Page 15 of Drowning in the Deep
Fuck.
CHAPTER11
ELISA
Back inside Daemon’s spaceship car, irritation prickled the skin on my arms. I folded them beneath my chest, trying not to look or sound angry, but it was difficult when I felt so disappointed.
I’d thought we were going out for a nice evening together, like an actual date. It had started off that way, and once again, I’d found myself falling into Daemon’s charming trap, thinking he only wanted to spend time with me.
Then, that mafia crime lord fellow had strolled in, and everything had fallen apart. It was quite obvious it hadn’t been a coincidence that we were in his club when Daemon clearly wanted to speak to him. Whether I’d been an afterthought or he’d wanted me there to back up his story about Ragno, it didn’t really matter to me. I definitely wasn’t there because Daemon wanted a nice evening alone with me.
Saying something to him was a waste of breath and would only make him mad. I knew that. I also understood that I held zero power in this relationship. Daemon could treat me however he wanted to because I always folded and came running back to him, begging him to let me in. It was tiring, always being the one on the bottom of the emotional totem pole. All I really wanted was some sense of equality—that and for him to admit that he had feelings for me.
But then, maybe he didn’t.
“What the hell’s the matter with you?” he asked as he sped down the freeway. I couldn’t even tell if he was going to his house or mine at this point. I hadn’t been paying attention since I was so focused on my hurt feelings.
“Nothing,” I told him, trying to blow it off.
“Bullshit. You’ve got something up your ass. I can always tell when you do,” he pressed. Gone was the man who’d been dancing with me not even half an hour ago, the man whose eyes sang for me.
I let out a sound that was something between a laugh and a sigh. “I just wish you would’ve told me this wasn’t a date, that you actually had to work tonight. That’s all.” I tried to sound nonchalant, but I couldn’t hide my true feelings from my voice.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” His words caught me off guard. I turned to look at him, wondering if he meant that. He quickly told me he did not with his follow-up statement. “But last I checked, I don’t fucking answer to you.”
My mouth dropped open at his brashness. So it was gonna be like that, huh? “Oh, okay,” I replied, turning away from him.
“I know it’s okay,” he continued. “La Rosas don’t get to tell Petrovs what to do.”
I wanted to ask him if he thought that was the case when it came to our parents’ shared bedroom but thought better of it. Quickly growing tired of his holier-than-thou attitude, I said, “I’m not saying you have to ask my permission to do anything, Daemon. I’m just saying a heads-up would’ve been nice. Thoughtful. That’s all.”
He shook his head but said nothing, not even looking remotely bothered by my hurt feelings.
So I continued, probably on my way to saying too much, but the can was open, and the worms were wiggling all over the place. “I could be of more use to you if I ever had any fucking clue what you’re doing.”
Now, it was his turn to scoff. “I seriously doubt that, La Rosa. Trust is earned, you know? So far, you haven’t given me much to think that you’re trustworthy.”
“I’m good enough to fuck, but I’m not good enough for you to trust with work-related matters. Got it.” I shook my head, trying my damnedest to let it go, but I was growing more and more agitated by the second.
“With that kind of a shitty attitude, you’re not even worth fucking.”
His words hung between us for several seconds as I tried to process what he was saying. He thought that because I was standing up for myself, for once, I was no longer fuckable? I pressed my lips together, trying to come up with a way to respond to that.
But words were not the weapons I needed right then. He might be trying to convince both of us that he didn’t want me, but I knew how his body responded to me. It was firsthand knowledge for me. I craved him in ways I could never explain, and every ounce of that desire was reciprocated. If he wanted to sit there and pretend I couldn’t make him so hard he couldn’t handle it in a matter of seconds, then I accepted the challenge.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked me. “You know it’s true.”
“Your mouth can tell me that until you’re blue in the face, Petrov, but your arm says otherwise.”
He turned and glared at me, his eyes locking on my face for so long, I thought for sure we’d wreck. When he slowly turned back toward the road, I knew I’d crossed a line. He was pissed.
Well, it was time to make him feel something else, and I’d do whatever it took to remind him that his words didn’t match his body, not in the art nor in the response.
“That’s fine, Daemon. You just keep on driving. Don’t mind me.” I began to inch my skirt up, higher and higher. Since it was tight and short to begin with, it didn’t take long until the sliver of a thong I was wearing was fully visible. We’d turned off the highway and were in a secluded business district part of town. He wasn’t driving as fast so he could pay more attention to me, and the passing streetlights helped illuminate just how close to being bare to him I truly was.
“Fuck,” Daemon whispered under his breath as he tried to focus on the road.
I had him where I wanted him, and I wasn’t going to let up. With my thong fully visible to him, I sighed. “It’s a shame you don’t want to see my panties. I wore a special pair just for you. They’re already wet from what you were doing to me back there in the club.”
