48: Do You Regret It

There’s still the bump in the night noises throughout the cemetery as we leave, but with Gabriel beside me nothing is too frightening. But there’s no denying the relief I feel as we exit the graveyard and return to the car.

Gabriel though on the other hand doesn’t fully leave the cemetery behind. He battles with the memory and physical pain from his soul being yanked away.
“Are you still feeling it?” I ask. My cringe is visible, but he stares at the road lost in thought.

The first and only time that Georgio took the tiniest sliver from my soul still gives me the chills. The darkness that overtook me, the depression and the exhaustion. The gray hair that I grew was nothing compared to desperation I dealt with for the following several days.

“I’ll be fine.” He replies.

I bite my lower lip to keep the contradictory words to myself. His vampire half must be going crazy right now from his human half having some five years yanked from it.
“Where are we going?” I figured we would be going back to the manor to share the news with Brooklynn, but he heads straight into town.

“I’m taking you back home.” His hands ring the steering wheel and he clenches his jaw tightly closed.

“It’ll pass. You should be better in a few hours.” I say in effort to make him feel better.

“A few hours that I shouldn’t spend with you.” He snaps.

My chest tightens as if I got the wind knocked out of me. His words physically sting me and I struggle to cover up my shock. “Okay.” I mumble.

“No.” He says a little too loudy. “I’m…” His words die off. He grips the steering wheel so tight, I’m surprised it's still in its perfect circle shape.

I chance a glance at him wanting to see the expression on his face, to read his thoughts that he doesn’t want to say. “Oh,” tumbles from my mouth as I see his fangs extended for the second time tonight.

“I need to eat.” He says ‘eat’, but he doesn’t mean food. He needs blood and he doesn’t want it from me.

“It’s fine. You don’t want-”

He cuts me off, his voice still too loud for the small vehicle, “to hurt you. I don’t want to hurt you and I really need-”

This time I cut him off, “to sink your fangs into someone. I’m assuming it’ll be Brooklynn, because she’s so biteable, right?”

His knuckles loosen and a rough laugh rumbles out of his mouth. “I’m saving you from something that can’t be taken back, that could be painful and you want to start a fight with me about it?” His eyes dart between the road and me. He doesn’t look at me for more than a second or two.

“I understand.” I say in what I hope is forgiving or understanding, but it has a twinge of annoyance in it. The conversation gets cuts short as he pulls up along the curb outside my apartment building. I grab the door handle, my words quick on my lips. “I’ll try to work on the spell between my shifts at the shop.” The door opens, one foot is out, but I’m yanked to a stop.

“I’m not sure you do,” he says as he pulls me back inside, our eyes meet, “understand.” His fangs push into his lip as he talks. “I don’t think I can control myself...with you.”
“I said it’s fine.” I wiggle in his grasp and he quickly lets go. Once out of the car, standing on the sidewalk staring at him, I say, “Goodnight Gabriel.” Then I slam the door and quickly head inside.

The quietness of my apartment washes over me and I take a deep breath to calm my nerves. I carelessly toss my purse with the book inside it on the kitchen table. My mind needs a day or two away from that mess. I could also use a day or two away from Gabriel because my control is shattered making me careless. And he said he was the one that can’t control himself, at least he has some control left.

A knock raps on my door, it stops my heart for a fraction of a second. One foot in front of the other, I make my way to the door, turn the knob and keep my eyes on the floor as I open it.

I only see his legs and slightly dirty shoes, but there’s no denying that Gabriel stands before me.

“Let me in Hazel.” His words are rough and have a slight lisp to them as his fangs still press into his lower lip.

“I thought-”

“Hazel.” He says my name so softly that it causes goosebumps to break out all over my body. “Let me in. Please.”

“Come in.” The words tumble off my tongue without my mind ordering the command.

He rushes over the threshold and grabs me. His hands aggressively grasp my head, sharply tugging my hair as his fingers get stuck in tiny snarls. His mouth slams against mine so hard, so desperate that tips of his canines tear through my skin. Our kiss quickly becomes tainted with my blood. But instead of breaking away, he gets more aggressive.

A low growl passes from his mouth to only get trapped within my own. I, however, give a yelp as he lifts me off my feet. A heavy gust of wind assaults my senses as he races to my bedroom at full vampire speed. It almost makes me dizzy...or it’s Gabriel’s groping hands that cause my mind to spin.

He doesn’t drop me onto the mattress, no, he throws me onto the bed and I bounce from the impact. Before I can adjust or make the room stop spinning he already has his shirt off and his fingers are fumbling with the button on his pants.

“Get undressed.” He demands.

My eyes go wide as his brute demands, his viscous vampire instinct. A part of him I never saw, a part I overlooked, a part I didn’t want to admit existed. When I don’t move, he grabs my ankles and slides me to the edge of the bed, another yelp slips from my mouth.

His hands grope at the hem of my shirt trying to take it off me. The second it gets hung up he yanks at it. The sound of fabric ripping fills the room. The sound doesn't affect him as he goes for the button of my pants. Unlike my shirt, he easily slips the denim off and tosses them in the corner of the room. A breath of relief gets trapped in my throat.

His fangs are still extended as wedges himself between my legs, his finger kneading my thighs so rough that I’m sure bruises will appear tomorrow. My heart beats at an uncontrollable rate as he leans down. “Am I scaring you?”

“No.”

The palm of his hand goes to rest on my chest, his fingers barely circling the base of my neck. The coolness of his skin feels like ice against my burning flesh. “You’re an awful liar.” He whispers.

It all happens so fast. One moment I’m on the edge of the bed and the next I’m sprawled out in the middle with Gabriel pinning me down. His mouth presses against mine taking my breath away, all the while his hand snakes down between my legs.

There’s no warning, no pause. He moves the edge of underwear aside and thrusts himself into me so fast, so hard that I hiss through clenched teeth.

“Do you regret it yet?” He says breathily in my ear. In my silence he withdraws and slams into me so hard that my body quivers from the force.

I grab a fistful of his hair and bring his forehead to rest upon mine. “Never.”

There’s a devilish smile to his face, his fangs front and center of my attention. He brushes my lips with his and then my cheek, then my ear. The trail of soft kisses goes down my neck until his mouth is nuzzled into the crook. “Good, because there’s no changing your mind.” His open mouth rests on the top of my shoulder right where it arches into my neck.

My heart races and I know he notices, because his hands squeeze me harder. There’s no warning as he bites down, his fangs piercing the skin. A howl of shock bursts from my lips and my back arches from the pain.

My nails rake down his back and my legs curl around him squeezing him close to me. At the sound of my audible exhale he grinds his hips into me getting as deep as he can while his jaw clenches down draining more blood.

A lightheadedness gives me the illusion of floating. The room blurs away and my eyelids flicker closed.

I don’t feel Gabriel’s mouth lift from my neck. I don’t feel him slip out from between my legs. But I do hear his panicked hollering as he shouts my name, the feel of hands roughly shake me awake.

“Damn it Hazel,” He shouts as my eyes meet his, “you scared me half to death.” He engulfs me in a suffocating hug. “I got carried away and took too much.” His fingers lightly move strands of hair out of my face. “I should’ve left, went back to Phillip’s. I shouldn’t have-”

“Are you saying you prefer Brooklynn better?” I tease even though I’m suddenly self conscious of not tasting good.

“No and that’s the problem. It’s only you Hazel, only you can make me this crazy, this hungry. It’s only you I want.” He still stares at me with wide eyes.

I give him a small kiss before laying my head on his shoulder. “Good.” I say with a smile on my lips.