Page 20 of Lethal Attraction

But he isn’t Brooks, pleads that small voice in the back of my head.

I give a humorless chuckle at my inner monologue. “Yeah. I thought Brooks wasn’t like Brooks either.”

My eyes shift to Reed’s face, and I take him in for one last time. The strong nose that sits over his firm, yet somehow soft lips. The dulled scar over his eyebrow and the hands that held me like I meant something to him. The rush of emotions I get is overwhelming, but I know our time is up.

I can’t stay unless I want to get him caught up in the messed up world that ruined my siblings and me.

I brush my fingers over his cheek, committing him to memory before leaning down and kissing him softly. “You were a beautiful chapter, Reed.”

As I leave his apartment, an unnatural heaviness settles in my chest. It’s like bricks stacked on top of each other, and it becomes harder to breathe the further I get from his home. When the bridge of my nose begins to sting, I swipe at my tears harshly before catching the next bus back to the hospital.

Chapter eight

Reed

Pleasure and pain mix deliciously in my dream-like state. Every flash of Thalia I get is perfection: her long, raven hair flowing over her shoulders, the rounded, teardrop-shaped breasts that bounce with every movement, and her little gasps that send me into feral desire.

What I’ve conjured is so real—tangible—that when I rouse from my sleep, I slap a hand to the cold and empty spot beside me, expecting to feel her there. I sit up quickly, disoriented and my head pounding like I was hit by a fucking truck as I gasp and blink wearily into the darkness of my room.

There’s no one here.

It really was a dream.

I press my hands to the sides of my nose as I rest my elbows on my knees. My alarm blares to my left, but I ignore it as I try to make sense of how tightly Thalia has me wrapped around her finger.

It was just so real. I felt her skin beneath mine, and the way her pulse fluttered. I can still remember how her pussy gripped me like a vice and I knew I wasn’t going to last long with her.

As I move to slide towards my bedside table, I feel the sheets sticking to me and my lips twist into a sneer.

Great. I fist fucked myself in my sleep to a patient. Just wonderful!

I slap a hand over the alarm clock before dragging my fingers down my face. Something glints on my stand and I do a double-take at the syringe lying there.

I stare at it, baffled for a moment, before I snatch it and lift it to my nose.

Sweet and slightly fruity.

“Midazolam,” I mutter in disbelief as my frown deepens.

I didn’t do this.

In all of my years as a professional, I’ve never once accidentally taken home sedatives. Someone was here.

I toss the syringe down as if it’s burned me before standing on shaky legs. I have to catch myself on the bed before my knees buckle.

What the fuck?

Disorientation, slight nausea, and hazy memories.

Someone drugged me.

“Motherfucker!” I curse before dragging my loopy ass to the bathroom. I flick on the light, taking in the dark bags under my eyes before my gaze catches on something blood-stopping.

The memory slams into me hard, nearly sending me into psychosis.

Carve your fucking initials into my skin, Thalia.

It was real.