The Nine: Zane by Elle Arroyo

Author:Elle Arroyo [Arroyo, Elle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Dark, Romance, demons, alpha male, forced marriage, gay, kidnapped, m/m romance
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press, Inc
Published: 2023-01-24T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Eric

“I know it doesn’t feel like it now, but sometimes our heartbreak only clears the way for something better. It cleanses us.” The heat of the man’s breath touched the back of my neck. A reminder of how close we were to each other. Lying in a spooning position on a bed in a hotel room.

Layla had finally left me for another man and I’d been kidnapped and taken to a dark hotel room with a stranger who wanted to hug me. And it didn’t feel weird or wrong. I snorted at his words. “Put that on a hallmark card.” Another sob wracked through me, my vision blurred, my nose stuffed. I hadn’t stopped crying since the restaurant.

He chuckled, and I liked the sound of it. His chest vibrating against my back. Despite being fully clothed, I felt his warmth seep into me, relaxing me. For some inexplicable reason, he’d latched on to me and my heartbreak.

“Have you ever had your heart broken?”I asked.

“Once. I lived and breathed for that person, only to get shanked at the end.”

“And did you find enlightenment?”

“No. But I found you.”

There was an ease of silence as my eyes burned and I shut them. I had been crying my eyes out when the man behind me kidnapped me. I’d thought he meant to kill and bury me in an unmarked grave. My family would never find me. The horrible part was that I didn’t care at that moment. I didn’t care that I’d let a stranger drive me to a hotel. I didn’t care that my eyes had been so bloodshot and swollen that I couldn’t even see his face clearly. My nose was so clogged I couldn’t even smell him. The only reason I knew he was real was the feel of his arms around me, and the feel of his breath against my neck. I felt him inhale me as if taking me to scented memory. “You deserve better than her. You deserve someone who loves you and cherishes only you.” The deep voice sounded oddly familiar. “You don’t deserve a monster.”

The voice changed, deeper, until its resonance drew an image of blond hair, ocean blue eyes, and rigid features. “But you got a monster, anyway.”

I jolted awake, biting back a scream as the world swam into focus. Like a newborn calf unable to steady its legs, I fell on all fours beside the bed. The memory of the stranger peeled away into a hazy remnant. Memories couldn’t pull from something that wasn’t there. I hadn’t bothered to look at his face because I hadn’t wanted to see. Just to feel. To sleep. To cry. I had wanted to coward my way through my pain.

Coward.

I felt the echo of the noose around my neck, the sharp pain, and then my chest tightening, unable to breathe.

Breathe. I was breathing. It’d only been a nightmare. My back hit the wall.

I inhaled a breath, then another, and another, until the white spots dancing in front of my eyes vanished.

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