The Bad Boy Wants Me(104)

‘It’s for snobs who want to find out the most snobbish way of spending their money,’ he used to say.

I trudged through the snow, falling a few times, until I reached the tree house. My ears were numb and the bitter cold had seeped into my gloves, numbing my fingers until they were so thick and stiff I could not bend them properly.

How I climbed the tree was a miracle in itself. But somehow, despite my shaky legs, I managed to get to it. Using my already frigid hands, I scooped the snow drift away from the rough wooden door and used my body to wedge it open. I crawled in and closed the door. I curled up in the opposite corner and, although there was a draft that oozed in from under the door, it was much warmer inside Jupiter. I must have dozed off again because the next thing I knew someone was calling my name.

‘Here,’ I called. ‘I’m here.’

And then Ivan was there. He was scowling, but I looked at his lips and I wanted to kiss him. I reached out and, hooking my hand around his neck, pulled him down until his mouth was inches from mine.

‘My, my, what a lovely boy you are, but one kiss, and I could turn you into a man,’ I whispered.

I saw his eyes darken.

‘One kiss … and oh, oh, you’ll never want to leave.’

Then I kissed him. His lips were full of magic, a warm curse, that is until he grabbed my forearms and pushed me away, but oh, boy, oh boy, that was the best and most incredible kiss of my entire life.

I stared up at him in wonder. ‘You’re such a great kisser. Are you from New Orleans?’ I asked in a hushed awed voice, as if I was imparting some great cosmic secret to him.

‘God, you’re fucked,’ he said.

‘Profoundly fucked,’ I corrected him, my voice slurring.

Then I passed out.

Lord Greystoke

I looked down at her blue-tinged lips on the dusty, rough wood floor of my old tree-house and felt like upper-cut punching the coward who had done that to her. I took it personally. As if every inch of her body belonged to me and some god-dammed bastard had harmed what was mine.

I felt such fury that it drove me to tears. It actually filled my eyes and leaked down my face. I swiped them away with my palms. Fucking hell! Where did that come from? Never thought I had it in me to care that much for a woman. Let alone the gold digger!

Easy, Ivan. You’ve never met anybody like her.

I knew I needed to get her somewhere warm fast so I concentrated on that. But I swore that if it was the last fucking thing I did, I would find the worthless piece of shit/shits who did that to her and get even.

Fuck it to hell. Robert gave her to me.





Chapter 10


Tawny Maxwell

When I came to I was alone in a huge bed, in a room I had never seen before. The heavy curtains had been pulled shut and it was very dim, but I could make out that it was large with high ceilings and sparsely furnished. I sat up and listened intently. Nothing. It was dead quiet. No music. No sound of human activity.

I shouldn’t really have been frightened, but because I had no idea where I was and I felt so disorientated, I became suddenly petrified. How did I get here? Who brought me here? What was their intention? Was I someone’s prisoner? The fear totally changed the trip of the drug I had been given. It was like going from thirty miles an hour to one hundred and fifty. The wonderful high from when I was outdoors in the snow felt like a dream.

I felt my heart start beating so hard and fast that I could hear it. My breath came out in short sharp gasps. Then my hands began to tremble uncontrollably. I looked at them in horror. Indescribably frightened and horrified at what was happening to my body, I curled up into a tight, shivering ball, and peered out into the gloom. I was absolutely and inexplicably convinced that monsters were going to come out of the darkness.

Suddenly my petrified gaze was pulled to one corner of the room. I thought I had seen movement. With my heart racing like a mad thing, I fixed my eyes in that bit of gloom, and to my horror I found that there was a crack in the wall … and oh God! The crack was growing, becoming bigger and bigger. Inside the crack were moving shadows. A cold wind blew through it.

I suddenly understood its significance.

The crack was a door to another dimension and something was trying to come through, but I knew without any doubt whatever it was, it was not a good thing.

I wanted to stand up and run out of the room, but I had no control over my body. It was locked solid in its fetal position. Frozen with unnameable terror and dread I stared at the widening gap. Suddenly I heard a scuttling noise, an eerie scratching.

Oh sweet Jesus! It was coming!

I wanted to scream for help, but my mouth was numb and useless. All I could do was stare helplessly at the gap in the wall.

Something was coming.