Azeelia Cole
Did you like it?
The question burned on my phone screen, mocking the storm in my head. I sat on the edge of the king-sized bed, my fingers cold against the glass.
My lips still felt bruised, warm, and swollen from Gabriel’s mouth. My pulse hadn't fully settled since he pushed me against his bookcase, since his rough hands gripped my waist and dragged me into the fire. But the moment he tore himself away, cold and distant, a deep, sickening wave of guilt had washed over me.
It made no sense. Gabriel Marchetti was a real, flesh-and-blood man under whose roof I was staying. Viper_00 was just text on a screen—an encrypted shadow I had invented an entire fake persona to manipulate. Yet, over the last few weeks, the strange, dark intimacy we had built felt heavier than reality.
