𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐃

33

HER PREY

And here I am, surprise surprise, Casei Johnston sinking into her favorite mystery book.

My hair's wet, and I'm curled up on my bed underneath a blanket, the dry towel I wore back to my room still wrapped around my frame.

I dyed it again. I did.

And as usual, my mom hates this new hair color.

It's dark red, like my soul right now, and the cover of this book. My eyebrows are dyed midnight black, and my nails are freshly painted a shimmery silver. I feel like a fucking vampire right now, but I'll take the shaky, untethered feeling inside of me right now over the tornado of emotions that I felt earlier any day.

I sat up a little, turning to a new chapter.

'The first step to rooting out a killer amongst the innocent, is determining what innocence means to you. And then, and only then, will the red cover up the white, and the light consume the darkness.'

I kept reading, a spark of interest curating inside of me. Maybe I could take from this book and figure out what Lowen's hiding. If it's really nothing then I'll stay with her...but if she's hiding something dark then I won't let myself get further involved.

"Fuck," I whispered. The sky was low, real dark out, and Lowen was in my bed because she had snuck in.

She held one of my ass cheeks in her hand, pushing my pussy on top of hers as she kissed up on my neck.

"You gotta stay quiet so your parents don't wake up."

"I'm trying," I sighed pleasantly as her hands ran up my legs. I was right, there was a lot she didn't care about. Maybe she didn't know about my scars because she couldn't see them? No, it might be dark in here but I'm she sure that can feel them.

"I probably disgust you," I whispered, stopping my grinding against her. She moved her legs to the side, hanging off the edge of the bed and placing me on top of her lap. She stared at me in dark, silently.

"Are you a dream?" I asked, leaning towards her and sucking on her bottom lip. She cupped my face, kissing me back and roughly grabbing me up by the throat, forcing me closer up against her. Our breasts touched, and our nipples touching made mine harden even more. Her fingers danced down my waist like little fairies, while she shuddered against my neck.

"Do dreams feel like this for you...Casei?"

"No," I whispered, moving her hand down on me.

I let out the quietest moan that I could muster, sighing against her chest.

"You're so fuckin' beautiful. Where do you get all this bad talk about yourself from?" she whispered.

She moved her hand away, her cold hands touching my sides as I got comfortable against her again and allowed her to hold me. "I think I get it from my mom. I don't know though. I guess...I just think of myself this way."

"You're far too beautiful to ever be looked down on. Nobody's perfect. No human body is perfect, Casei. I love every bump, every curve, every bone, every freckle, every mole- everything. Everything about Casei motherfuckin' Johnston," she told me lowly.

Her eyelids were almost down and her pupils were so dilated.

My expression hardened and I got off of her lap.

"You need to leave, Lowen," I told her sternly, keeping my voice hushed. "You need to leave."

"Why?" she asked me, leaning back on her hands as she nakedly sat on my bed, watching me.