Filed To Story: Pretty Poisoned Novel by Elle Mitchell
“You really need to be more aware of your surroundings,” a deep voice bellows from behind me.
A small scream escapes me before I scramble backward.
“And now you’ve backed yourself into a literal corner. Not very smart, are you?”
I open the drawer next to me and pull out a steak knife. Holding it out in front of me with shaky hands, I ask, “How did you get in here? What do you want?”
“I asked for a key to your room, and they gave me one,” Declan says. He walks around the bar and into the small hotel kitchen, boxing me into that corner I’ve backed myself into. “That’s cute.” He nods, indicating the knife between us. “What are you going to do with it?”
The two brothers’ builds are similar, but Declan is a couple of inches taller. And the eyes and hair, of course, are different, too. Declan’s dark hair hangs in front of the cold, dark eyes boring holes into me. He grabs me by my wrist and then pries my fingers apart, taking the small knife and setting it on the counter behind me.
“What do you want?” I ask again. It comes out much quieter this time.
The hand still wrapped around my wrist tightens until it’s squeezing me, sending electric currents through my body. He licks his lips before his mouth does something that might look like a smile on someone else, but it doesn’t on him. Then, he pulls his own knifethe same six-inch blade he ran across Alana’s neck last nightand runs the flat side down my cheek and under my chin.
There’s something alive in those dead dark eyes now. He’s either going to fuck me, or he knows what I’m up to, and he’s going to kill me. I remind myself the person manhandling me is someone I know to be a murderer and that I shouldn’t be excited by the prospect of the former.
“Your pulse is racing,” he says, tightening his grip on my wrist again. He runs the blade down the length of my throat and to the top of the towel tied across my chest. “Am I scaring you? Or if I turned this knife around and shoved the handle inside your cunt, would it come out drenched in your pussy juices?”
Fuck.
“I’m afraid of you,” I tell him. It isn’t entirely a lie. It’s just that the second part is true, too. I don’t want him to find out, though.
“What do you want with my brother, Teagan? Or is it ‘Blakely’?”
“It’s Teagan. Blakely is my sister’s name. As for what I want, that shouldn’t be that hard to figure out.”
“So, you’re doing all of this just to fuck him? You don’t seem like the typical bloodslut. I mean, you look the part, but”
“Bloodslut?” I ask. “Is that what you call your fans?”
“Not all of them,” Declan says, finally putting the knife away. As he moves back over to the other side of the counter and sits on a stool, I let out a breath I don’t realize I’ve been holding. “The ones you met last nightthey’re my family,” he adds.
Family? Interesting.
“What’s the difference?”
“There’s a big difference,” he says. “What do you want with my family, Teagan?”
“I went to a concert to listen to music. He approached meI didn’t ask for that,” I tell him. It’s true, too. Maybe my plan was always Luca, but he’s the one who found me. “We had a moment. I was intrigued.”
“At the bar,” he says. It isn’t a question, so he must have been watching. I nod anyway. “What kind of moment?”
“Kind of a damsel-in-distress thing. He chased away some asshole and called me a good girl.”
He scoffs. “Luca has a lot of those moments with a lot of women.”
“Then why do you care?” I ask. “Why are you here?”
“I guess I wanted to see what the big deal was,” he says. “Maybe I’ve gotten bored. I think maybe I was hoping for something a little more interesting than just some stupid bloodslut.”
I grind my teeth, biting back what I really want to say, reminding myself that it’s bettersafer, reallyif he thinks of me this way. “I’m sorry to disappoint. I just want to party and fuck your brother,” I say plainly.
I wait for his reply, but all I get is a bored look before he pulls his phone from his pocket. “Go put some clothes on,” he says without looking up as he types.
“What? Why?”
“Or don’t,” he says. “Makes no difference to me.”
I take my coffee cup and return to the bedroom, where I pull on a pair of jeans and the black version of the red corset top I wore to the show last night. There’s another knock on the door as I step into the living room.
Declan stands to answer it.
“Well wait,” I say. He turns to me and raises an eyebrow. “Who’s that?”
“Do you want to go to the show tonight or not?” he asks.
“Yes ”
“Then stop asking so many fucking questions.”
He opens the door, and River strolls in, dragging a black roller bag behind her. In her other hand, she carries two cups of coffee on one of those disposable trays.
“You’ve made me so happy today,” she says to Declan. “You know that?”
He kisses her on the cheek as she walks through the door.
“This is much better than whatever crap you have in that cup,” River says, handing me one of the coffees. “Trust me.”
“Thanks ” I say, still confused. I almost bring it to my lips, then pause. “Um, is there blood in this?”
“Of course!”
“Well who’s blood?”
“Yours,” she says.
I look back and forth between River and Declan. When the fuck did they take my blood? When I was sleeping?
Then she starts laughing. “Oh my god, I’m kidding. This is just coffee. I am here to take your blood, though. So I need you to give me your arm and make a fist.”
For a second, I think she’s joking again, but then she snaps on some latex gloves and unwraps a needle. She pulls a tray of test tubes from the same bag and sets them on the coffee table, attaching one to the end of the cannula.
“Arm,” River says again. This time, I hold out my arm and make a fist like she asked. She ties a small rubber tourniquet around my bicep.
“I’ll be shocked if she’s clean,” Declan says.
“Ignore him, Teagan,” River says, her tone harsh as she narrows her eyes at Declan. It makes me nervous, but he doesn’t react. I guess he must care about her, or they must have some kind of rapport if she’s comfortable snapping at him in front of someone else, and he’d let her. “You have delicious veins. Little pinch.”
She inserts the needle and starts filling the vials. Once she’s finished, she pushes the tray aside and attaches a bag to the end.
“What’s that for?” I ask.
“For fun,” she says.
“What?”
“You’re doing so well.”
But that doesn’t really answer my question, and I’m starting to get light-headed. As the color drains from my face, I lean back into the couch. River runs her fingers through my hair as if she’s trying to soothe me.
“We’ll get you something to eat once we’re finished,” she tells me. “Almost there.”
When she’s done, she puts it all in a biohazard bag and gives it to Declan.
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.