Jared and Aurora break their kiss then look down at me. Jared grasps my hand, placing it on Aurora’s thigh. Her skin is so soft and silky, her scent involuntarily making my mouth water. I can’t help myself; I slowly let it move up her body, feeling the heat of her sex against my hand. She parts her legs, allowing me to cup it through the lace of her panties. Hearing her moan in response, along with Dorian between my thighs still strumming my own sex, only encourages me. I let my fingers stroke her wetness, the thin layer of fabric our only barrier. She leans over and places her pink lips around my hardened nipple as we both cry out our satisfaction in lustful harmony.
With hooded eyes, I look over at Jared as he grips his massive erection in his hand. I gulp, my eyes widening with shock and delight at his size. He smiles at my reaction.
Well, shit. Aurora wasn’t lying.
As if she heard her name in my salacious thoughts, Aurora licks a path up from my breasts to my mouth. Feeling her small, soft tongue in my mouth, her warm lips working against mine and smelling her scent drives me absolutely mad. My hand knots in her long hair, while the fingers of my other hook inside her panties.
When she lifts her face from mine, completely overcome with ecstasy and whimpering, I see that Jared and Dorian have switched places once more. Dorian is beside me, wearing his usual wicked grin as he watches Aurora and I touch each other. Jared’s long fingers are inside me, preparing me, while he spreads my legs wider. And just as his insanely large length begins stretch me open, Dorian grabs Aurora by the back of her head and crushes her mouth to his…
I thrash awake, gasping for air, nearly naked and disoriented. The fuck? Did I just…No. It was just a dream. A ridiculously freaky, tempting dream, but just a dream. Whew.
Where am I? I can’t remember anything past…being on the dance floor? Shit. I look around me, taking in my surroundings. Dorian’s bedroom. I’m in his bed, dressed only in boy shorts and a sheer cami, the slick satin cool against my slightly stinging back. I look up to see Dorian hovering over me sitting on his knees, his hands alight with cold, blue flames touching my bare stomach. His eyes rapidly meet mine, too quickly for any human.
“Better?” he asks. He’s shirtless, wearing only low-hung jeans around the severe cut of his hips.
I mentally assess my sudden coherency. Moments before, I didn’t even know how I had arrived here, indicating that I was too inebriated to make it here on my own. What happened back at the club? Oh crap crap crap. Did I make a fool out of myself? I obviously blacked out and Dorian took care of me. But when?
“Yes,” I respond. And I do; somehow I feel absolutely fine. A bit shaken by the dream, but fine nonetheless.
“Good” he replies solemnly. Dorian removes his hands from my abdomen, closing them to extinguish the mystical flames and sits up. I steadily do the same.
He must have felt my arousal. He must’ve sensed I was dreaming about more than just his body on mine. Shit. Oh well, might as well face the music.
“Did you feel…?” I whisper, more than a bit ashamed at my colorful imagination.
“Yes.”
Crap. “You didn’t…I mean, you didn’t plant that dream, right?”
He shakes his head. “No, little girl. I didn’t.”
I furrow my brow. “If not you, than who? Aurora?”
The corner of Dorian’s lips twitch in amusement. “No, Gabriella. That was you. That was all you.”
Me? Oh hell no! I would never even think of having an orgy, let alone participate in one. I mean, Dorian and Jared at the same time is the fantasy to top all fantasies, but Aurora… No, that’ll never happen.
“I thought you said the Dark couldn’t heal,” I say, hoping to steer the conversation onto something a little less sexually immoral.
“We can’t. I simply absorbed the alcohol in your body.”
So that’s what he did for me that night after our tequila-filled fiesta. The question had been gnawing at me for a week. A week? That’s all it’s been? Only a week since I saw him, dreamt of him. Only a week since I willingly touched myself in hopes to entice him on the beach. The Dark King. Crap. Get outta my head! I’m like a horny teenager on Red Bull and Viagra!
“Thank you. I would have been no fun.” My eyes grow wide with terror. “Please tell me I didn’t do anything embarrassing. Oh God…I didn’t get on the stage, did I?”
Dorian laughs, and the sound is music to my ears, despite my anxiety. “No, little girl. Though you did give everyone quite a show. Sure you weren’t an exotic dancer in a past life?” he chuckles.
I smack him on the arm and feign offense, eventually giggling at my own expense. Yup, that sounds like me.
“Jared and I had quite the relentless task of warding off young defenseless suitors.”
“Jared?” I respond too quickly.
“Yes. He cares for you deeply. Wouldn’t let a guy get close enough to touch you the entire time.”
The sentiment makes my heart swell. I told Aurora the truth; Jared will always have a place in my heart. “Dorian, I don’t want him to get hurt in all this.”
He gathers me into his arms, and rests my head on his chest, reclining back onto the pillows. “I know, little girl.” I am all too aware he hasn’t assured me that Jared won’t get hurt; he’s just told me he understands.
“You said my Dark is showing tonight,” I say after a few contemplative moments. “What’d you mean by that?”
I feel Dorian smile against the crown of my head. “You are drawn to Dark elements- eroticism, alcoholism, aggression, masochism. It’s who you are. It’s what sustains you. But you are unlike any of us. You want it all. And you have the power to manipulate it all. You invoke them in me often.”
What? Hell no! Dorian feels the tension building in my body and squeezes me a bit tighter to soothe me.
“But you draw from Light. The sun strengthens you. You’re compassionate, loving, nurturing. You’re a natural protector. You see the good in people even when they don’t see it in themselves. Even when there’s none to be found. You’re good. And you make me want to be good too. For you.”
I take a moment to digest Dorian’s assessment of the anomaly that is me. So many things to him, yet I don’t even know who I am. Am I good? I hurt the people closest to me, the people I love, whenever I lose control. Nurturing? Compassionate? I’ve never considered myself either of those things. I still don’t have a tight grasp on who I truly am. I’m still Unknown, still Nobody. Because even with the discovery of my paranormal heritage and the prophecy of what I was meant to be, I’m just not there. I’m just regular old Gabs. The girl who was never good enough.
“Do you want me to align with the Dark?” I say to break the deafening silence.
“Part of me does. Yes.”
“Why? If you hate what you are so much?”
“So we can be together.” Dorian rests his hands on my shoulders, looking me in my bewildered hazel eyes. “And I don’t hate what I am, Gabriella. I know what I am. I accept it. You just still have not accepted that the same darkness that lives in me also lives in you.”
He’s right. I refer to his darkness as something foreign, unlike me in every way. But I harbor the same Dark element. It’s in me. But because it has been a part of who I was for the past twenty years, I never deemed it as alien. Maybe I was built to be Dark. I didn’t fall in love with someone from the Light. I didn’t build an unbreakable bond with that side of me. It was the Dark who accepted me, while the Light chose to forsake me. Maybe my destiny is to rule the Dark with my Dark Prince.
“Now, little girl, if you are feeling better, I believe we have a score to settle,” Dorian says sitting upright.
“What are you talking about?” I turn to him, a question in my hazel eyes.
“I think you know exactly what I am talking about. I told you that you would regret that little stunt. And after tonight, you will think twice about playing games with me.” Dorian licks his lips and the pink of his tongue causes my breath to hitc
h.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to give you what you need. What you crave,” he responds with dark hooded eyes. He bears his teeth and my heartbeat quickens in response. “And when you think that you can’t take anymore, when your body trembles with the intense waves of pleasure, and you cry because ecstasy completely overwhelms you, I’m going to do it again. And again. Until you are blissfully ruined. Until the only thing you see when you close your eyes is me.”
And without further explanation, Dorian does just that.
Chapter Fourteen
“Just give it to me straight. How bad was it?”
Morgan pulls at a lock of her now honey blonde hair and cringes at the memory. “Well…it wasn’t horrible. I’ve seen worse. Shit, I’ve done worse!” she giggles. She abandons her hair-of-the-month and commences to stabbing her overdressed salad. “But it was pretty shocking. Even for you, Gabs.”
Shit. I’ve really done it this time. It’s late afternoon on Sunday, two days after Carlos’s birthday celebration at Aria. Morgan and I both have the day off, a first since we moved in together, and made a promise to catch up and have some girl time.
“That bad, huh?” I say, trying to piece together the foggy memories of Friday night. “It just seems like a blur to me. What was the worst part?”
Morgan’s eyes turn towards the sky and she chews her lip as if lost in silent deliberation. “Well, when you pulled Dorian on the dance floor and sang along to Bad Romance, I think even I was a bit uncomfortable. It was like GaGa gone wrong. Terribly wrong,” she laughs.
Bad Romance? I sang to him? Oh no, no, no! “And then what? He got me out of there?” Oh, please say he saved me from further embarrassment. Singing is bad enough, but me trying to be sexy at the same time? That is just cruel and unusual punishment.
Morgan shrugs. “Actually, no. He thought your crazy ass was funny. Maybe he was even a bit endeared by the whole thing. But you had to leave before you were thrown out for fighting.”
Fighting? “What? I was in a fight?” I sure as hell didn’t feel like I was, unless Dorian…no, never mind. He can’t heal. Not that I would need healing.
“No, thank God. He pulled you away before anything escalated. Apparently, some girl was getting a bit too up close and personal with him while he was at the bar getting you some much-needed water. I would have checked her myself if I had seen it, but I guess you did.”
Morgan puts her fork down and peers at me with cautious eyes. “Gabs, you walked over, grabbed the girl by her hair and nearly yanked her across the room. Dorian wasn’t even giving her the time of day and you were ready to commit murder! It was unreal! He had to literally carry you out of there, kicking and screaming like a psycho.
“Gabs, I love you, girl. You know I do. But when you get drunk, it’s like balls to the wall, sorority girl, Hangover, spring break, Girls Gone Wild drunk. And it just seems like you’re going down that path again. I know you had a rough week and all, but these past few days were scary for me. I’d come home every night, and you’d be drunk, listening to sad ass music. Seriously, if I have to listen to your breakup playlist one more freakin’ time, I will shoot myself. And then the tattoo? What’s going on, Gabs?”
I study my half-eaten chicken sandwich before meeting Morgan’s questioning eyes. What can I say to her? Yeah, we all have our demons, but how do I explain that my demons are a part of me? That I am the demon?
I’m sorry,” I say shaking my head. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I didn’t even mean to get that drunk.” My mouth twists into a pained grimace. “The past few days were really bad for me. I just got carried away.”
Morgan’s hand flies to mine, and she rests her palm on the back of it gently. “Hey, Gabs, you are not an embarrassment. I’m just worried, you know, of what to expect,” she says, her voice cracking towards the end. She picks up her iced tea and takes a sip. “You are so wrapped up in Dorian, I feel that if things were to end, it will completely crush you. I don’t want to see you lose yourself. I know you love him and I know he is your first real boyfriend. And I do like him. But the hold he has on you worries me. I know you are this bad ass, tough chick, but I really do believe that Dorian has the ability to break you. He may be the only one who can. You manage his store, you live in his apartment… what happens if you two break up?”
I swallow, clearly disturbed at the course this conversation has taken. The question is one I’ve pondered at length yet have not come up with a reasonable response. Where would it leave me? Back at Chris and Donna’s house, broken and utterly despaired? And my friends…if Dorian and I split, will he undo the wards that protect them? Will he…kill me?
“I can’t say what will happen, Morgan. I can only hope that we never have to find out.” I look up at my best girlfriend and try to give her a confident smile, yet fail. “But I will try to do better. I promise.”
Morgan nods and smiles back before picking up her fork and stabbing a piece of grilled chicken. “I know, girl. I just don’t want to see you hurt. You have so much to offer, so much to live for. I don’t want you to throw all that away for a guy. No matter how ridiculously rich and handsome he is,” she winks.
I spend the rest of the evening contemplating my conversation with Morgan. She’s right, and admitting that truth has put me in a bad head space. Not to mention the rainy, gloomy weather but I know it is a necessary evil. Dorian made good on his promise to give me what I craved and then some. After dragging me out of Aria and relieving me of the copious amounts of alcohol in my system, he slowly tortured my body with crippling pleasure for hours. The term ‘multiple orgasms’ simply does not measure up to what he gave me, making me eat my words from our racy car ride.
But of course, our passion has a price. He gave me so much of himself, and regrettably has had to stay away because of his own craving for me. For my power. The thought that his attraction to me is somehow biologically engraved in him still daunts me, yet I can’t be certain that my yearning for him is any different. Of course I’d be attracted to him, even without the supernatural pull. But Morgan’s words still echo in my head.
Dorian can break me.
I’ve never put too much stock into any guy, Jared included. I could have lived with solely his friendship. But can I live without Dorian? When both of our lives are so expendable in the eyes of the Dark, and even the Light, could living without him be an actual possibility?
By Monday night, I am overwhelmed with the discouraging thoughts that have plagued my mind every second Dorian and I are apart. I need him. I’ve become an addict, completely strung out on the feeling he gives me. But it goes beyond that. Dorian tantalizes every part of me. His passion, his intellect, the mystery that hides behind those startling baby blue eyes- I want it all. My first instinct is to reject the intense hunger for him, to run away and hide my true desires. But I can’t. He consumes me completely.
Suddenly the fortune teller’s haunting words resonate in my head as if her ghost can read my forlorn thoughts.
“Darkness approaches you from many angles. It eclipses the light around you, pulling you further and further into a world of great pain and tragedy. It seeps into you. Alters you. Soon it will consume you completely. Yet, you will allow it. You will welcome the darkness. Because you are the darkness.”
I am the darkness. And it seems as if Dorian is pulling me deeper into the curse of my bloodline. I am going further into the Dark. It’s what he wants. He wants me to align with the Dark so we can be together. But wouldn’t that be like selling my soul to the devil simply for love?
I arrive at Dorian’s hotel suite late that evening after texting him the four dreaded words that make a guy’s balls jump into his stomach.
-We need to talk.
I use the key card he’s given me and let myself in, finding him out on the balcony, staring blankly into the night. A crystal glass of scotch is in his hand, his other resting on the railing. Even shrouded in darkness, wearing only dark slacks
and a black sleeveless undershirt, he takes my breath away. This is going to be harder than I thought.
“You’re worried,” he says on my approach without turning around.
I go to him, sliding my arms around his firm waist. He smells heavenly as always, causing me to nestle my face into his hard back.
“With good reason,” I reply. “We should have had this conversation months ago. But you always seem to distract me.”
Dorian finally turns to face me, looking down at me with a sexy half-smirk. His eyes are dancing with wild possibilities, causing my heartbeat to quicken at just the sight of him. “Can I distract you now?” he breathes seductively.
Yes, yes you can.
“Maybe later,” I respond, stowing my body’s carnal requests. If I give him my body now, then I might as well surrender my will. I have to stand strong, no matter how bad I want him, which is pretty damn bad.
Dorian sighs reluctantly and leads me back inside. He stops to refill his drink, pouring one for me as well.
“Have you eaten?” he asks, handing me my glass as I take a seat on the black and gold couch.
I shake my head. “Later for that too.” I take a much needed swig and meet his icy glare.
Dorian nods stiffly and sits on the adjacent loveseat, not bothering to hide his irritation. Neither one of us relishes the thought of going into such sensitive territory, especially since we only recently kissed and made up. But the longer we put this off, the murkier our future seems.
I take a deep breath, steeling myself as to not seem meek or uncertain. “I think I made a mistake when I said I’d work for you and live at Paralia.”
Dorian sips his poison and looks at me with a blank, unreadable expression. I don’t know if I’ve offended him or if he agrees. “Why do you say that?”
“Because I’ve made myself completely dependent on you. If you leave me, I’m homeless, jobless, and completely clueless. I’m broken, even more so than when you met me. I think we rushed into all this and maybe we should slow down.”