I feel it through her skin.

“Cage,” she breathes, the pulse in her neck beating erratically. I’m tempted to press my teeth against it to taste something sweeter than the bitterness coating my tongue.

“What are you doing here?” she chokes out, resisting my hold. But I’ve let her pull away from me for long enough. She’s lucky I don’t sew her goddamn flesh to my own.

“Didn’t I already tell you that I let you disappear on me once and I’m not going to allow it a second time? Did you think I’d just let you go so easily?”

“Yes,” she squeaks when I fist her hair tighter, gritting my teeth as my fury renews. Just when I think I’ve calmed, I’m reminded that she actually tried to ghost me.

No proper explanation. No phone call telling me she doesn’t want to see me again. Not even a fucking shitty breakup text. Just… silence.

“Then I suppose I haven’t made myself clear enough. Allow me to remedy that.”

“Cage, stop it!” she snaps, digging her heels into the wet grass when I shove her toward her house.

When she continues to fight, I scoop her up and throw her over my shoulder with a frustrated snarl.

“Walk away from me one more fucking time, Molly, and I’ll make sure you can’t walk at all.”

“Don’t you dare threaten me, asshole,” she snaps.

While she sends her little fists flying into my back, I send the flat of my palm directly onto her plump ass.

“You dick!” she screeches as the loud slap reverberates into the cool night air.

A dark laugh unleashes from my throat, my muscles tightening with the need to punish her.

“Seems to me that’s exactly what you need right now.”

She huffs out an affronted sound and sends a hand diving into the back of my jeans to grab ahold of the waistband of my briefs, her threat clear.

I narrow my eyes as I climb her wooden porch steps.

“I’d just love to know what you think that’s going to accomplish. If it’s anything other than my cock shoved down your throat, you’re sadly mistaken.”

“You won’t have a cock if I pull hard enough and cut off the circulation.”

Completely unrealistic, but I let her have her little tantrum while I carry her into her house. All the while, she continues to threaten me, likely growing angrier by my lack of concern over a possible atomic wedgie. It’d probably hurt—would definitely piss me off—but it wouldn’t make me drop her like she’s hoping for.

She’s made me into this, and now she has to fucking live with it.

“Cage, I swear to God, if you don’t let me go, I will call Legion—”

“Don’t make me replace that faceless fucker and kill him,” I snap. “He may have saved you before, but he sure as fuck can’t save you now.”

She growls at me, pounding on my back again. “Just let me go, and then we can talk like mature fucking adults!”

“Oh no, baby, you had that chance when you decided to run away rather than fall in love with me. Now, we do it my way.”

She sputters for a moment, astonished. “Fall in lo—what are you talking about, you psycho? Just let me go!”

I smack my palm against her ass a second time, evoking another sharp gasp, but that was only a warning this time. Next, I slip my thumb between her clenched thighs and firmly press where her clit is.

She goes completely still.

“Stop it. Right now.” Her voice is shaky, and those words are standing on grounds being ripped apart by an earthquake. But it isn’t fear saturating her tone like she’d have me believe. The heat between her legs and nails digging into my leather jacket gives her true feelings away.

I can’t help but smirk, rubbing tight little circles through her jeans as I head down the hallway directly ahead and toward her bedroom at the very end.

Little stuttered breaths sneak past her lips, though she tries to contain them, only for her throat to betray her and make a sound of its own.

She can’t escape the pleasure any more than she can escape me. If I allowed it, she’d sooner rip her heart from my chest to steal it back, but unfortunately for her, she doesn’t even realize I have it yet.

And I would never let her take away something so fucking precious.

But fuck, there’s no denying that it’s fun when she tries.

I toe open her door, revealing her bed with an olive green duvet, more distressed furniture, and artful pieces hung on the cream walls.

Standing at the end of her bed, I slide her down my body until I have her legs hooked around my hips.

She’s glaring at me with glittering uncut emeralds, polished until her frustration is evident. Her bottom lip is slightly pouted, and her freckled cheeks are reddened with anger, brightening the white teeth imprint below her right eye.

She may be ferocious, but she’s not very intimidating when she’s cradled in my arms and my palms are cupping her ass.

“You’re so goddamn beautiful,” I murmur, completely enraptured by this woman. Christ, the things I’d do for her and to her. It’s fucking limitless.

“You’re being incredibly disrespectful right now,” she snips.

My stare drifts to those plump lips that are just begging for me to bite them. “I haven’t even begun to disrespect you yet, baby. But my God, how I look forward to it.”

Her eyes narrow into thin slits, though her cheeks flush brighter.

“We can’t be together, Cage,” she states firmly, but once again, her words are brittle.

“Why’s that?” I ask casually, still studying every inch of her face.

“B-because! I said so! I’m better off alone.”

I offer my dry gaze for all of two seconds, ensuring she can see just how weak of an excuse that was.

We both know she doesn’t have a truly good reason other than her being scared.

She huffs. “Maybe I just don’t want a relationship. Is that not a valid enough reason? Do my feelings not matter?”

She’s glancing away, unable to keep her stare hooked to mine now.

Running. She’s running as we fucking speak. And that irritates me.

It’s my turn to narrow my eyes, a disgruntled growl building in my chest. Instead of answering, I toe off my boots and climb onto the bed, dropping her flat on her back with a startled exhale.

She attempts to scramble away, but I’ve already anticipated her move and have her wrists pinned above her head before she can make it two inches.

Stray curls fall over her face, and she pants from below me, seething at me with a fire that rivals the heat emanating from her pretty little cunt.

“You’re scared, and I get that. You’ve been alone nearly your entire life and don’t know what it feels like to have someone take care of you. Fine, we can work through that.” Then, I lower my voice, ensuring she can see just how fucking serious I am. “But what I will not do is allow you to run from me.”

I lean down until my lips are a hairsbreadth away from hers, her breath warming my face in short bursts.

“Don’t worry, little ghost. I’m going to teach you how to spend forever with me.”

She blinks up at me with widened eyes filled with bewilderment.

“You’re crazy,” she breathes.

“About you,” I correct. “I’m crazy about you.”

“You barely know me.”

“I know you better than you know yourself,” I retort, my stare drifting back down to her pink mouth. “I don’t need to know your favorite color to know that I was the first man to make you feel good in your own body.”

That pouty bottom lip curls between her straight teeth, and I can’t help the burn of jealousy. I want to bite it.

“Do you think it’s better for me to know if you prefer bacon over sausage in the morning or that you’ve fought like fucking hell to get to where you are and would eat both just because you can?”

She cocks a brow. “You think I eat pigs for breakfast?”

The corners of my lips tip up, and my voice drops into a whisper. “I think you’d eat it right in front of them because you enjoy the morbidity of it just as much as chopping up dead people as their food.”

“I think you’re searching for things to love, but eventually, you’re going to realize that I was never meant to be happy, and you’re only wasting your time.”

My chest tightens at the sorrow in her eyes, and the burning desire to fix it is insatiable. I will never know peace for as long as Molly Devereaux is sad.

“You can’t fix me,” she finishes.

“I don’t want to fix you, Molly. There’s nothing to mend when you’ve already done that yourself. The only thing I will do is ensure there isn’t a single part of you that is empty. Your life, your heart, and your sweet pussy.” I lean in closer until my lips lightly rest against hers. “Filling you will never be a waste of my time.”

I’m crushing my mouth to hers before she can respond. She doesn’t need to when her body is already doing so. Her back arches, pressing her chest against mine, and her lips part easily beneath the pressure of my tongue.

A little moan brushes the roof of my mouth, and it’s the only confirmation I need that while she may run again, she sure as fuck loves being caught.

I pull away, catching her heavy-lidded stare. “Tell me that you’re mine.”

Her brows furrow, a small frown tipping down her swollen lips. “Since walking into your store, I don’t think there was ever a time that I wasn’t, Cage.”