Prey Drive by Jen Stevens
Chapter 34
the wolf
the front porch as soon as I pull up to the cottage early Friday evening, and my chest tightens in disappointment while my heart kicks up in excitement, twisting me into a mess of emotions I really don’t have the time to deal with right now.
My plan was to prepare the workshop for my next kill before walking into the house, but she surprised me by being home earlier than I expected. Usually, she’s working at that grungy sports bar on Friday nights.
“Looks like your girlfriend is going to be a problem. Hmm, I wonder who predicted that?” Sienna instigates from beside me.
She knows I can’t say anything back to her with Stardust’s eyes on me, though it might be worth the risk just to tell her to fuck off. But her disinterest in my little Stardust is stronger than her desire to bother me, and as I stride closer to the cottage, I feel her presence disappear from beside me with a distant, taunting chuckle.
I’ve been on the fence about bringing Charles to the workshop to kill him. If I’m careful enough, I could time it perfectly to where Stardust would never hear a thing and I’d have full access to my usual tools. It would be so poetic for me to kill the bastard in the same spot I bled his son dry.
But just as she’s proven today, she’s too unpredictable. A variant I can’t control, no matter how hard I try. Surely, there’re ways for me to get her away for a day or two. Convincing her to leave would be the hardest part.
“I’m going to follow through with the job,” she admits in a soft voice as I walk up to the porch steps.
I can’t help the smile that dances across my lips at that news. The job was never meant to be the malicious thing she made it out to be, although her reservations were valid. It will grant me easier access to her. And it will make her more reliant on me than she already is. But I never planned to abuse that power. Not at first.
She deserves a break. It’s clear to me that no one has ever done something for her just to do it. Just because they realized she was suffering and needed the extra hand.
“Get that smug smile off your face,” she admonishes, and that cute line between her brows deepens with the scowl she’s throwing my way.
I won’t apologize for being right, though it would be entertaining to watch her try to argue with me. To see the color drain from her face as I reveal just how much I know about her.
Instead of terrorizing her with the truth, I settle on saying, “Turning it down would have been a mistake.”
“That remains to be seen. I just don’t have any other options at this point.” As if I need any more explanation.
I’m well aware of how dire her financial situation is. I’ve checked all her accounts and fought myself on filling them anonymously. In the end, I know she’d rather earn the money herself.
“You aren’t wearing a mask,” she points out, allowing her eyes to roam across my entire body to take in my full work attire—a stark contrast to my usual black jeans and hoodie I wear around her. I didn’t bother changing before I left my office to drive here. My cock immediately hardens at her undivided attention, chasing away any rational thought I had. I don’t hide it from her, either.
“I can trust you,” I explain quietly. Hopefully.
I fucked up with her in that restaurant last week. Then, I fucked up even worse when I met her here. The loss of control I feel around this woman has my head spinning. I can’t seem to find my footing on this rocky, uneven ground we’re standing on together. Letting her see my face again in the daylight is a huge risk. But so was buying the cottage. So was offering her a job at my company.
This whole situation is a huge mess of risks wrapped up in a tangle of unfamiliar feelings and a shit-ton of broken laws. I have no idea how to claw my way out.
Stardust seems to be satisfied with my answer, completely ignorant to how uneasy it’s made me. Her eyes soften as her mouth relaxes from the usual stubborn pucker it always seems to be stuck in whenever she knows I’m near.
“I guess we’re both taking a leap of faith.”
If only she knew what a huge leap she was taking with me. She would never go for it.
“Something like that,” I agree.
There’s a pregnant pause when she openly gazes up at me from the porch step, and I know without asking that she’s memorizing every detail of my face to remember later, the same way I’ve done with her countless of times before. She still doesn’t entirely believe that this is real. Or perhaps she just wishes that it wasn’t. I do my damndest to show her exactly how real it is. How tangible this whole fucking mess is.
But regardless of the dreadful feeling deep in my gut each time I leave, I keep coming back, and she keeps letting me in. It’s like each of us is daring the other to put an end to this.Begging for mercy from the chokehold this connection has on us, but it never comes. Every time I see her, I fall deeper into her clutches.
“Are you going to come inside?” she asks, breaking me from the spell I was under.
It’s the simplest question. An invitation inside her home—the house I own. But it’s like she’s reached into my brain and turned everything upside down.
Since when do I walk in here with an invitation? Since when does the woman I’ve stalked greet me with good news and a lustful stare?
None of this makes sense. I don’t deserve any of it.
“Is that a no?” Stardust pushes, self-consciously wrapping her arms around her middle at the thought of my rejection.
“No. Let’s go inside.”
My plan to prepare the workshop is tossed to the wayside as she leads me into the house, her ass bouncing with every step, and I decide I won’t be bringing any of those Order assholes around her ever again, shrouding her home in darkness and despair. So long as I can preserve her misplaced, innocent convictions about me, I’ll keep her out of this.