Filed To Story: Pretty Poisoned Novel by Elle Mitchell
“It was my grandmother’s name.”
“What was she like?”
He laughs. “Very smart,” he says. “But very mean. She was a tough womanyou look tough, too. No one ever messed with her; she’d kill them.”
“Really?” I ask. “She killed people?”
“No, not really,” he says, appalled. “You think my grandmother was actually a murderer? What are you trying to say?”
“What are you trying to say?” I ask. “You think women can’t kill people?”
“And now you sound like her, too,” he says, shaking his head. “I think I’m going back to the other side of the bar now. Let me know if you need anything.”
“You don’t look mean to me,” a voice says, taking my breath away. “You look soft like a kitten.” Fingertips trail up my spine before he sits in the seat beside me.
He’s wearing a hat and his glasses, and his facial hair is starting to grow in. He moves his chair closer to mine so he can wrap his arm around my waist and props his head on his elbow.
“Declan no,” I whisper. “They’re going to kill you.”
“Don’t you worry about that, kitten,” he says. “I’ll be fine. I’m not going to leave you again.”
“We should get out of here,” I tell him. “We should go down to the beach or somewhere dark or”
“No, we should stay right here for now,” he says. “Where it’s dark, but there are a lot of people around. Don’t you think that’s better?”
I look around the dark cabana. It’s busy and loud, and no one is paying any attention to us. “I guess ”
“You still love me?”
I nod. “Yeah. I do.”
“But you’re mad at me?” he asks.
I nod again, my eyes filling with tears.
“That’s okay,” he says. “I can work with that.”
I throw my arms around him and bury my head in his neck. “I’m scared,” I tell him, “for you.”
Declan places a hand on the back of my neck. “Come here and kiss me,” he says.
I lift my head, and he places a hand on my cheek before pressing his lips to mine, breathing me in as he kisses me deeply, moaning into my mouth when my tongue slips past his lips, sucking my top lip into his mouth before pulling away.
“Now, you don’t have anything to worry about,” he whispers against my lips. “If I die, I can die happy.”
I shake my head, looking away.
“What?” he asks. “You know that I love you, don’t you? What do I need to do?”
“Do you remember when you saved me from that security guard in Seattle?” I ask. “And you picked that eyelash from my cheek and told me to make a wish?”
He nods. “Yeah, I remember. I remember every second I’ve ever spent with you.”
“I wished that I’d stop falling in love with you. I fought it for so long because I knew it wasn’t safenot because you were dangerous, but because you didn’t need me like Luca, and you could just leave. And then you did.”
“Teag”
“You don’t need me,” I say again.
“I do. I do need you, Teagan.”
“You told me I was your kitten, and I was supposed to be able to curl up in your lap and not worry about anything else because you would keep me safe, but you didn’t. Sebastian didn’t need me, either, and he left me, too.”
“I’ll do better,” he says. “I’m sorry about the water bottle, but I wasn’t ready. I won’t leave you again. I’m going to take care of you just like I promised. And I’ll help you with that itch like I promised. You don’t have to scratch it.”
“But what if I do?”
“Then I’ll help you with that, too,” he says. “I know who you are, Teagan.”
“You mean what?”
“No, kitten. I mean who.” He twirls one of my curls around his finger. “You look so pretty, baby. I’m sorry about Sebastian. We should talk about him, though.”
I hold my breath. “What do you want to talk about?”
“What do you know about him, sweetie? Have you seen his face?”
“I loved him,” I whisper. “You were right, but he doesn’t love me. He called me a lying whore.” I pause, choking on the words. “And then he left. And I know a lot about him; I know his dad gave him away when he was six to save himself. He had to pick a son, and the son he picked”
“Was me,” Declan finishes. “I know. I was only three, but I remember everything about that night, too. You said he was cruel, but you loved him.”
I nod. “Yeah. I didn’t know not until after I saw you.”
“What’s he like? Is he do you think”
“No. I don’t think he’d help usif that’s what you’re going to askand he’s not going to let us help him, especially now. He’s really messed up and he likes it. The way they trained him he’ll never be like us. He’s curious about you, but that’s where it ends.” I explain to Declan everything I’ve heard from Sebastian about his life and the things he’s done. “Now, he’s so angry with me for not telling him where you were so he could kill you that he left; there’s someone watching me, but it isn’t him anymore. I thought maybe he could love me, and maybe we could well, I guess that doesn’t matter anymore.”
“I see,” he says.
“Does Luca know?”
“He didn’t,” he says. “After you told me the name, I told him. He’s pretty pissed off that I’d kept it a secret. And about some of the things you told him Sebastian did.”
“Oh yeah.”
“We weren’t allowed to talk about him; we cleaned everything of his out of the house that night and pretended he never existed. I think my dad assumed I’d be too young to remember him, but I remember everything.”
He smiles sadly, running his fingertips up and down my bare arms. I wonder if maybe Declan isn’t like me after all; maybe he wasn’t born like thismaybe he was made, too.
“He’d been getting in trouble for skateboarding in the house, but he kept doing it anyway, and that day, he broke a family heirloom. He thought that’s why they took him. He screamed about how sorry he was all the way out the door. When Luca started getting in trouble, too, I was so afraid my dad was going to get rid of him that I started taking the blame for everything he did or hiding the evidence. I took him everywhere with me, did his homework for him. I already lost my mom and a brother, and my dad was never around. Maybe that’s why I wanted to make my own family.” He pauses, shaking his head. “I did a shitty job taking care of them, though, didn’t I?”
And that’s when I see itDeclan is hurt. He’s not the same untouchable enigma he was a few months ago; he isn’t evil, and he isn’t a god. He’s been gutted by all of this just like I have, and, maybe even more difficult for him, he’s been humbled.
“Yes,” I tell him. Because what else am I supposed to say? I tried the lie, and it wouldn’t roll off my tongue. Brady and Rhett are dead, River and Hazel are gone for good, Luca got shot twice in one weekend, and he left us.
He laughs. “Well, you’ve never been afraid to tell me the truth, have you?”
“I’ve been told that I have a shitty sense of self-preservation. I’m pretty sure that’s only gotten worse.”
“That might still be true,” Declan says. “But I’ll never hurt you again, honey.”
“I forgive you.”
“Does that mean I won’t have to drag you away from here kicking and screaming?” he asks.
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.