“Is that disappointment I hear, Luna?” He teases.
I shrug, looking up at him. “Would you call me crazy if I said yes?” I hold his gaze, challenging him with my honesty to see if he’ll be truthful back. I don’t know why I feel such a strong pull towards Dante.
Dante slowly closes the gap between us, my heart thumping with every step he takes. “I would never call you crazy, Luna.” He brushes my hair off my shoulder, his fingertipstrailing down the length of my arm, to bring my hand to his lips. “You’ll see me again. I promise.” His eyes bore into mine, and I won't look away this time. I can feel a deep flush spread all over my body, and I squeeze my thighs together. His green eyes trail the length of my body, and the flush turns into liquid fire, and a deep need settles in the pit of my stomach.
God, I need to get fucked. Dante would absolutely take a girl to orgasm-land, and she would rideseveralrides. But that’s a rollercoaster I don’t know if I would want to get off. His leaving is for the best; I can’t be trusted not to let my heart take over right now when I just need to get fucked. I have to be ovulating or something. “Okay. Good,” is all I can manage to say with him being this close.
Dante backs away slowly, smiling, and turns, opening my front door. “Obsession looks good on you, Luna.”
My jaw drops. “I-I am not obsessed!” I protest, coming up behind him.
Dante turns faster than I anticipate, snaking his fingers around the nape of my neck and pulling me into a kiss. My hands land on his chest, fisting his shirt into them, the only thing tethering me to this moment. His lips are so soft, and the kiss is gentle. He opens his mouth against mine, his tongue teasing against my lips, and I let him in. His tongue dances against mine, swirling around until he pulls back, nipping my bottom lip, and I melt into him. A small moan escapes me as Dante pulls away with a smug smirk on his face, chuckling. He leans his forehead against mine. “I like my women to be as obsessed as I am.” Dante slides his hands from my neck, still holding my wrists and my shirt. I let go instantly, feeling embarrassed and trying to remember how to breathe.
Dante's hands slip from my wrists, cradling my hands to his lips, kissing my knuckles softly. “You think I didn’t see the way you were looking at me in your bedroom? That I didn’t see the way your thighs clench together after you oggled my body? I want you just as much as you want me, Luna.” he pauses, closing his eyes. I can see the pulse in his neck beating rapidly—when he opens them again, there's a dangerous edge to them—adarknessthat sends a chill down my spine and right to my pussy, “But you deserve to be in a better headspace before I make you come harder than you ever thought possible. I’ll be here when you’re ready.” My mouth drops open again, and the breath I tried to catch has left the room. His deep voice leaves tingles across my skin, sending a new wave of pleasure right to my clit, and soaking my panties. “I’ll text you later. Have a good rest of your day. Lock the door after I leave. Okay, angel?”
I nod, and Dante steps away, dropping my hands. I watch as he bends down, picking up his bag and helmet by the front door. He turns to me before leaving, giving me a wink and flashing a mischievous smile.
Nowthat’sa smile I want to see while his head is between my legs—Yeah, I’m definitely ovulating. It’s a good thing he’s leaving; I donotneed to end up pregnant right now. That’ll send me spiraling straight into the mental ward.
I shut my front door, leaning against it, feeling too many things at once. My heart and brain are at odds. My brain’s telling me to stay single for longer; I’m putting all my eggs in one basket, and Dante’s still a stranger. But my heart feels safe with him, and I know that’s silly to say, but I do. I can’t deny that I feel safe with him, and that has to mean something, right? I can’t remember a time in my life when I felt safer than when I lived in my childhood home. Dante feels like that to me, like I can trust him. But my brain is still screaming, “No, you, stupid, lovesick girl, you’re just lonely.”
I huff, pushing all the thoughts aside, and head to my bedroom. There, I find Binx curled up sleeping on my bed. I pluck him from his spot and snuggle up to him. He tries to meow in protest, but it comes out all squeaky from his sleepy state. I lie in my spot on the bed, placing Binx next to me, when I get a notification on my phone that sounds like it’s from Vidtok. I choose to ignore it; it’s probably someone tagging me in a review or an edit. I’ll see it later when I’m not preoccupied with my brain being scrambled by that kiss.
I stare up at my ceiling, hoping it’ll have the answers I’mlooking for, but it won't be that simple. My eyes grow heavy as I lie there petting Binx until I can’t fight it anymore. I snuggle up to him, losing the battle, and let sleep take me.
I’m woken up to the sound of my phone ringing. I groan as I sit up in my now dark room and roll over to see my phone lighting up with Liv’s face in the background. Binx hops down from the bed, stretching and running to the kitchen. I rub the sleep from my eyes and answer my phone. “Hello?”
“HELLO? I have been trying to call you for over an hour! Have you not been on Vidtok today?”
“Whoa, Liv, slow down. What are you talking about? I just woke up from a nap.” I put Liv on speaker and opened VidTok.
“Get on VidTok. You are going to shit your pants when you see this,” Liv says in an exaggerated, giddy tone.
I almost drop my phone when I see all the notifications upon opening the app. I’ve gained sixteen thousand followers and several thousand likes in the last few hours, but one username catches my eye instantly. “No way.” Olivia cackles like a witch as I try to catch my breath.
The famous MaskTok VidToker ‘WolfeInSheepsClothing’ has followed me and tagged me in a video. I’ve been following him for a few months, and his following count has always been zero; however, he has overhalf a millionfollowers.
A few of my BookTok friends and several other bookish creators have sent me his videos, and they all say he would make a perfect Detective Liam Moore if there were ever a show or movie made from my book.
Wolfy, on the other hand, is a faceless, anonymous man. He keeps his videos short—no captions or hashtags—but they are always sexy. His body is always covered, typically wearing a white button-up or all black, and he often wears a leather jacket when posing with his motorcycle. He even wears all-white contacts to cover his eye color and always wears some sort of mask. He’s completely anonymous, which I think gives some people another level of desire. It definitely ticks my boxes. Youcan see how jacked he is under his tight clothes, though, and it tickles the dirty parts of your mind just enough that your imagination runs wild.
I click on the notification that says I’m tagged in a video from him, and it takes me to a video of him cosplaying as Detective Moore. “Holy fuck!” I shout, this time dropping my phone for real. “No way, Liv. This can’t be real. This–this has to be a fake account.”
“Oh, it’s real, baby! Are you still breathing?” Olivia asks as I scoop up my phone from the floor.
The video begins replaying, and I watch as a spotlight turns on, and it looks as if he’s in an interrogation room. He’s wearing a white button-up, black leather gloves, and a mask identical to the one I have on the cover of the second book in Vera’s Vengeance. “Would you like to play a game, Vera?” A deep voice says, but it sounds mechanical. The spotlight flickers off, and my book covers pop up, letting people know where to find them and to follow me on social media.
“Oh my god, he even has the voice changer!!” I squeal into the phone, and Olivia joins in with me. “I can’t believe he followed me!”
“Did you read the caption, too?” Olivia asks.
“A caption? He never puts a cap–” My breath stills as I read the words in his caption. “I will lead them to you and kneel before your feet. I want nothing more than to watch you make them suffer.Te voi gasi mereu, iubirea mea.” — a direct quote from book two, when Liam ends up saving Vera from a pedophile ring she stupidly thought she could take on herself; they had a fight a couple of nights before their mission, and she decided to go alone, telling him to shove off, but he showed up anyway, saving her life in the process. When he finds her, Vera’s in bad shape; she was ambushed, beaten severely, and left in a room to die, but Liam came. Their relationship is rocky at times, but Liam would never leave her behind, and he proved that to her that night. ‘Te voi gasi mereu, iubirea mea’ is Romanian, and it means‘I will always find you, my love’. Vera was from Romaniabefore being kidnapped at thirteen and sold into sex trafficking. Vera told Liam that she had lost most of her native language after being sold to different people around the world until she arrived in America in her late teens. Liam encouraged her to relearn her first language, but what she didn’t know was that Liam was also learning Romanian at the same time for her. So he could speak to her in a language they shared alone—soshewould never be alone again.
It’s also a piece of my story I put in there. I’ve lost some of the native language my father taught me as I grew up. When you have no one to speak to, coupled with the trauma I was enduring, I can only carry on a basic conversation anymore. It’s on my list of things I want to relearn now that I can, and seeing Wolfy use this specific line brings a tear to my eye. The way my heart is stammering in my chest could send me to the emergency room.
Why would he choosethatquote out of all the quotes in the book?!
I stare at the video longer, watching it play over and over again. The video’s thirty seconds long, but it feels like hours as I sit here watching it play until Olivia clears her throat, reminding me she’s still on the phone. “Hi! Sorry! Trying to process what’s happening right now.”
