JACOB
"You should get out more, Jacob. Do something besides sulk in your room. I thought you wanted to leave the priesthood. Why do you seem so bummed about it?"
Alan Ross stared across the small bar-top table at me as he traced his fingers over the condensation of his mug. Inside the glass, his beer had settled into a golden liquid, the white froth that topped it off all but gone now that he'd taken two large swallows.
I wrapped my hand around the shot glass of whiskey, my eyes glancing up at the bartender before I motioned her for one more. I drank the shot in one quick swallow. The burn down my throat reminded me of when Alan and I would hang out like this in college.
"I'm not sulking in my room," I answered.
A bark of laughter escaped his lungs. "Yeah, I've heard what you're doing in there. You scared the crap out of Tracy's friend."
I didn't know who Tracy was, and I didn't know the name of her friend. But I could say that if either of them had been in my room since the time I moved in with Alan, they were just more woman within a sea of faces.
He must have picked up on my thoughts. "Elena? Blonde with big-" He held his hands up to his chest, his lips stretched into a grin. "If she wasn't Tracy's best pal, I would have dragged her into my bed a long time ago."
A brow arched over my eye. "I'm surprised you're sticking to one woman at a time. That wasn't like you in college."
"And I'm surprised you became a priest," he responded, his hand running through his shaggy blond hair as he leaned back in his seat. After taking another swallow of his beer, he dropped the weight of the glass onto the table. The beer sloshed up to spill over the rim.
Without looking at me, he lowered his voice and asked, "Was it because of Cassandra?"
Hearing the name drove a spike of anger down my spine. Cassandra was one of the last people I wanted to discuss. "Tell your friend if she has an issue with me than she should stay the fuck away."
Another burst of laughter shook his shoulders. "I'm not saying she's complaining. Just that you scared her."
"I have to piss," I said, not concerned with the pathetic concerns of a prissy bitch who liked to dabble with a man such as me.
Alan watched as I walked away, his face blending into the crowded bar as I wove my way around different groups standing between our table and the back hallway. I'd almost made it into the dimly, lit space leading to the bathroom when a hand landed on my shoulder.
Pivoting on my heel, I clenched my fist before meeting the stare of a red headed woman.
"Hey," she called out over the loud music. Playing it off, she feigned surprise, her green eyes widening subtly. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else."
She was lying.
But even still, the room spun around me, memories creeping in that dragged me back to a small parish in the middle of nowhere - to green eyes that had mistaken me for someone else and had ended up flat and lifeless as a result.
I fought to push them away.
"No problem," I answered before brushing her hold off my shoulder and stepping toward the hall.
Before I could go far, she called out, "My name is Kristen, by the way."
Like I gave a damn about her name.
The shadows of the hall wrapped around me as soon as I turned the corner. I'd almost reached the men's room door, when the same voice called out again. "You know, it's polite to tell a person your name when they tell you theirs."
I stopped, not bothering to turn back and look at the woman. "I didn't ask you for your name."
"But I gave it to you anyway. How does that make you feel?"
She was just flirting, just toying with a man she found attractive on her night out. It was only fair to warn her.
"You don't want to know me. I can promise you that."
"Yet, here I am."
Glancing at her from over my shoulder, I cocked a brow and looked her up and down. Beneath the long red hair, her face was unmarked by lines of age. I guessed her for twenty-one, twenty-three at most. Not as young as Eve, but still just as stupid.
Narrow shoulders led down to a decent sized chest, the upper swells peeking out from above the tiny blue shirt that hid nothing. Her stomach was flat, her hips rounded, her shapely legs sculpted by the tight jeans she wore. It was obvious she hadn't worn a bra. I wondered if she’d even bothered with panties.
Regardless of the tight body that called to the carnal parts of any man, it was her hair that caught my attention. The same color as Annabelle's, it had more of a wave, but the length was just the same. I smiled at the whispered thoughts running through my head.
"You should be careful of who you tease, Kristen. You never know what kind of man you're facing."
I gave her the warning nobody had ever thought to give Annabelle.
Her gaze studied my body as thoroughly as mine had studied hers. "You look like the type I'm after."
A grin stretched my lips. "What kind is that?"
A full mouth parted, white teeth barely visible beneath the scarlet lipstick she wore. "The kind that can show a girl a good time."
Turning fully, I checked the hall to ensure we were alone. Not another soul existed within the shadowed interior. With one measured step toward the woman staring me down, I was damn close to being on top of her. She had as much intelligence as she did sense of personal space.
Maybe it was the look in my eyes, or maybe it was the malicious energy rolling off me, but she understood then that she was locked down by the attention of a predator. Taking a step back, she smiled hesitantly.
I closed the distance and laughed softly when her back hit a wall.
Canting my head to the side, I kept my eyes trained on hers.
Speckled within the soft green were flecks of brown. Not exactly like Eve's had been, but close enough. My voice was a bare whisper, just loud enough to be heard over the echo of music rolling down the hall. "What do you consider a good time?"
My fingers trailed up her arm. Goosebumps broke over her flesh, her wide eyes rounding. Brushing my thumb over the side of her breast, I looked down to see her nipple beading beneath her shirt.
Like every other bitch I'd had beneath me, she shivered when my lips touched her ear. "Do you like being bound and helpless, Kristen? Do you like it when a strange man takes control of your body to do whatever wicked thing he dreams up?"
Breath rushed from her lungs, hot and heavy. Our hips were pressed together, her breasts tight to my chest. I ran my free hand up the inside of her thigh, stopping just before reaching the apex. "Do you want me to just strip you down right here, or were you looking for something a little more private?"
It was no longer a question of whether I'd given in to the beast inside me. Darkness was always a ring around my vision, death a possibility that hung in the air each time I let go to my desires.
They'd complained about the marks being in visible places, but once I was seated within the heat of their bodies, those complaints fell away on sated voices, quieted down as sensual moans crawled up to flow from their mouths.
If I wasn't careful, I would break another before too long.
And this one reminded me of precious Annabelle.
"I was hoping you would buy me a drink first," she answered, breathless.
My laughter was a beat against her ear. "I don't buy drinks for sluts. Don't buy them dinner and I don't buy them jewelry. All I do is show them the good time they're after."
She tried to move away, tried to shuffle out from beneath my weight, but I caged her against the wall when my hand slammed against the plaster at the side of her head. My other hand gripped over her hip. "Where are you going? I thought you wanted to play?"
Our chests collided together with the force of her breathing. No longer turned on, the little thing was now frightened. But wasn't that what happens when you approach strange men? Wasn't that the consequence of following them into shadows where no other person can see if he's stolen you away?
"I want to leave," she said, her voice choked off by the very thing that fed my monster. I ran the tip of my nose along her jawline, my body hard against hers, demanding and strong.
"That's too bad," I crooned. "Guess you should have listened when you were told not to talk to strangers."
"Jacob! Man, come on! Go take that fucking piss you're after and let's go! This place is bullshit."
Alan's voice rolled through the narrow hall, his steps down the interior growing louder as he rounded the corner. The little bitch beneath me screamed.
"Let me go!"
She fought, her hands pressed to my chest, but she wasn't anywhere near strong enough to push me away. "Get the hell off of me."
"Jacob?"
My head spun to my right, a smile tugging at the corners of my lips to see Alan approaching.
He paused mid-step. "Let her go, man. She asked nicely."
"Did she?" I turned my head back to where she was pressed against the wall. "I don't remember hearing you say please."
A tear slipped down her cheek, her fingernails embedding themselves into my t-shirt where she was still trying to claw at me and force me away. "Let me go," she begged.
"I only asked for one word."
"Jacob," Alan warned, "seriously. Let the nice lady walk away. We need to leave."
Ignoring him, I pressed my chest tighter against her hands, my breath ragged at the drag of her claws over my shirt. Those nails would feel like heaven down my back.
Keeping my voice low enough that only she could hear, I spoke to her with humor and disgust weaved within my tone. "There were two women in this world that wouldn't cower and cry when my attention was on them. They understood a man like me. Craved me until it ended them. They were everything and nothing at all, and with them I could have fun. I could play and bask in the beauty of their bodies. But you? You are so fucking boring to a man like me. Quite frankly, taking a piss will be more fulfilling and memorable. Now take the fuck off, sweetheart, and be careful about the next man you approach for a good time."
Pushing away from the wall, I didn't bother tracking her path as she ran. My hand was pushing open the bathroom door when Alan's voice sounded at my back. "Was that really necessary? What the hell did you do to her?"
"She asked me to buy her a drink," I answered, pulling myself out to relieve my bladder into the urinal. The stream had just hit the porcelain when I added, "and I was teaching her not to talk to strangers."
"Seriously, Jacob. You're scaring the shit out of me. I understand a little slap and tickle in the bedroom like we used to do to the chicks in college, but you've gone over the edge. What if she runs to the cops?"
Shrugging a shoulder, I drip dried and shoved myself back into my pants. The zipper pulled up easily as I turned. "I didn't do anything illegal."
He rolled his eyes and threw an arm around my shoulder. Opening the door, he led me into the hall, his hold tight like he was concerned I'd run away. Laughter was a soft edge to his voice. "I don't know what happened in that church of yours, but you've lost your damn mind. We're going to a new place. Hopefully we can get out without the authorities chasing after us."