Opaque Melodies (Coveting Delirium Book 1) Read online

  Once I had what I needed I finished my commute to room eight-zero-six, the same one I’d put Meg in when she could no longer be unsupervised at my house. I peered in at Lydia Daniels, watching her pace the floor back and forth.

  She wasn’t remotely crazy or unwell, but she had no family, no friends, and was a general waste of earth’s resources.

  She’d been a legitimate patient of Dream Garden for three years, which had been more than enough time to have Demetri unbury all the history there was to know about the woman who frequently sent me inappropriate emails. If she weren’t so weak or easy, she’d have been a perfect candidate for ward two.

  I swiped my keycard through the reader outside the room door. Hearing the beep Lydia spun around in a defensive manner, maintaining it until she saw it was me.

  “Alaric,” she breathed, rushing towards me.

  Her using my first name was highly irritating. I had never given her permission to do so.

  “I’m so glad to see you!” she sobbed, throwing her arms around me. Her body odor nearly took me out.

  “Shh,” I soothed, running a hand over her greasy brown hair.

  The woman had only been here sixteen hours. She had the hygiene of a crack-whore that sold pussy Monday to Saturday, skipping Sundays because that was Gods day and they were devoted to his word.

  As she continued to sob into the shirt I’d be tossing into an incinerator, I pulled the syringe I’d just grabbed from my pocket and easily jabbed her in the back of her shoulder. She jumped away before I could fully remove the needle, yelping in pain.

  “What was that?” she demanded to know.

  “Vitamins,” I lied, walking out of the room without bothering to lock her in.

  I returned to where we kept the medication and retrieved a cadaver bag.

  By the time I got back to Lydia she was collapsed on the floor in the middle of the hallway. I laid the bag out beside her, then ignoring whatever the hell she was slurring, placed her inside.

  A few patients watched me curiously from within their rooms, all too doped up to know what was really going on. I hoisted Lydia over my shoulder and made my way back to the parking garage.

  “Have a good day,” Lisa called after me, not giving a shit about what I was up to. I loved the woman even more for her ability to mind her own business.

  I tossed Lydia in the trunk of my Audi, which I’d specifically driven for this purpose. The Bentley didn’t have a DNA proofed interior, and one could never be too careful.

  Sliding back into the driver’s seat, I appreciate how was much easier this was than having to play civilian Alaric. I would have had to bring Niklaus along with me or he’d have thrown a giant bitch fit for being left out.

  We would have then had to drive three cities over, pick out marks, and then lure them to us with the promise of gifting them with what was between our legs. All that effort for a woman I wasn’t going to turn inside out seemed rather pointless. Lydia served a much better purpose—for once in her meager life.

  I put on some classical music and began the tedious journey home.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  I couldn’t get the scene out of my head.

  I’d already known Alaric was intense. His confidence was larger than the ocean. He was controlling, domineering, and often overwhelming. There was an ever-present aura of menace around him. Manipulative was yet another attribute I could to the list.

  He was someone that should’ve had a flashing warning sign affixed to them.

  Not that it would have done me much good. All these things that should have served as a deterrent were even more alluring. For girls like me, everything bad for us was twice as tempting.

  I stared out at the water, watching the birds soar freely, their wings carrying them wherever they wanted to go. I’d moved from the piano to the lounge chair deciding it was time to call my mother. She didn’t even let the dial ring fully once before picking up.

  “Catalina?”

  “Why are you answering like you’re not who would be on the other line?”

  “You haven’t spoken to me in days! I was beginning to think something happened to you.”

  I leaned back and crossed my legs at the ankle. “That’s dramatic. I’ve been texting you.”

  “Anyone can text.”

  “From my phone? Never mind, anyways, you can see I’m alive.”

  “And how is Alaric treating you? Are you happy?”

  I toyed with a strand of my hair. I’d forgotten to ask him if she was the one who orchestrated this entire thing, aside from Meg’s death. Asking her would be pointless, she’d just evade the question. Then again, Alaric was quite evasive himself.

  “We’re not a couple if that’s what you’re getting at. He feeds me and keeps me entertained.”

  “Entertained, huh? Maybe in a way that has you walking side to side?”

  I choked on a laugh and replied with a firm, “No.” There wasn’t a reason to tell her he wouldn’t give me the dick I never knew I needed.

  Some things didn’t need to be discussed with your parents.

  “Well, you’re still young. I’m sure you two will be fine when the dust settles.”

  That was an odd thing to say. “Whatever that means. I’m not actively seeking out a relationship with him. You know how I can get.”

  “You deserve love just as much as anyone else, no matter how messed up that head of yours is.”

  “Wow, thanks mom,” I replied dryly. I wasn’t going to touch on the L word. Alaric and I weren’t anywhere close to that bomb being dropped. Despite what he had to say about it. I was falling for him, though. Dangerously so.

  “You’ll call me and check in now, won’t you?” she asked, her tone hopeful.

  “I’ll call you, but not to check in.”

  Hearing the door behind me open, I twisted around and was more than a little surprised to see Rebecca making her way out to the patio.

  “Mom…I’ve gotta go.” I ended the call without waiting for her response.

  “Enjoying the view?” Rebecca asked, planting herself on the lounge chair beside me. In a pencil skirt, eight-inch heels, and a silken top, she looked completely out of place.

  “Why don’t you just spit out whatever territorial speech you came to give?”

  Her blood red lips turned up at the corners. “You have shitty people skills.”

  “I’m not a people person so that doesn’t really bother me.”

  She laughed and sat a little higher.

  “We could have been friends.”

  “I have a friend. I don’t want another. Not like you anyways.”

  A flash of white appeared between her pouty lips. “I didn’t come here to give you a speech. Alaric and I may have been fuck buddies once, but that time has long since passed. I’m not your competition. I’m here to warn you.”

  “Warn me?” I eyed her suspiciously.

  She gave me an icy appraisal, sighing before she finally looked away.

  “I couldn’t figure out why he’d taken such a vested interest in you. You’re pretty, but all Alaric’s toys are pretty, some more than others.”

  Was that an insult? I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the lounge chair. Rebecca continued speaking, undeterred.

  “He’ll fuck you because he’s a man, and men love pussy. Especially when its attached to crazy bitches, but Alaric’s going to fuck your mind twice as hard as he is your body.”

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  “So you can try and get out before it’s too late.”

  She had my rapt attention now; I was curious to see where she went with this. “Continue.”

  “Alaric seeks out strong women and manipulates them, exerts control over them. And then he breaks them into a billion tiny pieces.”

  “He didn’t seek me out,” I interjected. Rebecca continued to talk as if I hadn’t.

  “He’ll make you need him and when you finally worship the ground he walks on, he’ll decided
he’s done and leave you to crash and burn. No amount of begging will bring him back.”

  I shifted my sight to the ocean, processing all the she was saying. “Again, why would you tell me all of this?”

  “I told you, and because,” she replied flippantly. “Alaric’s decided he’s going to keep you.” She stood and smoothed down her already smooth skirt. “If he somehow finds out I was here, for both our sakes, lie.”

  Without giving me the option to question anything she walked away.

  I watched her vanish as if she’d never been here, the only signs that she had the lingering scent of her perfume and a headache brought on by her words.

  The sun was setting, and Alaric still wasn’t back yet. There were no sightings of Demetri either.

  I had no clue where he hid himself away at all day every day because I rarely seen him, but I needed a distraction.

  I wasn’t sure how much of what Rebecca said was inadmissible, but after witnessing her genuine fear of Alaric I knew some of it had to come from a place of truth.

  She’d taken a risk coming back to speak to me, but I wasn’t sure it was necessary. I didn’t fit the profile of the woman she described as his usual conquest.

  I felt as if everyone was making a bigger deal about our ‘relationship’ than was necessary. Alaric had never expressed wanting to be anything official, not in a serious manner.

  We had an intoxicating and carnal lust raging between us.

  That shouldn’t have been triggering anyone’s concern. Fucking didn’t equate to commitment. And we’d yet to even go that far. At this point I’d take the insidious dream of him violating me over this torturous seduction. If that’s what this was. I had no fucking clue, but the nightmare was proving to be better than the reality.

  Circling the piano, I considered sitting down to play out the mess in my head, but I really needed a shower first.

  I went up to the guest room and turned the water on. While it warmed, I figured now was as good as time as any to take my medication so I wouldn’t forget later.

  It was gone.

  The bottle should’ve been in the front zipper compartment of my suitcase.

  I emptied the entire bag, full of nothing but my undergarments now that I’d taken to using the dresser. I dropped down, sorting through them.

  There was sign of the orange bottle anywhere. I returned to the bathroom and searched there as well, looking places that made no sense. I wouldn’t have stashed them beneath the sink.

  Shutting my eyes, I pinched the bridge of my nose and inhaled deeply.

  Something touched my shoulder, causing my heart to shoot into my throat. I yelped and moved away, turning once I’d gotten some distance from it.

  “Woah, it’s just me.” Alaric held his hands up defensively. “I called your name, but you didn’t answer.”

  “I—did you change your shirt?”

  He glanced down at himself. “Not that I’m aware.”

  I could’ve sworn he’d been in navy blue when he left. His shirt now was white. I was obviously losing my mind in every capacity.

  “What’s wrong?” He sounded genuinely concerned, but was it genuine?

  “I can’t find my pills.”

  He frowned at me. “I wasn’t aware you took pills.”

  He couldn’t be serious.

  “I’m prone to blackouts and have days I want to watch people play hopscotch in traffic. Of course, I take pills Alaric,” I retorted frenetically, gesturing with my hands.

  He continued to stare.

  Unable to muster the mental strength to go rounds with him, I left him standing there and walked over to the shower.

  Not caring how much he saw, I dropped my dress to my ankles and stepped out of it, chucking my bra across the room next.

  As soon as the heated water hit my scalp I sighed in bliss. I remained just like that until a solid chest pressed against my back. I peeled open my eyes and glanced over my shoulder.

  “What are you doing?”

  Instead of responding with words, he grasped my hips and turned me around.

  “Alaric--.”

  “Shh,” he hushed me, planting a quick kiss on my lips. “Just go with it.”

  I stopped talking, not because he’d told me to, but because he was completely naked and standing right in front of me. My eyes ran over every bump and ridge of his six-pack.

  Now able to see the tattoo that traveled down his lower side was some kind of deathly angel. An angel of sin. It suited him. More noticeable was the cock jutting away from a mass of dark curls. The size didn’t disappoint.

  “My eyes are up here, Cat,” he teased.

  When I went to touch him, he grabbed hold of my wrist to stop me. I finally glanced at him, my gaze questioning.

  “This is for you.”

  “What’s for me?”

  With a mischievous grin, he gently pressed me back into the only wall his shower had. Keeping his eyes on mine, he spread my thighs apart and pressed his lips to the center of my chest, skimming them all the way down to my pussy.

  I swallowed, sinking my teeth into my lower lip when he pressed the pad of a finger on my clit, rotating it with the perfect amount of pressure. Down on his knees, he peered up at me, his thick lashes wet. It made his impossibly blue eyes seem even bluer.

  Sliding his hands around to grip my ass, he leaned in and dragged his entire tongue up my slit, flattening it over my clit. I sucked in a small breath, tangling my digits in his hair. The shower was causing the tendrils to curl and appear darker than they were.

  He lapped at me again, bringing one hand up to slip two of his fingers inside me. Methodically, he began to pump them in and out of my pussy, simultaneously suckling my clit and teasing it with his tongue.

  My back arched off the wall, I moaned and tightened my grip on his locks.

  He began alternating between dipping his tongue inside me to rolling my hardening nub with the pad of his thumb.

  “Your pussy tastes better than my favorite whiskey,” he hummed, moaning his appreciation a second later. The sound had my walls clenching, the pressure inside me expanding.

  “Alaric,” I whimpered his name.

  With a devilish grin he grabbed my ass so tightly I couldn’t move, buried his entire face in my pussy and began to attack my clit with his tongue.

  The heated rush hit me hard.

  I cursed as my pussy convulsed, moaning so loud the shower could no longer be heard.

  He continued to roll my clit, sending me straight into another climax. Had he not been holding me up I would’ve folded down to the ground.

  I was still trying to catch my breath when he rose up, kissing his way back to my mouth. I breathed against his lips and wrapped my arms around his neck. When his tongue slipped into my mouth, I savored the way I tasted.

  “Feel better?” he asked with a knowing grin. I smiled and placed my head on his chest.

  After standing there doing nothing more than that for an immeasurable amount of time, he suggested we wash up before the water turned any colder than it already had. He finished before me, and when I finally made my way into the guest room, towel wrapped around my body, Alaric had picked up everything from the suitcase.

  He was perched on the edge of the bed with a glass of water and something grasped in one of his hands. He’d only gone to put on a pair of sweatpants, leaving his upper half free to be ogled.

  “What’s that?” I asked, nodding to his hand.

  “For you.” He opened his palm to reveal two round white pills.

  “What does it do?

  “Its going to help your head.” He extended them in my direction.

  I wavered between looking in his eyes or at his hand. “Is it okay for me to take something randomly?”

  “This isn’t random. You said you’ve misplaced your medication. Until it is replaced this will help you.”

  Misplaced. That was the word we were going with?

  “I never said that.”

&nb
sp; He raised his brows. “What else would have happened to them?”

  I shrugged, tightening my hold on my towel. “You took them.”

  With an amused smirk, he stood up and moved to stand directly in front of me. “Take the pills Cat, you need to sleep.”

  My heart thudded in my chest. His eyes bore into mine with a hint of something darker peering at me from their depths.

  Opening my hand, I accepted the pills and tossed them back without looking away, their bitter coating remained on my tongue. I chased it away by downing nearly the entire glass of water.

  “Good girl.” He kissed the center of my forehead and then turned away to grab a nightie he had picked out.

  I sat the glass of water on the nightstand and allowed him to slip it over my head, dropping the towel once I was covered.

  He went over to the bed and peeled back the comforter. “Come on, I’ll stay with you.”

  My gaze bounced between him and the bed. I scowled and crossed my arms. “Is there a reason why we’re not going to your room? I haven’t even been allowed to cross the threshold.”

  “We’re not going to my room because once I get you in my bed you won’t be sleeping until you’ve come on my fingers, tongue, and cock.”

  “We should probably head that way then.”

  He beamed at me.

  “You should know once we cross that point in our relationship there’s no going back.”

  “Are you always this hard to get into bed?”

  With a sigh, he dropped the comforter and strode forward. Taking hold of my hand, he tugged me over to the bed and all but forced me into it. He slid in and fit my body against his.

  “Was that difficult?”

  I aimed a glare over my shoulder, burrowing into his warmth even more.

  It’d been ages since I slept with a man, but I’d be lying if I said he didn’t feel perfect pressing up behind me.

  “To answer your question, no. Had you been any other woman I’d have fucked you many times by now, but you’re not other women, and you should be very glad about that.”

  “I should?” I mumbled, being hit by a sudden rush of drowsiness.

  “Yes, because I’m making you mine.”

  Unsure if that should make me feel better or worse, I fell asleep replaying the one-sided conversation I’d had with Rebecca.