Filed To Story: Pretty Poisoned Novel by Elle Mitchell
I look up and see Eli standing at the end of the table, his arm around another girl I’ve never seen before. Guess he ditched the two he brought hometwo-stop rule. He seems to like bloodsluts just fine. Exclusively, even.
“I didn’t want to interrupt, but the cars are here,” Eli says. “Let’s get out of here.”
We all file out of the booth, then through the back door and around to the front of the building. But I notice someone is missing.
I can’t stop myself from asking. “What about Declan?”
“He left on his own,” Eli says.
Two black town cars take us to the hotel, where we all pile into the elevator and up to the seventh floor. We start down the hallway together, me under Luca’s arm. Declan stands in the doorway to one of the rooms, shirtless. His hair is wet like he just got out of the shower, but there’s still some dried blood on the side of his neck. A pair of white joggers hang low around his waistlow enough that I can follow that deep ‘v’ below his abs until it gives way to trimmed dark hair.
He looks unsteady as he leans against the doorframe, his dark eyes glazed over like he’s had far too much to drink. Which is hard to imaginethat Declan would relinquish control like that.
Well except for when he lay in the grass next to Layla’s dying body.
“Teagan,” Declan says. “Come here.”
“Um, why?”
“I told youI have a surprise for you.”
“Go, baby,” Luca says, then leans down and whispers in my ear. “Don’t hurt his feelings.”
His hand drops to the small of my back, urging me toward Declan.
“What’s the surprise?” I ask apprehensively.
Declan steps aside for me to enter the room and then closes the door behind us.
“Sit,” he says, gesturing toward the bed.
I do as he asks, and he begins rifling through a bag next to the TV. He takes out a book, hands it to me, and then lies across the bed beside me.
“It’s a first edition,” he says. “I found it at the thrift store.”
I hold the copy of Let the Right One In in my hand. “It’s beautiful,” I tell him. “Thank you.”
“I should have let you grab some more books before we left,” Declan says. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I have the Kindle app on my phone.”
“Not the same, though, is it?” he asks. “You’re always reading from hard copies in your videos.”
“Yeah, someday, I want to have my own library like yours.”
“You already do,” he says. “What’s mine is yours.”
“Well, thanks. Um, I guess I should”
“Read it to me, Teagan,” Declan says.
Go. That’s what I was about to sayI should go.
“I marked the spot where you left off. I like the way your voice sounds. Please?”
“Okay,” I say softly, uncomfortable but also not sure I have a choice.
I pull my legs onto the bed, recline against a pillow, and then open the book to the place he’d marked, and begin reading.
Declan lays his head in my lap and wraps an arm around my thighs. I pause, holding my breath.
“Keep going,” he says, closing his eyes.
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I read a couple of chapters, and then I guess I must have fallen asleep because when I open my eyes, the room is dark, and I’m under the covers next to Declan, his warm breath on my neck.
I panic and slowly slide out of bed, then grab my purse and leave the room, closing the door softly behind me. Then, I walk to the room three doors down and tap my key, unlocking it.
Luca is asleep next to River and Hazel. I consider leaving, unsure if I’m intruding, but instead, decide to stay on the couch. I slip out of my skirt and into a pair of shorts and lie down.
“Teagan,” Luca says, his voice raspy with sleep. “Come here, baby.”
He pulls the covers back, and I crawl into the space between him and River. He wraps me in his arms and kisses me on the forehead.
“You feel so perfect in my arms. I lo” he starts.
“Settle down, Luca,” River says. “Let her sleep.”
But I don’t think I would have minded so much to hear it this time.
“Good night, Teagan,” he says.
“Good night,” I whisper. I kiss him on the lips, then lie down on his chest, exhaling slowly. I close my eyes and easily slip back into a deep sleep.
And when I dream, I dream of Declan smiling as I slit my own throat.
“How was the rest of everyone’s night?” Brady asks when he and Rhett sit with the four of us at breakfast.
But he’s looking at me when he says it.
“Fine,” I say.
“Teagan was having nightmares,” Luca says.
“I was?”
“Oh my god, yes!” River says. “You were! I can’t believe I forgot. You were kicking and hitting the shit out of us.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, mumbling a bunch of shit about how you were going to die,” Luca says. “What was that about anyway?”
“Um, I don’t even remember dreaming,” I lie. “I don’t know.”
“It was about him, wasn’t it?” Rhett says, pointing at Luca.
Luca laughs. “Fuck off.”
I laugh a little and take a sip of my coffee. Before I set it down, I hear a thud. I look down and see the book Declan got for me in front of me on the table.
“You forgot that,” Declan says.
“Thanks,” I tell him.
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.