Damnit why did her heart pick up at that? Keep yourself under control, she told herself. The t-shirt made a soft sound as she let it fall onto the tarmac. Moving her hands towards the zipper on her jeans she hoped he didn’t notice the tremor that was running through out her body.
Marcus said nothing as she stepped out of the jeans. Now in just her underwear she dragged her feet, making them take steps towards the pool despite every instinct screaming that this was a bad idea. At the edge, she dipped her toe in the water. The freezing temperature took her breath away. Gasping, she reeled back.
“How on earth are you in there?”
Marcus laughed and ducked his head into the water. Shaking his hair, he sent droplets flying far enough to dot her skin in a chilly rain.
“It’s not that bad once you’re in. Don’t worry, I will keep you warm.” The look he gave her wouldn’t have looked out of place on the devil himself but despite herself a thrill rushed through her at what his eyes seemed to promise.
She shook her head. “Do you ever stop flirting?”
“Not when it makes the girl smile like you do.”
She rolled her eyes.
Swimming towards her, he held his hand out to her. “Fine, I will stop flirting if you just get in the water with me. Come on, I thought you wanted to be here.” He tipped his head towards the water. “I promise it isn’t too cold.”
Promises from a devil didn’t mean a thing to Thea yet she didn’t have a choice but to get in. The feathers of his wings were waterlogged and looked like shadows dancing through the water. Focusing on them instead of the cold of the water, Thea took his hand and dropped in. Paralysing cold seized her momentarily and she was suddenly sure she was going to fall under the depths and be unable to work her muscles to get out again. Controlled by fear, she staggered forward and clung to the first solid thing she could find. That just happened to be Marcus. Heat radiated from his body, and he shook as he chuckled.
“Cold?” Marcus looked down at her.
As her body adjusted to the temperature she noticed that she was pressed against him with his hand on her lower back and the other on her shoulder. He smelt amazing, like sunshine and something rich. Inhaling deeply through her nose, she let the scent worm its way into her bloodstream, shivering but not because of the cold.
“I am.” She told herself that she was staying this close to him to sell the lie that she wanted him. If he thought he was winning then he would be more likely to spill his secrets. Feeling his leg brush hers was very distracting as she tried to remember what she needed to know.
“I’m sure you will warm up soon.”
Splashing behind him reminded her of his wings. That’s what she wanted to know, she needed to find out more about what he was and how to fight back. That was the whole reason she was here. Biting her tongue quickly to get her attention off how his body fitted against hers, she peeked at him from under her lashes.
“I didn’t know you had wings.”
“I should have them. I’m an angel, of sorts after all.”
An angel? Thea couldn’t understand how that could be possible. He had killed so many angels. Why would he do that if he was one of them? Then again he did say of sorts. There was something that made him different to the other angels.
He applied a little pressure to her lower back, and she floated flush with him. Heartbeat kicking into overdrive, Thea had to take a few deep breaths to remind herself why she was here.
“Why are you so tense?” he asked.
Thea blinked, where did that come from? Was he trying to think of a way to get into her knickers?
Marcus searched her face, his vivid eyes boring into her. “Is it because of that boy on the dancefloor?”
As if speaking the words brought her right back to the moment, Thea was sure she could feel Freddie’s hands on her hips and his hot breath dampening the back of her neck. Throwing a look over her shoulder she confirmed that it was just the edge of the pool and water behind her.
“It is,” he said.
Cursing herself for giving herself away Thea painted on her best confident smile. She used Jessica as a model for the kind of looks that got him to let his guard down. He had slept with her after all. Thea wondered if they were still a thing. Did he take Jessica here too?
“You don’t have to pretend,” he said, “I know this is hard. Some people aren’t naturals at intimacy or the physical stuff. Add some asshole touching you up and no wonder you are a little tense.”
“I don’t have a problem with intimacy.” Thea narrowed her eyes at him. Who did he think he was to tell her what she was or wasn’t good at?
“I didn’t say you did. I just said that for some people it would be hard to relax into being near someone new, especially if it gets into unfamiliar physical territory.” Pulling his lower lip into his mouth he shuffled a little, highlighting once again that you couldn’t have fit a feather between them.
Leaning in close, he brought his lips to her ear. Thea was frozen in place. It should have been from fear, but anticipation locked her limbs instead. When his breath hit her ear and he whispered low, Thea was amazed she managed to stay upright as her legs turned to jelly.
“You don’t need to be scared of me. If you say stop then we will stop.” There was a brief silence as his hand that had been on her shoulder slid down her arm, caressing her hand, before coming to rest on her hip. It was as if there was fire under Thea’s skin, trying to burn its way out. Her fingers twitched as she was taken by the sudden urge to run them through his hair.
“But if you say go..” he trailed off, kissing the curve of her jaw below her ear. Thea could see how so many people were taken in by him now. It was like trying to say no to another shot when you were on the high of being drunk. Everything he did seemed like it would be more fun than the last. Any thoughts of discomfort had dissipated. Thea hadn’t even realised she had been reaching out before she felt his wings. Her arm was wrapped around him, tracing the muscles in his back. Once she hit the feathers it was as if a bucket of cold water had been thrown over her. This man was not a man at all. She was melting at the touch of the enemy. This was the one thing she promised she wouldn’t do. She was stronger than this.
Planting her palms on his shoulders, she pushed a few inches away from him. He didn’t fight her, and her mind cleared with the distance.
“You’re the boss.” He chewed on his lip, but his tone was jolly. Thank God she hadn’t bruised his ego. He probably enjoyed the chase. Most men like him did. Still, the memory of what it felt like being pressed against him made Thea’s stomach tighten with shame. From this point on she would need to keep her guard up.
“I think maybe if I knew you better then I might be more relaxed with this.” She gestured between them.
Groaning, he fell onto his back and started to float. The massive shadow of his wings moved along the floor of the pool. “Again with this getting to know me stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I’m fine with waiting for you to be comfortable, but there isn’t much to know about me.”
Thea very much doubted that. Given that he had stolen the world from her entire race, he must have something to say or some kind of story.
“Just tell me something like..” Thea pretended to being thinking about it, “you said you were an angel of sorts, what does that mean?”
“It means I’m an angel of sorts.” The joking edge was gone from his voice and Thea was acutely aware that she had hit on something of worth. There was no reason for him to be cagy about it if it was nothing.
“Come on, maybe if you didn’t seem so alien then I would feel better about being near you.”
All of a sudden Marcus dropped his feet and straightened in the water. He moved with such force that a violent ripple almost knocked Thea off her feet. His eyes had darkened, and his wings pushed through the water until they were spread either side of him. Narrowing his eyes at her, his voice sounded like the aftershocks of an earthquake.
“Why are you so interested in what I am?”
Thea opened her mouth to respond but he held up a finger to silence her.
“And don’t say it is to get to know me. If my not being human is too alien for you then you wouldn’t be here in the first place. You wouldn’t have worked so hard to get my attention. There are plenty of people here who have been in the same situation as you are in now and they didn’t press for answers when I didn’t give them.”
Thea could imagine that they were too scared of him to go digging for information. He was certainly imposing, lording over her with his stormy expression and dark wings. Yet Thea was more annoyed than afraid at first. There had been plenty of other people here. She was right about that. There was nothing special about her being here with him. It stung more than it should have. Still, she kept herself in check, reminding herself that the plan was more important than her ego.
“I didn’t mean to offend you.” Now that she was trying to think of a way to talk her way out of this an icy fear numbed her fingers and toes. If he found out the truth he would kill her after torturing her to find out where her friends were.
His gaze never left her eyes, his forehead creased in concentration. Thea knew she had to do something, or he was going to continue to think about why she was asking him so many questions.
Making a show of rolling her eyes she laughed. “If I had known you would take the question so badly I wouldn’t have brought it up. I’m sorry.” Apologising to him after everything he had done made her throat want to close up.
He still didn’t move a muscle, so she took it up a notch.
“Come on, don’t be a kill joy.” Splashing him playfully, she prayed that the fun-loving flirty Marcus would return soon. This one was making her skin crawl. While they had been in the apartment talking about painting she had struggled to imagine him as a monster, now it was hard to see him as a man.
Though he pressed his lips together the corners of his mouth tugged up. Thea splashed him in the face. Coughing up some water and wiping his eyes he scoffed at her.
“Did you really just throw water in my face?”
Thea nodded, giggling at the stunned expression on his face. “Why, is the fearless leader scared of a little water in his face?”
“Scared? I’m not afraid of anything. But you should be.” Grinning widely, he lunged through the water at her. She hadn’t expected him to fight back like a child would, so she was slow off the mark when it came to running away from him. Squealing, she did her best to swim out of his reach. Catching her arm, he pulled her back and shoved her head under the water for half a second. The sound of his laughter and cheers of victory were dulled when she was beneath the water. But she wouldn’t be defeated that easily. Springing to the surface again, she pushed his shoulder, knocking him over and sideways into the water. Then it was time to flee. Thea hadn’t spent much time in water, so she wasn’t the fastest swimmer. She had only gone a metre or so before his arms wrapped around her middle and he scooped her into his arms. Locking her arms around his neck she screamed for him to put her down.
“Oh you want me to show mercy now?” Marcus’s hair was spiked in random directions, water droplets falling off it and sliding down his face.
Thea tensed, preparing to be dropped. “If you were a nice person you would.”
She shook as he chuckled. “I see, you want to me to be nice to you for brownie points. Ignoring the fact that you started it.”
“Mercy can be a sign of strength.” Thea wanted to close her nose with one hand but that would require loosening her grip on Marcus, making it easier for him to throw her. That wasn’t happening.
Marcus shrugged. “I know a compromise.”
Before she could ask what it was, he was jumping and throwing himself onto his back. With a thunderous splash they were submerged under the water together. Bubbles raced past her face and the world spun as she tipped to the side, still holding onto him. As they slowed down, she let go of him, shoving herself off his chest and breaching the surface.
She wiped her hair off her forehead, taking deep breaths. Marcus wasn’t far behind her, and she kept an eye on him.
Holding his hands where she could see them, he blinked past the water rushing over his face. “I call a truce.”
Thea backed up. “How do I know I can trust you?”
He put his hand on his chest in mock hurt. “How dare you. I’m a perfectly honest man.”
“Oh do honest men take all the girls they chat up to the same place?” Thea raised an eyebrow at him.
Marcus thought for a moment before laughing. “You have a point there.” He swam further into the pool and when she didn’t follow, turned and waved her over.
Thea squinted into the water. It looked very deep out there. She could swim, for a little while. But living in the middle of land didn’t give her much opportunity for practice.
Marcus squinted at her and motioned again. “Don’t keep me waiting.”
Thea wanted to follow him, she needed to stick to the plan, but she couldn’t make her feet move. A voice in her head just kept reminding her that she could drown in water that deep. Refusing to look at him, she shook her head.
Splashing and the ripples hitting into her told her he was coming closer again. She peeked up from under her eyelashes to find him studying her. He reached for her, and she staggered back a step.
“I won’t let you drown.” He approached her again, oblivious to how frightening it was every time she let him touch her.
Frozen in place and hardly breathing, Thea couldn’t tear her eyes away from his hand as it settled on her arm, lightly pulling her into the water. The surface crept steadily closer to her chin, and she tipped her head back to try and avoid it.
Marcus laughed. “Relax, it’s a swimming pool not the sea.”
Thea had never seen the sea, but she didn’t want to know what it was like if it was easier to drown there than here. Very soon, her toes were only grazing the floor before floating into thin air, nothing but the water holding her up. She jerked towards Marcus, grabbing his shoulders and hoisting herself higher. He laughed, his shoulders shaking, making her bounce. She glared down at him.
“This isn’t funny.”
Marcus pressed his lips together, mischief dancing in his eyes. “No, it’s very serious.” Taking hold of her middle, he eased her back into the water. His skin scorched her, but the water made her shiver. This was it; she was going to die by drowning in a pool with a monster.
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