25. Jared

25

JARED

A ria stands in the kitchen, her naked form glistening with sweat from our primal fuck in the woods. My disheveled beauty sends a jolt of desire coursing through me.

"Jared..." She begins. "This has gone too far. We need to stop."

Her words are like a bucket of ice-cold water. A dark cloud descends, the tendrils of my obsession tightening their grip.

"Stop?" I snarl, my fingers digging into the kitchen counter. "You think you can walk away and pretend this never happened? That we're not bound by an unbreakable connection?"

Aria flinches, her arms wrapping around herself as if to shield herself. "We're siblings, Jared. What we've done is... it's wrong. We have to forget it ever happened."

Her words are like gasoline on the raging inferno within me. How dare she try to erase what we've shared to diminish the depth of my desire for her? The darkness I've kept at bay for so long comes crashing through.

"Wrong?" I laugh bitterly. "You didn't complain when I was buried deep inside you, claiming every inch of your body as mine. And we're step-siblings, not blood siblings. I stalk toward her, and she shrinks back. "Did you forget how you came undone beneath me with my dick in your cunt?"

Grabbing a fistful of her hair, I yank her head back, exposing the delicate curve of her neck. "You're mine, Aria. Every breath, pulse of your heart, and dark desire belong to me."

Her eyes widen, her chest heaving as she struggles against my hold. "Don't delude yourself into thinking you can escape. I'll never let you go, baby. You'll spend every waking moment craving my touch, aching for me to claim you repeatedly until you understand one simple truth."

I capture her earlobe between my teeth, delivering a sharp nip that makes her whimper. "You're my perfect, twisted obsession. And I'll never be done with you."

"You're crazy if you think there's any world where we can work out. Our parents would hate us for this!"

I tighten my grip on her hair, relishing her sharp intake of breath. "Our parents?" I sneer. "You think I give a damn what they think? They're the ones who thrust us together, who let this unnatural desire fester."

Trailing my free hand down the curve of her neck, I squeeze her throat hard enough to make her eyes widen. "Don't you see, Aria? We're inevitable. Fated. Every accidental touch, every heated glance was the universe's way of pushing us toward this deliciously forbidden union."

I ease the pressure on her windpipe, instead ghosting my thumb over her parted lips. She tries to turn her head away, but I grip her chin firmly, forcing her to meet my stare.

"We're two dark stars caught in each other's orbit," I rasp. "Trying to escape this is like attempting to defy gravity itself. Futile and unnatural."

A flicker of defiance blazes in her eyes and I can't resist crushing my mouth against hers, swallowing her gasp of surprise. Our tongues duel for dominance as I pour every ounce of my hunger, my mania, into the kiss. When we finally break apart, there's a dazed look on her face.

"Face it, little sister," I growl against her lips. "You were made for me, just as I was made to possess you. There's no world where we don't end up like this—tangled together in the most beautifully damned way."

Dragging my tongue along the column of her throat, I feel her pulse hammering wildly beneath it. "So why fight it? Just surrender to the darkness. Give in to your true nature, to the twisted desires you've been choking down for years. Only then will you find true freedom, true bliss..."

I nip sharply at the juncture of her shoulder. "In my arms." Releasing her, I pace away.

Aria's toys with the hem of her skirt. Her haunting eyes betray the darkness lurking within.

"Why are you so deliciously dark, little sister?" I ask. "Is it because dear old Dad was absent when you were little?"

She stiffens at the mention of her father, her jaw clenching. Never before have I asked her or her mom about her birth father.

"Did his abandonment plant the first seeds of darkness in your pretty head?" I press. "Is that why you crave the things you do? The pain, the taboo, the depravity?"

She worries her lower lip.

"Come now, sweetheart." I reach out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. She flinches at my touch but doesn't pull away. "You know you can tell me anything. I'll understand the twisted inner workings of that mind better than anyone."

A heavy silence stretches between us, the air thick with tension. When I think she'll remain quiet, Aria finally speaks in a small voice.

"It wasn't his absence that did it," she murmurs, her fingers picking at a loose thread on her dress. "The darkness was there long before that."

My brow furrows. "What do you mean?"

She lets out a shaky exhale, meeting my gaze. Her eyes are haunted like she's reliving some long-buried trauma.

"I've never told anyone…"

The vulnerability in her voice cuts me to the core. "He hurt you." It's not a question.

She nods. "He used to touch me and come into my bedroom at night when I was about six."

White-hot fury lances through me, my hands clenching into fists. That sick fuck better pray he's dead for laying a hand on her. The thought of my Aria, so innocent and sweet, being violated like that.

"I'll fucking kill him," I snarl, every muscle in my body tensed like a coiled snake about to strike. "I'll tear that twisted piece of shit apart with my bare hands for what he did to you."

Aria's eyes widen, and she quickly reaches out to grab my wrist as if sensing the violence simmering beneath the surface. "Didn't your dad tell you that my dad died when I was eight?"

My brow furrows. "No, I always just assumed…" I trail off, realizing I'm an asshole for assuming her dad left her mom and her. Considering Aria and I were never close like that as kids, it just never came up.

"When I was eight years old, I..." Aria falters, swallowing hard. "There was an incident."

"What kind of incident?" I demand, fighting to keep my rage in check.

Aria's throat works as she struggles to find the words. "The night before he died, he told me I was ready to become a woman." Her throat bobs. "He'd been making me pleasure him a lot and touching me more, and I knew he was going to do something far more terrible…"

My beautiful, innocent Aria, tainted by the sick depravities of a man who should have been her protector. A man she should have trusted. Instead, she was preyed upon at such a young age. A crimson haze of pure, blinding rage clouds my vision, and I fight the urge to put my fist through the nearest wall.

"He got what he deserved a long time ago." I search her gaze, seeing the truth reflected there.

"How?" I demand. "How did that depraved fuck meet his end?"

A dark, haunted look crosses Aria's features.

"Because of me," she whispers. "I made sure of it myself the next day."

She's confessing to taking the life of her dad, a sick excuse of a man who stained her innocence and dragged her into the darkness. And I feel an even deeper connection to her. My stepsister, my twisted counterpart.

"You killed him?" I confirm.

Aria holds my gaze, her chin tilted up defiantly. "He fell off his ladder while trying to fix the roof. A tragic accident." There's an undercurrent of pride in her voice like she's daring me to judge her.

Instead, I cross the room in two long strides and pull her roughly into my arms. Our mouths collide in a passionate kiss, my tongue tangling with hers as I taste the dark confession on her lips.

"I'm so fucking proud of you," I whisper, cupping her cheeks. "You did what needed to be done. Took back the control he stole from you."

Aria pulls back, her breath coming in short gasps. "You're not disgusted by me? By what I did?"

I shake my head. "You've got no idea how much it turns me on knowing you have the capacity for such darkness. It's a side of you I want to explore, to push even further."

"Really?" she asks. "You're not just saying that?"

Capturing her mouth in another mind-numbing kiss, I growl, "You're mine, Aria. Every part of you, including the darkness. I want it all."

"What about you? Have you ever taken a life?"

I smirk, remembering the night I'd pushed her boyfriend off the bleachers at school, sending him plummeting to his death. He'd touched her, and I had no choice but to silence him permanently.

"Once," I admit, meeting her gaze unflinchingly. "Your first boyfriend. He got too close to you. I had to eliminate the threat."

Aria's eyes widen, and she bites her lip, a mix of emotions playing across her beautiful face. "Aaron?" Her voice breaks a little. "You killed him for me?"

I graze my thumb over her cheekbone, savoring the warmth of her skin. "In a heartbeat. And I do it again and again. Never forget that."

She swallows hard, her body trembling against mine. "I won't. But Jared... does that make us monsters?"

I tip her chin up, forcing her to meet my gaze. "Perhaps. But we're monsters together, you and I. And I wouldn't have it any other way."