Fear The Reapers: A Dark Mafia Romance (Lovesick Villains Book 1)
Fear The Reapers: Chapter 25

After dinner, I walked Stevie back to her bedroom. Alessandro had set up a little surprise for her and the sappy fuck that I was, wanted to see her reaction. When Stevie was genuinely happy, her eyes turned into these glossy little almonds that I could’ve sworn fucking sparkled. It was stupid, but I couldn’t get the goddamn thought of seeing the sparkle out of my head.

“What’s all this?” She asked as she pushed through her bedroom door and spotted the bar cart.

“All the ingredients to make a Hellhound.” I said, leaning up against the door frame.

“That… is surprisingly cool of you.” She said as her hand reached out to palm one of the freshly cut 34egrapefruits.

“Yup, I’m chock full of surprises.” I said, backing away from her door. “Have a good night, Princess.”

“Wait.” She called out, halting my retreat. “You aren’t going to drink with me?”

I spun around to face her.

“I wasn’t planning on it.” I answered honestly.

“Come on, you’re going to make me drink alone?”

I could feel her chestnut eyes boring into me, willing me to stay. I knew that the moment I looked up again, my eyes would lock with hers and I would be done for.

Fuck it. If I was going to hell anyway, one drink with a beautiful girl wouldn’t kill me.

“Fine.” I conceded with a smirk. “One drink.”

◆◆◆

“You’re lying!” Stevie howled as she took another sip of her hellhound and flashed me an enormous smile.

“I swear to God.” I said, shrugging my shoulders as I leaned back into the cream armchair. “If they had caught us, Tris and I would’ve been the only seven-year-olds in Caspian Valley to ever go to jail. We were some bad-ass little kids.”

“God, I could totally picture you all as mini versions of yourself.” She said, shaking her head with a smile before stepping towards the bar cart.

“Ready for another?” She asked as she swirled the half-empty bottle of vodka.

“Are you trying to get me drunk, Miss Alexander?” I joked, playfully scowling at her.

“Possibly…” she retorted with a grin, “is it working Mr. Cole?”

I shook my head and smiled.

She had me feeling like a drunken idiot alright. The strange thing was, it had nothing to do with the alcohol coursing through my system.

When we first met, I had the distinct impression that she was some spoiled princess. Rebelling against Daddy because he didn’t give her everything she wanted. But after getting to know her over the last few days, I had the nagging feeling that my assumptions were way off.

People rarely surprised me, yet she was a walking contradiction. She never said or did anything I expected her to, and frankly, it was hard to keep up with her.

Stevie was an enigma. A force energy that crashes into your life and fucks everything up or unfucks everything up depending on how you perceived it. She was fascinating. A complex puzzle that the problem solver within me was dying to solve. I needed to know more about what made her tick.

“So, Stevie Alexander, what is it you want out of life?”

“Come on,” she said, raising a brow as she shook her head at me, “you can’t ask me that.”

“Why not?” I responded, taking another sip of my drink.

“I don’t know. Given my situation, can I even want things anymore?”

“Of course you can. Being here isn’t a death sentence.”

“So says one of the assholes holding me captive…” She deadpanned, staring off into the night sky that encompassed her room’s entire far wall.

The turn of the conversation instantly sobered me up. I stared at her disappointed expression and wanted to kick myself for even bringing it up. She was just telling the truth, so why did her words bother me so much?

Probably because I was the stupid fuck that decided to ‘wine and dine’ our fucking toy. What for? To win her over? I didn’t need to win her over, she was stuck here whether she liked it or not.

Shooting up from my seat, I moved to gather my suit jacket and leave. I had overstayed my welcome as it was, and I didn’t need to let this conversation get any more out of hand. She belonged to us, and listening to her complain about it would only result in me fucking everything up. Feeling sorry for her wasn’t an option.

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