Bad Company (Seven Deadly Sins #1) ✅ Completed

Chapter Eleven: Root Beer Floats and Nails

He opened his mouth, deepening our kiss as the intense heat spread through me. It warmed me from the inside, while quietly dispelling all those thoughts that were still ping-ponging inside my head. I didn't care that this wasn't natural for me, that I wasn't the kind of girl that ran around kissing boys left and right. I just wanted to enjoy the moment with Chase, without bothering with the rest. Maybe he wouldn't think the worst of me. Maybe he just couldn't help himself...the way I couldn't seem to. It was easy for me to be drawn to Chase's easy pull. It was nothing like Dante's affect on me, which confused and scared me with its dark intensity. If Chase was a cool autumn breeze, then Dante was a hurricane force gale.

It was a long moment before we pulled apart for some air and he looked at me like he was a little dazzled. I couldn't blame him. I was too. "Do you have someone, Eliza? A boyfriend back home or something?" he asked now, his voice a little hoarse after our heavy kiss.

I shook my head, but he looked like he didn't quite believe me. I blushed under his intense scrutiny, "I wasn't really into dating for a long time. By the time I was...well, no one really bothered to ask me out. I think I sort of missed that bus, you know?"

Chase just shook his head in disbelief. "Man, some big city people sure are dumb."

I gave him a playful shove, feeling the rest of the tension that had kept me tied up in knots finally loosen and fall away. "Hey! I'm a big city person," I said defensively.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me along his side, throwing an arm over my shoulder. We turned to head back down in the same direction he'd just come from. "That's why I said some," he said, smiling down at me.

"Well, that's a relief." I rolled my eyes, but was unsuccessful in hiding my own grin.

"You're preaching to the choir right there," Chase answered, making sure to put a little extra drawl on it. I couldn't help but laugh out loud, knowing he'd done it on purpose.

So I was a sucker for a country accent, and he knew it. For the first time ever, the thought of a boy knowing more about me than I ever let on before, didn't fill me with a slightly sickening sort of dread. Actually, if I were being totally honest with myself, it felt nice.

Really, really nice.

I walked along with Chase, enjoying the feel of his arm around me, thoughts of Dante dissolving in the beautiful summer sun.

~~~

Dante packed one of the heavy boxes into the store, heading across the shop floor as he made for the back stock room. Celeste was standing at the counter, another box open in front of her. She stood polishing one of her latest acquisitions, a bent cigarette dangled precariously from her wrinkled lips.

"Where is she?" she asked without bothering to look up.

She went for a walk. Dante replied mentally, not bothering to stop. 

"Did you give it to her?"

Dante paused, but didn't bother looking at her as he nodded. For the first time in his exceptionally long life he'd become a little uneasy with the path he treaded. Not fully understanding why he was bothering, he turned to Celeste,

Are you sure about this?

"Course I am," she replied matter-of-factly around her cigarette.

She's your blood he pointed out.

Celeste raised her head finally and met Dante's hard stare with one of her own. Any remorse or sympathy had been extinguished long ago. "And that's why I sent for the Crawford boy. If you did what you were supposed to, then she'll pass it on and that's that."

He'll hurt her. Taint her soul as he commits his mortal sin.

"So? She won't be the one going with Asher now, will she?"

Her life will still be cursed...her soul tainted.

"She'll live."

How can you be sure?

Celeste huffed irritated, already tired of this entire conversation. "'Cause her momma did. What the hell has gotten into you, Dante?" she snapped, turning back to the small figure in her hand. Such a harmless thing now, but by the time she was finished with it, it would be the vessel for one more damned soul. It was never too early to start getting ready for next year's batch.

"Now, hurry up with them boxes, I ain't got all damn day."

Dante resumed his work in silence, wondering the same thing himself. It was strange that Celeste's niece would affect him so. Normally, such things did not bother him. He had many other pressing concerns that required his attention.

So, he didn't think about the way Eliza's soft lips had felt beneath his, or how her shy tongue felt gliding against his own. He didn't even think about the rush of heat he'd felt emanating from her body. A heat that reached inside him and briefly alleviated the dull ache that'd been a part of him for so long he couldn't even remember a time when it hadn't always been there. The only thing Dante thought of was the taste of her soul - it was so pure, so clean, it reminded him of a fresh summer rain.

It would be the last time it would ever taste that way.

But one girl's innocent soul was a small price to pay for his freedom. A price he'd pay a thousand times over if it meant his blasted servitude within this mortal realm was done once and for all. A price he had every intention of collecting from those who'd cursed him so many centuries ago.

With all thoughts of Celeste's niece temporarily forgotten, Dante's thoughts turned firmly back to his ever evolving plots of revenge. By the time he'd finished unloading all the boxes from his truck, Eliza's fate was relegated to collateral damage.

After all, what sort of war would it be without some?

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*A/N: Music selection: The All-American Rejects Dirty Little Secret.