ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVIL

*PRESENT*[LIZZY]“Lizzy, my tummy hurts…am I pregnant?”With my jaw literally dropped on the floor, I watched and wondered with great horror if those words came out of his mouth were real or my fucking imagination.I can’t believe he said that just now. That, too, while stuffing a mouthful of ice cream into his face.“Joey!” I chided gently, watching as he ignored me and continued to devour the ice cream from the cup while rubbing his small tummy. “Why would you say something like that?” God, I was screwed if Laura was here to hear it. Thank goodness she wasn’t home yet.“Our math teacher, Ms Watson, is taking a leave. She told us during class that she won’t be coming for the next three months and that we should behave well when the new teacher arrives.”“Okay? But that didn’t answer my question,” I pointed out.“That’s because I wasn’t done,” he frowned, licking at the spoon before neatly placing the cup back on the table.“Sorry about that. Please continue.”“OK. So, when she left,

[LIZZY]Daniel paced the room while I sat on the couch, my head in my hands. He was on the phone. With my entire existence in a whirlwind, I couldn't force myself to focus on a single word he was saying. It was all too much to handle.My heart was racing so rapidly beneath my chest that I thought it may rip out of my ribs. Leaving me breathless, shattered, and devastated. I knew what was going on inside of me. This was a sensation I was all too familiar with. The man I left behind in Venice was solely responsible for turning me into this frantic blight. Even though he never did anything to hurt me, the fear of abandoning him sowed a seed of fear in my bones that I couldn't escape.A part of me was trying to convince myself that six years was a long time to be obsessed with someone. even when there was no commitment involved. He never made us truly exclusive. He never even acknowledged me as his girlfriend. So why should I be concerned about what he would do if he found where I was hid

[TREVOR]You're terrified of Cyrus," Layla says with a click of her tongue, as if that's the only explanation she can think of why I'm not interested in fucking her brains out on the hood of my beat-up Ford.But little does she know, that’s hardly the truth.I’m not afraid of Cyrus Hodge—her ever-loving, forever jackass brother. It's just that I don't see why I should screw up a friendship with a man like him, simply because his twenty-three old sister is super-hot and I can't keep my dick in my pants. Cyrus has been far too protective of Layla since the day she returned from college. We already have our fair share of problems; adding to them doesn't sound like something I'd intentionally make an effort to do.Despite my reputation in The Crows, I usually don't give in to my impulses, or at least I try not to, no matter how badly my hands want to grab this woman by the hair and bend her over.I mean, I would love to fuck this chick, let’s be honest. She looks hot in those tiny denim s

[LIZZY] “I thought you were done with this…this life,” I murmured to Marcus as he opened the door of the car—into which they had bundled me and Joey after outsmarting us—and waited for me to get out. Instead of responding right away, as I had hoped, since I knew he still had some humanity left in him after his wife, Julie, convinced him to quit the mafia world and start anew, he simply stood with a blank expression on his face and waited for me to step out and keep moving. With an eye-roll to myself, I glanced down and noticed the five-year-old still sound asleep on my lap. Joey had his little face tucked into the crook of my neck while his arms slung loosely over his tummy. And just like that a sharp pang of guilt pierced my chest, leaving me breathless. The events of the night flashed before my eyes, and I couldn't stop the tears from falling. The explosion. The fire. The ashes hung in the air. The chaos outside their burning house. With all the awful memories came the realizat

[LIZZY]I was beyond annoyed by the time the three demon incarnations had finished with me. They not only forced me to sit through the most torturous longest hours I had ever known, but they also bleached my hair back to its natural color. Honey blonde.“What is the meaning of this?” I couldn’t help but ask as they finished the last touch-up and flipped off the hair dryer. I would be honest; the sound of the dryer was grating on my skin. Thank God, they put it off, else I would have lost my sanity and will to live altogether.Instead of tamping down my annoyance or curiosity, the obnoxious maid who seemed to be nursing some sort of grudge against my miserable existence shook her head and excused the two other maids of their duties.I waited as the two of them walked away before leaping from my chair and unleashing the most venomous glare I’d ever sent to anyone. They were so warm and fierce that I could feel my eyes and cheeks burning.“What’s the matter with you? Why are you acting a