Barely Lethal

The Kiss of Regret

The taste of our magical kiss stirred up a whirlwind of thoughts in my head. Eric, who had just kissed me, kept meddling in my work life, warning me about Connor, yet refusing to provide a clear explanation.

My eyebrows furrowed with the weight of conflicting thoughts, but silence prevailed. Eric, removing his hand from my waist, sighed in evident frustration. Pinching the bridge of his nose with thumb and index finger, he acknowledged the storm in my mind.

"Still thinking about the attack, aren't you?" he remarked, his gaze turned and fixated on the cityscape beyond the window. 

"We were attacked when I took Sierra to the warehouse. The filthy fucking serpents attacked a Moretti warehouse. If the Luccese brothers can harm their own sister, he won't hesitate to harm a random girl working a corporate job just to get to me."

His words made a tinge of burning sensation in my chest. Am I just a random girl to him? 

Confusion etched my face as I asked, "Attacked her sister? What happened to her?" Eric turned around, avoiding my gaze, and uttered the words that sent a chill down my spine. "She was shot."

A torrent of emotions surged within me — fear, confusion, and an unsettling realization. My heartbeat quickened, breath catching in my throat. This man just kissed me and is revealing that the last girl he was probably sleeping with- scratch that, definitely sleeping with was shot. I wondered whether he liked her. 

My voice stumbled over the words, "What do you mean by... get to you?" Eric's response cut through the air, his frustration evident. 

"Clearly, the Luccese siblings sold information to the Black Serpents. I thought you were quick to connect the dots, Avery. Do you always have to be so dense?"

"No! You're the one who's dense. You never answer my questions," I retorted, feeling a mix of confusion and frustration.

I couldn't wrap my head around what he was implying. Sierra got herself shot? Did Connor and Dominic know? Did the serpents spare her life because she was a Luccese? Why the fuck would the Lucceses go to that extent to find a Moretti warehouse? How deep did their rivalry run? How important are the Morettis?

Eric's patience wore thin as he snapped, "What do you want me to say, goddamn it? Connor probably thinks we're fucking. Don't you get it? It makes you his leverage. He used his own sister to get to my family."

Eric sharply tapped my forehead twice with an assertive force, making his point clear. "Don't mistake his sweet talk for genuine interest in you. He'd get you shot right here if it meant selling information to the Serpents."

As Eric's revelation hung in the air, I found myself stuttering, my head swaying in denial. "But... I'm not... we..." I trailed off, caught in a momentary pause. We were not fucking. Yet. Instead of blushing, a sharp pain stirred in my chest. Questions flooded my mind, and confusion etched across my face. My chest started burning from seeing his sudden anger he's projecting onto me. 

"Why would Sierra get herself shot?" 

Eric faced me with eyes nearly black, devoid of the warmth that had accompanied our recent kiss. The transformation was jarring. "Because that is the extent a woman will go to play dirty," he declared, and the weight of those words settled in the room, leaving me to grapple with the ominous reality of the Luccese legacy.

Eric's countenance transformed into something cold and frightening, his eyes reflecting a deep-seated disgust. He looked down at me, and the weight of his gaze intensified the sense of foreboding in the room.

"She not only broke my trust," he uttered with a venomous edge, "She got me attacked and faked her death." His face contorted with emotions I couldn't quite comprehend. "She left me thinking for years that her death was my fault."