The sun is still shining, flooding the lush ivy-green brush with its ultraviolet rays. A stark contrast to the pit of darkness waiting for me.
As I veer off the driveway, leaving the gate unlocked, the breeze stirs against my cheeks, and there he is—parked like a mountain lion waiting to pounce on his prey. It’s impossible to see through hisblack tint. Is he inside the SUV or is he waiting to grab me from the back?
But he wouldn’t hurt me. I don’t think so, he’s obsessed with me. He would only hurt me in a way that I yearn for. Maybe grab me by the throat and hold me against the tree. Make me see crucifying, yet dazzling stars.
The thought sparks jerks of life in the worst possible spot at the worst possible time. Flares of frustration bloom against my thigh, stretching my underwear awfully snug. His presence sneaking in like poison ivy sullying my groin.
I pick up my pace to get this over with, my stride transforming into a trot. Whatever is going to happen is gonna happen. Might as well get this over with.
As I get closer to the midnight black windows, I can sense his omnipresence squirming into my sentiments, gallivanting inside my brain like a festering parasite.
My lungs take a lumbersome breath, before my knuckles rack across the driver’s window.
The blackness disappears as the glass rolls down tantalizingly slow. Drew greets me with furious brows.
“Oii. I’ve been waiting,” he rasps, his pupils serrating through me. “You know better than to keep me waiting this long, Lover Boy—”
“I know, I’m sorry—”
“Don’t interrupt me. Get in.” His gaze shifts to the passenger seat, the emptiness begging for me to fill it.
I keep my eyes peeled to the ground as I circle around the front of the Rover, opening the door that’s as dense as lead. My musclesusing every ounce of remaining strength. My restraint to his darkness vanishing like the fleeting moment of an eclipse.
My body slides into the seat as his lips open to rip me apart. “You can’t avoid me.”
“I wasn—” I try to murmur as he shoves a couple of his fingers down my throat.
“Shhh…” He coaxes, the fingers advancing further. “I’ll have you whenever I say so.”
I nod my head in understanding, I can’t tell him no. I want to, but there’s another part of me that craves for another taste. For more of his fingers. For his fangs to inject themselves into my neck and moan me into submission. For his poison to drown my blood and spread my legs wide open.
My throat gags as his fingers tickle my uvula, scratching my throat. It should feel like a punishment. The way he pillages my mouth. But it doesn’t.
It feels like floating on the clouds. My head explodes with blissful booms, resembling dynamite blasting against bedrock.
Then the itch begins to overwhelm my lips, an unmistakable aura. Saliva drying up in an instant. My tongue begins to tingle, feeling as if dozens of baby tarantulas are running to the back of my mouth. Their fur, their squeals, their teeth run rampant. I can sense the constricting of my throat. Every organ system entering shock simultaneously.
“Did you—” I try to wheeze out.
“Austin!”
“Peanuts?” The word barely able to escape my closing airway.
“Aw fuck. Where’s your epi-pen?” He swarms my pockets, the sweltering black furnaces waver in his pupils, as if his whole world is being ravaged by impending catastrophe.
The channel of air in my throat feels like it has been reduced to the width of a thumbtack. All I can manage is a wheeze and a nod toward the house. My vision beginning to blur from the swelling.
Huh. How fricking ironic, the man I should have stayed away from. The one that saved me from the beasts of the woods, poisoned me with love—is the one that will kill me. Not by an accidental strangling or suffocation, but by lousy cross contamination.
“Hold on baby, I’m going to save you.” He revs the engine, arm gripped around my seat, his head jockeyed at the rear window. The Rover lurches back in reverse, my body lumping against the seat. Strength and consciousness rapidly draining from my being.
My pulse is beginning to lull. Death by anaphylaxis seems only certain.
Without oxygen, I’d only have a few minutes before my brain is starved of perfusion. Not enough time for emergency medical services to make it. My heart would be at a standstill by then.
Please—Kay or Alicia—please, please, please tell me you know where the fucking epi-pens are.I don’t remember any being in the house besides the ones that I carry in my duffel in case of an emergency.
The SUV screeches as he hastes us to the house, the vehicle nearly smashing into my father who’s carrying a glass vase of black and white roses.
