I head into the kitchen, checking the back door, the windows. Until I figure out how Audra got into my house without my knowing it, I won't be satisfied. I also find it hard to believe that I didn't wake up. Dragging a body is a lot harder than it sounds. Audra Holiday is no body builder, so how did she even get Mark in here?
I grab a box of garbage bags and carry them into the living room, dropping them onto the coffee table before picking up my phone. I power it back on and find my way to Audra's phone number.
“I've been expecting your call,” she says before I get the chance to speak. I grit my teeth and feel anger surge strong and hot through my body. This woman will be lucky if she makes it out of this alive. I have half a mind to twist her neck from her shoulders. My voice, when I finally do find it, comes out in a snarl.
“Get your ass over here and help clean up your mess.” I end the call and toss my phone at the wall as hard as I can. The plaster cracks and my phone shatters, plastic bits flying across the polished perfection of my floor. My throat twists, and I have to bite back a scream. My carefully crafted facade slips back, letting the demon peek through, and it doesn't like what it sees. A muscle in my cheek twitches as I squeeze my hands together, the muscles in my arms bulging against my skin. A beast, barely kept in check by my sacrifices, raises its head and tears into me. All around me, the air swells with heat and pain and anger. When the doorbell rings a second later, Lucas Carter doesn't have enough control left to check the peephole.
The monster practically tears the door off its hinges, only to find a wide eyed Robbie Carrell staring back at him. I'm seeing things through a haze of red, my body reacting on its own, my cock rising at the sight of her low cut shirt and her feminine curves. Roberta wants me, doesn't she? She flirts with me at every given opportunity, rests her fingers on my arm, gazes at me with adoration shining in her bright, blue eyes. I step forward onto the porch and pull the door closed behind me.
“It's awfully late, Roberta,” I growl out between clenched teeth. I see her react to me right away, see her gaze catch on the swell of my cock in my slacks, her eyes flicker to the sweat on my forehead, my clenched hands. “Shouldn't you be at home asleep?” I snap the last word off and close my eyes, fighting to regain control. My anger should be unleashed on Audra Holiday, not on Roberta. Robbie. Who is still in high school.
“I … I was having trouble sleeping,” she whispers, her soft voice blending into the hush of the neighborhood. “And I saw your lights on, and I thought … I just thought … ”
“Go home Robbie,” I snap as an orange Mini Cooper pulls into the driveway. Hmm. I almost assumed Miss Holiday had changed her mind about coming over. My eyes stay locked on the driver's side door as Robbie starts to stutter again.
“I … I … thought you might want some company,” she continues, oblivious to the vehicle in the driveway or the whirl of rage spinning around my deathly still body. For a moment there, I don't breathe, don't blink, I just exist. And that's hard enough. When Audra fails to climb out of her car, my eyes drop back to Robbie's. She has ridiculously long eyelashes, dark swirls sweeping up from her innocent eyes to brush against her pale forehead. My gaze finds her throat as she swallows. What a graceful neck, Miss Carrell has. Long and curved, like a swan. I find my fingers drawn to her chin, my lips to her mouth. And all the while, I know Audra is watching me. “I turned eighteen last week,” Robbie whispers suddenly, and my entire body goes cold. Then hot. Then cold. “I sent you an invitation to the block party. I was hoping you knew. Luke, I like you. I've always liked you.”
Her words undo me. Yet again, I'm torn apart and shredded by a woman. The beast screams and withers inside my chest, falling away at the innocence of Robbie's words. I like you. Robbie's fingers curl gently against my chest as she rises to her toes, her mouth pressing soft like butterflies against my own. In my mind, I'm suddenly eighteen again, standing on a porch in the cool evening air, my arms wrapped around the girl of my dreams. My life is an open playing field, a realm of endless possibilities and promised joys. My lips part softly, exploring gently, my eyes fluttering closed to block out the world. The monster inside of me becomes a fragment of a distant future, one where my hopes and dreams weren't buried alongside a beautiful face.
“Oh, Luke.” Robbie's gentle whisper snaps me out of my past and back into the present – where my soul is black and my couch is currently occupied by a dead man. My hands move from Robbie's waist to her arms, squeezing hard. Too hard, maybe.
“Get away from me!” I yell. I don't mean to, but that little bit of self-control I'd regained is gone in an instant as I find myself shaking, confused, and for the briefest of seconds, almost afraid. Not for myself, but for Robbie. I help monsters control their darkness; I don't turn doves into ravens. Robbie stumbles away from me, her white sandals slipping on the edge of the deck. She falls to her ass on my front walkway, eyes filling with tears, face upturned in desperation. “Stay away from me,” I growl at her, coming down the stairs and wrapping my fingers around her arm. I jerk Robbie to her feet and then push her away from me when she tries to cling. “Don't ever come over here again,” I whisper angrily, dragging her down the driveway at arm's length, practically shoving her across the divide that separates her parents' property from mine. “Don't talk to me. Don't even fucking look at me again. Do you understand?”