A Curse Love: Bound by Shadow

Chapter 6: Shadows of the Past

I’ve never been one to ignore my instincts, and lately, they’ve been screaming at me. The visions have become stronger, more vivid, as if the walls between Luca’s past and my present are crumbling, and the ghosts of his past are creeping into my reality. Sometimes, I think I can feel them—those invisible threads between us. They’re pulling me closer, dragging me into his darkness, and the more I resist, the more it feels like I’m losing myself in it.

It’s late afternoon when the first vision strikes again. The library is quiet, just the sound of pages turning, the scent of old paper and dust in the air. I’m shelving books when the world around me begins to shift. The shelves blur, and the floor beneath my feet feels unstable. I grip the edge of the shelf, trying to steady myself, but then I see it. The image of a small, dimly lit room. Luca is there—his face twisted in agony, his hands gripping his head as if trying to block out some unbearable noise. I can hear the faint echoes of screams, like distant thunder rolling across the horizon, and then the sound of a door slamming shut.

“Luca...” I whisper his name, though I know he’s not there, not in the library with me.

The vision fades as quickly as it came, but the sense of dread lingers in my chest like a heavy weight. My breath comes in quick bursts, and my palms are slick with sweat. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen such things. These visions are becoming more frequent, more intense, and I’m starting to realize they’re not just dreams or random flashes. They’re memories—his memories, pieces of a past he’s buried so deep that even he refuses to confront them.

I try to push the thoughts away as I finish my task, but the feeling of his torment lingers. It’s haunting.

Later that evening, I’m at the local bar, trying to distract myself with a drink. Jared is there, leaning over the counter, his usual playful smirk on his face. But tonight, there’s something different in his eyes—a flicker of something darker that I can’t quite place. He seems agitated, more than usual, and when he looks at me, his gaze is sharp, like he’s trying to read me in ways I don’t understand.

“You okay?” Jared asks, his voice low, almost hesitant.

I nod, trying to shake off the lingering unease from the vision. “Yeah, just tired. It’s been a weird day.”

Jared studies me for a moment, his eyes narrowing slightly. “You know, you should be careful around Luca. He’s… not what you think he is.”

I stiffen, surprised by the sudden shift in his tone. Jared’s always been lighthearted, never one to speak seriously unless it’s about something trivial. But now, his words hang in the air, heavy with unspoken meaning. “What do you mean?”

Jared’s gaze flickers toward the door, where Luca has just entered, a shadow in the dim light of the bar. He’s always there, always watching, always lurking in the background like some kind of dark force. The tension in the room spikes the second he steps in, but I try to ignore it.

“I mean,” Jared says slowly, his voice dropping even lower, “there’s a reason people avoid him. And it’s not just because he’s a loner. He’s dangerous, Amelia. You’re walking into something you don’t understand. His past—it's not something you can fix.”

I feel a chill run down my spine at his words. “I’m not trying to fix him, Jared. I just… I want to understand him. He’s not like what you think he is.”

Jared chuckles, though it’s empty, devoid of the usual warmth. “That’s exactly what everyone says. Trust me, I’ve seen this before. You’re not the first person to get tangled up in Luca’s mess. And you won’t be the last.”

Before I can respond, Luca’s gaze meets mine from across the room, his eyes dark, unreadable. There’s an intensity in his stare that sends a shiver through me. The air between us crackles with something almost electric, something that makes it impossible to look away.

Jared notices the shift, his jaw tightening. “I’m just saying, be careful.”

I open my mouth to reply, but just as I do, Luca strides over, his presence commanding the room. “Jared,” he says, his voice calm but edged with something dangerous. “I think you’ve said enough.”

Jared looks up at him, his expression shifting. The playful demeanor fades from his face as he stands up straight. “I was just looking out for her, Luca. Something you should have done a long time ago.”

Luca doesn’t flinch. He doesn’t even blink. He just stands there, his jaw clenched tight, his eyes dark and stormy. The tension between them is palpable, like two forces colliding in the same space, neither willing to back down.

“Stay out of my business, Jared,” Luca says, his voice low and controlled, but the threat is clear. “And keep your distance from her.”

I feel a flash of discomfort at Luca’s words, but I don’t let it show. I’m not a child, and I don’t need protecting from Jared. I can handle myself. But Luca’s words linger, and the possessiveness in his voice doesn’t sit well with me. He has no right to tell anyone to stay away from me, especially Jared.

“You should listen to him, Amelia,” Jared says quietly, his tone turning softer, almost pleading. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but I’m telling you, Luca will drag you down with him. He’ll pull you into his mess, and there’s no coming back from it.”

I don’t know what to say, so I just nod. But inside, my mind is spinning. I don’t want to push Luca away. Not now, not after everything we’ve shared. But Jared’s warnings echo in my mind, and I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something I’m missing—something important about Luca’s past that he’s hiding from me.

As the night wears on, the atmosphere grows tense. I try to focus on my drink, on anything other than the looming question of whether or not I’m making a mistake. I can feel Luca’s presence even when he’s not directly in my line of sight, like an invisible force pulling at me.

When the bar begins to empty out, I decide to leave. I need space, air, time to think.

But just as I step outside, Luca appears in front of me, his figure looming in the shadows. His gaze is unreadable, his jaw tight as he watches me.

“Amelia,” he says softly, his voice a dark rasp. “We need to talk.”

I swallow hard, my heart racing. “About what?”

“About everything,” he says, stepping closer. “About us. About this.”

I take a step back, my breath hitching. “I don’t want to fight, Luca. Not now.”

“I’m not here to fight,” he says, his voice almost a whisper. “But I need you to understand. You can’t keep ignoring the darkness, Amelia. You can’t keep pretending it’s not there.”

The words hit me like a blow to the chest, and for a moment, I’m unsure of what to say. He’s right. I’ve been ignoring it, pretending like we could somehow outrun the past. But it’s not something you can outrun. It’s always there, lurking in the shadows, waiting for the moment when you can no longer escape.

Luca steps closer, his hand brushing my arm, and I feel the heat of his touch, the magnetic pull that has never once let me go. “Come with me,” he says quietly. “Let me show you.”

Before I can protest, he takes my hand and leads me into the woods behind the bar. The trees stretch overhead, casting long shadows across the ground. The air is thick with tension, and every step we take feels like a journey deeper into something neither of us can fully comprehend.

When we reach a secluded spot, Luca pulls me close, his hands on my hips as he looks down at me with a mixture of desire and something darker—something I can’t quite place. “This is where it started,” he says, his voice hoarse.

I look around, feeling the weight of his words, but all I can focus on is him—his eyes, his touch, the heat between us.

Before I can say anything, Luca kisses me, his lips urgent, desperate. The world falls away as I lose myself in him, the intensity of the kiss making my pulse race. His hands slide down my back, pulling me closer, and I can feel the rawness in him, the hunger that’s been building since the moment we met.

But even as we give in to the desire, I can’t shake the feeling that something darker is pulling us together. Something beyond the physical, beyond the flesh. The curse. The past. The darkness.

And as our bodies connect, the world seems to fade, but I know in the back of my mind that I’m bound to him in ways I don’t yet understand.

The kiss is more intense than I imagined, more desperate. Luca's hands are everywhere, pulling me closer, his fingers burning against my skin. The moment his lips touch mine, everything else fades into oblivion. I forget about the world, forget about the voices of doubt that echo in my mind. All I can focus on is him, the way his body presses into mine, the way his breath mingles with mine.

For a moment, it's just us—no past, no curse, no haunting visions. It's raw, pure, and yet, there's something dark lurking just beneath the surface. I can feel it, an undercurrent of something I can't quite grasp. A tension that doesn't just exist between our bodies, but between our souls.

His hands slide to my back, pulling me against him, the hardness of his body pressing into mine. My breath catches in my throat, the heat between us growing with every second. He tastes like whiskey and smoke, like everything I shouldn't want but can't resist. My fingers dig into his shirt, pulling him closer, needing more of him.

But then, just as quickly as the passion flares, Luca pulls back. His chest rises and falls with heavy breaths, and his eyes—those stormy haunted eyes—are dark with something I can't name. He looks at me like he's trying to push me away but can't quite manage it. He's holding back, his grip on my waist tightening, as if he's afraid that if he lets go, he'll lose control entirely.

“Amelia...” His voice is a low rasp, thick with emotion. “I told you this isn't a good idea.”

I open my mouth to argue, but he silence me with a single finger to my lips. His gaze is intense, focused on me as if he's searching for something—maybe answer, maybe redemption, maybe just a reason to keep fighting this pull between us.

“I'm not... I'm not the man you think I am,” he says, his voice strained, like the words are physically painful for him to speak. “There's a darkness inside me, Amelia. A part of me that you don't want to get involved with. I don't want to drag you into it.”

I swallow, the weight of his words pressing down on me. I want to protest, to tell him that I'm not scared of his darkness, that I can handle whatever he's hiding. But I don't speak, because deep down, I know he's right. There's something about him that's broken. Something that's pulling me toward him, even as it terrifies me.

“You don't understand,” he continues, his voice barely about a whisper. “The visions, the feelings you're experiencing—they're not just your own. They're mine too. The curse—what you're seeing—it's not just the past catching up to us. It's the future too. It's a bond, Amelia. A bond that's slowly destroying us both.”

His words make my heart race in my chest. The curse. The bond. I'd thought they were just metaphors, just some weird coincidence. But now, as Luca stands in front of me, his emotions crackling in the air between us, I'm beginning to believe that it's not just a figure of speech. It's real. And it's binding us together, whether we like it or not.

“I don't care,” I whisper, my voice trembling. “I'm not scared of you. I want to understand you, Luca. I want to help you.”

He shakes his head, a bitter smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “You don't get it. You can't help me, Amelia. You're already too deep in it.”

I step forward, closing the distance between us. “Maybe I don't want to be save. Maybe I'm just as list as you are.”

Luca's eyes flicker with a mix of anger and something softer, something almost vulnerable. For a split second, I think he's going to push me away, but instead, he pulls me back into his arms, his grip tightening around me as if he's afraid to let go.

“I don't deserve you,” he mutters, his voice thick with emotion. “But I can't stay away. I don't know how to stay away.”

I can't find the words to respond, not because I don't want to say anything, but because there's too much I want to say. There's too much between us. The curse. The visions. The darkness inside both of us. The undeniable attraction that's pulling me toward him, making it impossible to breathe without him.

His lips are back on mine before I can say anything, and this time, the kiss is different. It's slower, deeper, as if we're both trying to savor the moment before it all comes crashing down around us. His hands roam over my back, tracing the curve of my spine, as if he's memorizing every inch of me. I lose myself in him, in the taste of him, the feel of him. There's no hesitation now, no doubt. Just us, together, caught in the pull of something neither of us fully understands.

And then, just as quickly as it's all started, he pulls away again, leaving me breathless and wanting more. The night air is cold against my heated skin, and for a moment, I can't focus on anything but the pounding of my heart.

Luca stands in front of me, his expression unreadable. “You have to stay sway from me, Amelia. I don't want to hurt you.”

I want to scream at him, to tell him that I don't care about the curse. Instead, I stand there, silently, as the weight of his words crushes me.

“I can't walk away from this,” I finally say, my voice barely a whisper. “I can't walk away from you, Luca.”

He doesn't respond at first. He just stands there, looking st me with those dark, haunted eyes. I can see the conflict within him, the battle he's fighting against himself, against me. He wants me. He thinks that by pushing me away, he's protecting me from the darkness that clings to him like a second skin.

“I'm not going anywhere,” I whisper, stepping closer. “And I'm not leaving you, no matter how dark it gets.”

Luca looks at me, his jaw tightening, and for a moment. I think he's going to argue. But then his gaze softens, and he pulls me into his arms again, his lips brushing over my forehead in tender kisses. “You have no idea what you're getting yourself into,” he murmurs against my skin.

“I don't care,” I say softly, wrapping my arms around him. "I'm already here.”