Well, he’s Hux.
His elegant, masculine face is framed by thick black hair pushed behind his ears. With his strong nose, chiseled jawline, and tan skin, he embodies an effortless, primal type of beauty. The type of beauty that could ask you out for dinner one day and gut you the next. A wicked scar curves down his cheek, somehow accentuating his harsh features even more.
“You’ve been ignoring me, my precious treasure,” he continues, his voice and words curling around me like a bittersweet perfume. Fuck, I’ve missed him. Both of hims. Or…them. Hux takes an intimidating step closer until I’m forced to tilt my head back to maintain eye contact. “I don’t like being ignored.”
“And I don’t like people attempting to kill me twice in one day.” I shrug my shoulders nonchalantly, ignoring the way his face tightens dangerously. “But we don’t always get what we want, do we?”
With a vigorous head shake—as if I could somehow clear my cluttered thoughts—I push away from Hux and turn towards my wardrobe. At one point, I had hidden a body in here. My body. Well, my sex doll’s body.
Long story.
“I got you a gift,” Hux states, shoving his hand in his back pocket. With an elaborate flourish, he holds out a crushed, melted chocolate bar.
Um…?
“You don’t have to fight this battle alone,” he vows seriously, lowering his head and extending his hand like some sort of offering.
“This battle?”
What the ever loving fuck is he going on about?
“The Great Period,” he continues solemnly. “Chocolate is the elixir, yes?” When I gape at him wordlessly, his brows scrunch together. “I can give you a body, if you’d like. I heard that bloodshed is also necessary to appease the monster that emerges on your Great Period.” He bows his head once more subserviently.
“You’ll get a body for me?” I ask breathlessly. Emotions assault me from all directions, smothering me under their intense weight.
“Anything for you, my precious treasure,” he vows.
“A live one?”
“Of course.”
I have to take bug spray to the surge of butterflies that flutter around in my stomach. Fucking feelings.
And fucking perfect men who offer to collect me still-breathing bodies.
“My brother would like to speak to you,” Hux continues, and I detect a hint of annoyance in his tone. I, on the other hand, smile eagerly and bounce from foot to foot.
Fucking hell, it’s been less than a week, and I’m already rethinking the whole “cocks-be-gone” promise I made myself.
Hux’s face twists and distorts, a grimace of pain tightening his features, before his brows smooth over and a blush darkens his skin. Quickly, he pushes his hair forward until it’s obscuring both his cheeks. And his scar.
Fumbling in his pocket, he procures a pair of glasses and slides them up his nose with the pad of his middle finger.
“Violet,” Jack says, a smile illuminating his handsome face.
I will remain mad.
I will remain mad.
I will remain—
“I missed you so fucking much!” I squeal, practically throwing myself at him. I wrap my arms around his neck, reveling in the feel of his silky black hair beneath my fingers. He stiffens instinctually underneath me before gradually allowing his taut body to relax.
Jack? He’s a damn good hugger. My body molds against his, his hard angles contrasting with my soft curves. The feel of him momentarily soothes my ravaged emotions.
“I thought you were mad at us,” Jack whispers, pulling me away so he can stare intently into my eyes. Those butterflies I previously mentioned? They return with a vengeance. I can feel their wings flapping erratically each second I remain in this timid man’s presence.
It’s not logical that two entirely different men could make me feel so much, so quickly. I’ve known them for less than two months, and already, I can’t remember my life before them. They have embedded themselves so deeply in my soul that I’m beginning to think they’re a part of my genetic makeup.
As a descendant of Jekyll and Hyde, Jack and Hux have the same quirk as their father—fathers? Both brothers inhabit the same body, but only one is allowed to emerge at a time. I have no idea what happens to the other. Does he simply disappear, reverted to a splotch of darkness in the deepest abyss of their mind? Or is he a passenger in a car he can’t get out of? Do they have one mind, or two? One heart, or two?
But it would be rude as fuck to ask any of those questions.
“So, why were you mad at us?” Jack questions, and I note a flash of vulnerability and pain before he quickly tries to mask it.
I blow out a breath, detangling myself from his arms so I can flop on the bed. My blonde hair cascades around me in messy ringlets. Jack sits patiently on the edge, giving me a moment to collect my thoughts.
“I wasn’t mad at you specifically,” I settle on at last, steepling my fingers together on my chest.
“So you’re mad at Hux?” Jack surmises, quirking a dark brow. Instantly, he winces, rubbing at his forehead as if he’s attempting to fight off a headache.
Or a Hux.
“No, I’m not mad at either of you,” I say quickly, pushing myself onto my elbows. “I’m mad at…everything. The world, for one.”
“I will destroy the world,” Hux growls sharply, eyes flashing in the dimly lit room as he makes an appearance. Jack wrestles for control against his more…um…psychotic brother and flashes me a sheepish smile.
“Sorry about him,” he says, his tone reproachful. “He can be a little…”
“Adorable?” I fill in, warmth seeping into my bloodstream.
“I suppose you can say that.” Completely back in control, Jack places his hand on top of mine, the edge of his thumb brushing against my breast. “Tell me what’s wrong.” He smells like pine and cinnamon, the fragrance curling around me addictively. It settles something inside of me, soothes my monster.
“You sure?”
“Positive.” His tone brooks no room for argument.
Taking a fortifying breath, I admit, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’ve never been a normal monster, but something has changed in the last month.” I push myself up all the way until I’m sitting cross-legged across from him. His hand is still on mine, warmth suffusing me in a delicious, golden glow. “I think I’m scared.”
What is more pathetic than that? A monster being scared.
If my dad could see me now…
“Scared?” Jack winces, rubbing at his forehead. “Hux demands to know who you’re scared of. He offered to…” He pauses briefly as he listens to Hux’s message before relaying it. “He offered to find the…errr…perpetrator, hang them by their toenails, and gut their innards. Then, you’ll dance together in their blood beneath a full moon.”
I practically fucking swoon.
Bloody moonlit dances? I need to take a fan to my overheated ovaries.
“It’s not a person,” I assure my psychopathic monster, and the fire in Jack’s eyes dims to embers. “It’s…it’s you!” Yup. Real smooth, Violet. Real fucking smooth. “That’s not what I meant!” I make a move to facepalm myself only to remember my hand is still connected with Jack’s. Our combined hands end up awkwardly touching my forehead before I drop them both to my lap. “Look, I don’t know how to explain this. I have feelings for…people. Lots of feelings. Feelings I haven’t ever felt before. And…and I’m scared because I have all of these feelings and I don’t know how to deal with them.” My words leave me in a burst of air. Immediately, I want to capture them all and shove them back into my mouth. Embarrassment floods me as I stare intently on a sliver of bamboo flooring visible through the torn carpeting.