Filed To Story: Pretty Poisoned Novel by Elle Mitchell
I walk across the hall, then put on a pair of jeans, my boots, and a vintage black crewneck sweatshirt. I pull my hair into a bun on top of my head, put on my sunglasses, and then meet them in the hallway.
I follow them to the elevator, where we’re joined by Rhett and Brady. We pass Eli and a girl in the lobby, but he only nods at Declan and heads for the elevator.
“What’s his deal?” I ask River. “He’s barely around.”
“Eli? Oh, he has a wife and kids in Idaho. He prefers to keep a low profile.”
“A low profile?”
I’ve seen him jack off in public and sucking blood from the inside of a stranger’s thigh. He’s with a different girl every time I see himhow’s that a low profile?
“He was Declan’s best friend in prep schoolthey were all friends,” River says. “He’s still one of us; he’s just focused on the music.”
It’s warm for early March in Portland but still cold for a Southern California girl. When we step outside, the breeze hits me head-on, and I shiver, hugging my arms to my body for warmth. Declan must notice because he wraps his arm around me and pulls me into his side.
It’s only four blocks but it feels like a very long four blocks. Luckily, the others are talking enough that it doesn’t seem so weird that I’m not; there’s no space to fill.
I take my voodoo doll doughnut, sit beside Declan at the table, and bite its head off.
“You can pretend that’s me and stab it in the heart with that pretzel a few times if you want,” he says quietly.
“I would, but I don’t think it would bleed,” I tell him.
“Teagan ” He laughs and shakes his head. “I can assure you it would. You’ve got something right ” he pauses and leans in. He runs his tongue over the corner of my mouth, then kisses me softly. “Here. Chocolate.”
He takes one finger and pushes my sunglasses up on top of my head, then tips my chin up, forcing me to look at him in the eyes. I can barely breathe.
“Hey, Teagan.”
“Hi.”
“Teagan!” River says as she and Hazel join us. “Let’s take a selfie.”
Grateful for the interruption, I lean across the table and smile with my headless doughnut, and then lean back in my chair.
I can literally feel the frustration coming off of him, and I hate it. I hate that he’s behaving so human when I know that isn’t what he is.
“Teagan, you’re so quiet,” Hazel says.
“I’m just tired,” I tell them. “A little hungover, too.”
“I’ll get you some more coffee,” Declan says.
“Thanks.”
“What do you think, Teagan?” Brady asks. “Want to go?”
“Go where?”
“We’re going to rent bikes,” Rhett says.
“No,” Declan answers, setting another coffee in front of me. “Teagan is coming back with me.”
“I guess not,” I say, shrugging.
Brady pulls up a map, and they start planning their afternoon while they eat.
I keep quiet until we finish, and they head in the opposite direction, leaving me alone with Declan.
“Quiet doesn’t bother me,” he says. “You can go ahead and not talk to me if that’s what you feel like you need to do. But if something is bothering you, you should say something.”
“Quiet just doesn’t bother me either,” I tell him.
“Well, okay.”
We pass a flower shop where an older woman sets up tulips and roses on a cart outside.
“Good afternoon,” she says as we pass. “Pretty flower for a pretty girl?”
Declan stops in front of the cart and picks up a red tulip. “Maybe,” he says. “What do you think, Teagan? You like tulips, don’t you?”
I guess he’s referring to my tattoo. He traces my jawline with the flower’s soft petals.
“It’s complicated,” I say softly.
“Whether or not you like a flower is complicated?”
I shake my head. “Declan, why are you doing this?”
“I like you, Teagan,” he says, running the petals over my lips. “Let me be nice to you.”
My breath catches. If I were standing here on the street like this with any other man who looked like him, who could do the things he can do to me, but who wasn’t a sadistic, manipulative murderer, I’d melt into him right now.
But he is what he is, and I am whatever I am, so I don’t.
I take the flower from his hand and smell it before setting it back down on the cart.
“No, thanks,” I tell the woman. “Besides, he’s a lot prettier than me anyway. Maybe I should be the one buying him flowers.”
The woman laughs as I step around Declan and continue down the street. “Oh, honey, I don’t disagree with you there,” she says.
“Teagan, what are you doing?” he asks, trailing behind me.
I don’t have a good answer for that, though. I’m not sure what I’m doing.
“What are you doing?” I counter, walking through the front doors of the hotel. I stop in front of the elevator, pushing the button about a hundred times as if that will make it show up any faster. When I give up, I cross my arms in front of me and stare straight ahead.
“Would you relax? I just want to spend time with you, Teagan. I told you I like you. I would have thought that after last night, you wouldn’t be afraid of me anymore.”
“You mean after you took me to another house with dead bodies?”
“Teagan, Jesus.” He looks around the lobby. “Get a fucking filter. You can’t just say shit like that.” He reaches for me and snatches my sunglasses from my face. “And take the fucking shades off, Elton John. You’re inside. Look at me.”
I bite my bottom lip and shake my head.
He reaches for me, tucking a stray lock of hair behind my ear. “Who hurt you?” he asks.
I shrug. “Everyone.”
Finally, the elevator doors open. I sidestep around Declan and make myself comfortable in the back corner.
But when the doors close, he leans down and kisses me hard, his tongue tangling with my own. I moan and return that same desperation; I wrap my arms around his neck, and he backs me into the wall, lifting me by the back of my thighs until my legs are around his waist. He grinds his dick into me while his mouth devours mine until the elevator doors open.
I try to pull away from him, but he holds me tighter. “Don’t,” he says. “I’m not letting you go.”
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.