43. alessia

43

ALESSIA

A fast, strong punch knocks Jack to the floor, and he's out cold, almost lifeless. Daegan stands there with menacing eyes. Even though it's been weeks since I've seen him, I forget how massive this man is. He wears his full mask, his eyes colder than his heart, and the archangel tattoos on his sleeve light up when lightning strikes behind me through the glass doors.

"Damn, that was way over-fucking-due." He snickers as he looks at Jack on the floor like he's entertained and wants to keep fighting.

"D-Daegan?" I stutter, and I feel like I'm going to pass out. The aftermath of the drinks is getting to me. "What are you doing here? Please leave me alone! I don't w-want to s-see you." I turn around weakly, walking away fast, but my legs don't reciprocate—they're slow and heavy.

"Is my little Valentine drunk?" He coos behind me like he was the one responsible. Like he knows the answer to his own question.

Blackness starts to cloud my vision, and with every step I take, I feel like I'm sinking into quicksand.

"You think the deal you made with me was voided? The rules still apply. You are mine until I say this is over, not ink on orders, and definitely not the Admiral." Daegan's manic voice is trickled with desperation. His palm silences my scream when I realize this is a side of Daegan I don't recognize. Turmoil implodes the air, and I can't breathe.

"Daegan, please stop! Get away from me!" I claw at his hand that covers and muffles my mouth, and he laughs like he's enjoying everything. He grabs me by my stomach and waist, and I do everything I can to stop him. I slap at his chest and arms repeatedly, over and over againas I try to walk into the rain outside, but he's too strong. My vision blurs, dizziness possesses everything inside me, and I'm gone into darkness.

"Daegan, please don't do this."

"You should have thought about that before you made a deal with the boogeyman, little valentine. Goodnight." He presses his lips to my cheek, and I succumb to darkness.

My head is pounding, and my throat is dry. I'm awake, I know that much, but the bed I'm sleeping in…it's not mine. The sound of someone playing on a piano—it's a beautiful, serene, sad tune.

The sound of thunder chimes outside, joining in on the somber music, and I feel like I'm still dreaming.

I claw at the bed sheets, pushing myself out, and groan softly.

The piano keeps going.

"The day I came back home, after my time in the hospital, after multiple surgeries to reconstruct my hand and my vision…"

Daegan's voice can be heard in the dark corner of his room. A lamp illuminates the music sheet. He sits there with his shirt and mask off, and a dragon stares back at me in an ominous way. I see the back of his head, and his messy dark hair waves are longer than before—scars all over his back, like slices.

I readjust myself on the bed as the memories of me at El Devine with Kane, his girlfriend, and Jack resurfaces. And the last thing I remember is my world spinning.

"How did I get here?" I rub the side of my head and blink to escape the grogginess.

Daegan starts to play the piano more aggressively.

"After all that physical pain and suffering, I was excited to come home. My wife hadn't visited me once in the hospital. She said she was working…when in reality, she had been fucking her co-worker while I was deployed. And when I came back home, maskless…" Daegan stops playing the piano and palms the keys. His back muscles sway underneath his tattoos and scars, clearly full of tension as he remembers the past. Lightning flashes through the windows once more.

"She took one look at my face and cringed. She didn't want anything to do with me. She told me she couldn't love a man that looked like a monster." He scoffs out with a laugh and turns around to face me. He's smiling, but his eyes are watering. His abs flex in the dark with his fast breathing. "She used my injuries, my time away from home, my trauma to justify her cheating."

I sit up, and my heart sinks. How could she do that to him? And where is this going?

Still, I need to get the fuck out of here.

"That happens a lot, you know? When some of us get wounded in action, our spouses can't handle it, and they leave. She couldn't handle my physical scars, let alone the ones stained into my soul. The nightmares…my face."

I look around and find his door, but Daegan catches my gaze and stands from his piano. Each step was a vivid warning for me not to try it. He walks toward me, his vision pinned on me, and it scares me.

"After she cheated on me and couldn't get used to the new makeover the Surgeon gave me, I ended it." He kneels in front of me, and the unknown of how I passed out at El Devine scares me.

I don't trust him.

He reaches for me, and tears start to fall out my eyes. He pushes the hair out of my face, and I tear myself away from his beautiful face. If I look at him, I'll fall apart. I need to stay strong. He caresses the side of my face with his large palm, soothing me.

"When you saw my scars, you didn't flinch or run away from me, and you didn't pity me. You're the first person who doesn't judge me by my appearance or how I am when everyone else has labeled me as a Creature who doesn't talk or act normal. I can be Daegan Hannibal with you, and you don't run away from me. Instead, you welcome me, even if I may be terrifying to others."

I chew the inside of my mouth as I listen to him. This can't be easy when you're repeatedly shunned by people who judge you with a closed-minded thought process.

"You see…in the state of North Carolina, it takes one year for any divorce to be finalized. I'm just a few weeks from my court date, and I'll legally be single."

I turn away from his headboard and lock eyes with him, searching for any hesitation.

Is he telling the truth?

"I haven't been with her since I found out she cheated on me while I was getting tortured. I'm separated but legally still married, and I'm sorry for not telling you that. I'm still in disbelief you want me…even though I look like this." He points to his scarred face. "I didn't believe anyone could love me after my mother died. After Stella called me a monster. After those moments in my life, I convinced myself in the end, it's better to trust no one. It's better to believe that love doesn't exist because it's easier to live like that. But then I met you."

A tear falls from my eye, and I wipe it away fast before he continues.

"I wasn't sure where we were going, and I didn't want to hurt you."

"It's a little too late for that," I reply.

"Listen, you can hate me. You can be mad and pissed off, but no one can make you feel like I can. I won't ever let anyone get a fucking chance to."

He presses me down on the bed, my back hits the sheets, and I try to push him back as the rain joins our harsh breathing.

"The way you scream and come with my name on your lips. The way your eyes dilate whenever you see me. The way you smile when I talk to you. You're in love with me, and if you're not consumed by me yet, you will be."

"Daegan, you're acting crazy!" I try to hit him with my knees, but he pushes them down like I'm nothing but a toy to him. The back of my knees hit the mattress and I sigh in defeat.

"You do make me fucking crazy. Fight me. It only makes your pussy wetter and my cock harder." He coos in my ear as he pushes my legs apart, and I feel his hard cock already begging to destroy me.

"I won't sleep with you, Daegan. You're still married, and I'm still mad." I seethe.

"Well, that makes two of us."

Daegan grabs his dog tags from his back pocket and ties up my wrists as fast as his waist pins me down.

What the fuck?

I'm unsure what to do, but I'm letting him. I don't fight him anymore. I don't know what that says about me.

"You're mad? Mad at what?!" I wiggle beneath, but it's no use. He's right; he does hold this power over me. I'm wet and begging for him; I already miss the way his hard length stretches me and fucks me, hitting that same spot inside me as it always does, making me climax with just half of his cock. His dog tags dig into my wrists, and I try to pull and kick, but he holds me down. He's way bigger than me.

"How are you the one that's mad right now? You drugged me, didn't you?"

He goes down in between my thighs, and I raise my foot to kick his face, but he catches it with his hand, squeezing tight until I hiss in pain.

"Because I missed a shot."

He's not making any sense! "What?"

He goes to the end of the bed and grabs a rope from his pocket, tying it to both ends of the bed.

"Daegan, let me go! I refuse to be here. You can't force me to be here; you can't drug me and then tie me up because you want me to listen to you!"

"You love being tied up. Would you have come here willingly?" He points out with an angry growl.

"Hell no."

"Exactly my point, little Valentine. I could have done worse, be thankful."

He finishes tying my ankles to his bed and then pulls out his knife. The same knife he fucked me with months ago. The Damascus blade glows and glistens against the moonlight. He grins with sadism in the tilt of his lips.

He hovers over me, and with a quick gesture, he pulls my dress up, slicing my underwear off. He grabs my underwear and holds it to his nose. My eyes bulge as I watch him sniff my torn panties. My pulse begins to race harder and thunders along with the storm outside.

"I love the way your pussy smells, and I love the way it tastes."

He's going to destroy me, and I'm going to hate every single second of it, but not because I don't want it. I need it. And I'll hate it because I know how I ache for him. It overpowers my morals and self-respect because of how badly I miss him.

He drugged me, and now he's tying me up, and I'm letting him?

I must need therapy because of the amount of mind-fuckery this man has me going through…I can't keep up, and what's even worse is that I'm heating up more and more.

He pulls out the bullet he constantly twirls, and I watch his lustful smile fall into a depraved one.

"Can you bite the bullet, little valentine?"

The bullet is long and thick. He hovers over me and starts to pump the bullet inside me. It's cold and glides in and out over and over again over my slick wetness. A loud whimper slithers off my tongue, and he hums with sick satisfaction. He thumbs my clit, and I begin to shudder with his precise circles as he continues to pump my pussy with his signature bullet.

"I missed a shot because of you," He growls against my naked nipple, and finally, he takes it into his mouth, biting down on it hard, like his main goal is to make me scream, and he wins because I let out a moan that comes out like a cry. I don't think I've ever made a sound like this before. The way he's making me cry out for him is insane, and I tell my body to shut the hell up.

We're supposed to be mad at him! Not begging for him!