How you destroyed me

I was the last one supposed to leave the shop. I just had to sweep the floor and make sure everything was in order. I was about to lock up, but just minutes before, a customer walked through the front door.

“We’re closing,” I said, giving him a hasty look while distracted by the cash register and the day’s receipts.

He seemed anything but friendly, yet he wasn’t terrible-looking—attractive in a dark, alluring kind of way. A man you could almost be certain was mixed up in criminal affairs. He didn’t say anything, and something about that didn’t feel right. He started walking toward me, and I forced myself to look at him; our eyes met. His eyes were the color of red rubies. I immediately understood he wasn’t human. I took a step back and collided with the leathery chair behind me.

“Please,” I pleaded.

Dark smoke cascaded across the stone floor in front of him, and I was taken aback. It was a blanket of black fog. I could hardly avert my gaze, but once I regained control, I searched for a way out—and found none. He was too fast. He was in front of me in a matter of seconds.

The brightly lit room had dimmed since he arrived. The white stone floor almost seemed gray—the shade of stormy clouds—and every color of clothing in the shop had faded, become washed out and darkened, as if his mere presence had drained all the light.

He chuckled, the sound too sweet and human to belong to him. And yet, it did. I turned back to look at him again, but his smile transformed him into someone likable and pure, nothing like the dangerous creature hidden within him.

“I don’t want any trouble.” The words poured out of me, but they didn’t taste like my own. It was like my voice had a mind of its own.

“Calm down, lovely.”

Why did the sound of his rich, sultry, and compelling voice untangle a longing buried deep inside me, like a knot that had been there for far too long?

I started to leave, but he stopped me, cornered me, and pressed me between him and the checkout counter.

“What do you want?” I demanded.

He cocked his head as he stared at me, amusement evident on his face—it was the way his lips curved on one side and how his eyes lit up.

“You have something that belongs to me,” he said after a moment of waiting.

“And… that is?”

I grew bold, pushed myself back, crossed my arms, and stared up at him. That only widened his smile.

“You remember Bradley, don’t you?”

I froze. My heart started beating faster than normal. “No,” I whispered, but the word was more for me than for him. This wasn’t some random attack. I knew who this man was… or I had at least heard of him.

I backed away, tried to leave, but he caught my wrist and dragged me back. I could feel his chest pressed against my back.

“Don’t do this.”

“You will give back what you have taken.”

“I don’t owe you anything,” I spat.

He turned me, moved me back, and kept pushing until I hit something solid. My breath left me momentarily.

“You took something that doesn’t belong to you.”

I laughed without humor. “Something far greater was stolen from me first.”

Something I will never get back.

The faintest smile appeared across his lips, and I felt his warm breath mingling with mine.

My eyes flicked to his lips—the softest pink—and I wondered what they would feel like pressing against mine.

“You will pay the price.” His hand reached my throat, but it was the gentlest touch, like he didn’t actually have any intention of hurting me, and that thought calmed me.

My gaze drooped. “I… don’t…” I stammered. “…have it anymore.”

“What?!” His hand squeezed tight, but not hard enough to stop my breathing. He was done playing around, making his threat clear.

“You are going to get it back, or it’s your neck on the line,” he said, but then he thought better of it, and when clarity reached him, he smirked at me.

“If you don’t find my brother’s heart, I will take yours.”

He released my throat, his finger tracing down to where my heart lay hidden beneath my chest. “But I will not take it for myself. You will hand it over willingly.”

I snorted. “If you think I would fall for your kind, you’re sadly mistaken.”

He leaned in, and when his lips reached my ear, I couldn’t breathe. “Are you sure about that?”

I took the opportunity; pushed him and ran. He was not prepared and staggered back before he found his footing.

“I will never stop looking for you,” he shouted after me. “You stole my brother’s heart. Now I will steal yours.”

I left him, and his scream for me disappeared into the night. I feared he might be right. He would never stop looking for me. I took something from the one he loved most in the world. I had heard rumors about their close bond, and after I stole Bradley’s heart, he wasn’t recognizable anymore, a shadow of his former self.

Everyone had warned me of his brother’s wrath.

A demon whose heart only beats for one.

His brother.