I walked a few doors down to my room and immediately locked it in an effort to be alone, but also to get the hell away from Xavier. He was a maniac and I swear if he was anyone else I would kill him. I'm not even sure I wouldn't kill him in a few hundred years even if he stayed the same.

I loosened the tie on my black dress shirt and rolled it up neatly as I walked into my closet. I shook my head when I saw Queen's towel in the place where she had dropped it.

And she tried to say she wasn't messy.

I put my tie in its correct spot in one of my drawers and grabbed the towel from the ground. If it was going to be little messes like this one I could handle it, but I didn't know how I would react to more.

I considered my room my private space and exhibited every ounce of control I had in keeping it spotless. It may have been dramatic, but it kept me sane. That was one of the most important reasons why I never let anyone in.

I couldn't control whether or not someone would fuck up my shit so no one was welcome. I was seeing Mia for years, but I never let her stay in this specific room for longer than a few minutes.

Letting Queen stay in here felt unnatural. When she took a step inside I felt my chest compress, but as soon as she looked at me, the feeling went away. With every minute she spent in here, with everything she misplaced, she chipped at my dam. If she kept going, one day I would burst and I didn't want her to end up drowning in my reservoir.

I walked to the bathroom to put the towel away, but my steps halted when I noticed the condition of the restroom. On the white marble counter laid a few makeup supplies and a blow dryer. I felt my jaw clench and I fought the urge to get upset.

I hung the towel up and walked toward the counter and looked down at the things. I began to put the things away, but I stopped when I began thinking about her.

What if this is what she likes?

I liked being clean, orderly, and precise. I wanted to know exactly where everything was at all times and I didn't deviate from my behavior. Queen on the other hand was everything I was not. She was intricate, complex...she'd rather search for something for hours than place it in the right spot the first time. It was maddening but it fascinated me all the same.

How could I move her things right now when I hated when people did it to me?

Queen was a puzzle to me. A conundrum that I couldn't quite figure out and it drove me crazy. I wanted to know the inner workings of her mind. I wanted to know how she saw things, what made her upset, what made her happy...

My intentions of course were not completely pure. I also felt the urge to destroy her entirely.

I wanted to immerse the darkest parts of myself into her light and shut both of us in complete darkness, leaving us having to find solace in one another. I wanted to make her worst nightmare and guiltiest pleasures a reality.

A good guy that cared for a girl would either change for her or leave her. But first and foremost I wasn't a good guy. And leaving her or changing for her weren't options that I had even considered. The only other thing left to do was to contaminate her purity so much that the only option left would be for her to wallow in it with me.

I wasn't planning to give her a choice in the matter when we met, but my plans were completely flipped upside down when she did it willingly. She willingly jumped into the deep end, but I doubt that she knew there were no life rafts in my sea of wicked. If she did, I don't believe she would've ever set foot into the castle.

I could try my hardest to remain sweet for her right now, but once I completely had her, there would be no hiding the worst parts of me. She was a complete saint, but I would make her sin for me.

꧁꧂

I slid a black button-up shirt onto my shoulders and began buttoning it. I didn't care whether or not I looked horrible tonight, but Xavier wanted to be weird and match. So he sent me a text saying we'd be wearing black dress shirts and matching pants.

As I thought about it, he was more so matching my usual attire since that is what I found myself wearing mostly. But he insisted on it as though it was something I had never worn. In my opinion, I thought the idea was fucking stupid, but I gave in when he began spamming me.

I checked the clock on my nightstand and saw that it was only 6:00pm meaning I had about an hour before we had to leave. My phone screen dinged and I turned my head to see the screen light up. I picked up the phone and saw that I had a text from Queen.

I had wanted to check on her several times in the past hours, but I felt like if I did I would end up making her come back. And that's not what she needed right now. If it were any other day I would've done so but today was rough for her.

I sat down and read the message:

Queen: Whatcha doinn?
6:03 p.m.

I scoffed at her mundane message and shook my head. I wasn't used to such normal texts from anyone besides Xavier.

Me: Sitting and texting. Enjoying your date?
6:04 p.m.

After I pressed send, I tossed my phone to the side and ran my hand through my hair. I didn't want to be petty but thinking about her with another dude, especially her ex, did something to my psyche. I wasn't accustomed to sharing things that were mine at all and I was never going to be. After today something like this would never happen again. I'd rather struggle to figure out a way to comfort her than send her away with someone else.

Another notification from my phone disrupted my thoughts and I reached over to check it.

Queen: Wowww just when I was thinking about giving you something tonight...
6:06 p.m.

The text piqued my interest immensely and I sat up.

Me: Giving me what?
6:06 p.m.

I watched the chat bubble appear and disappear a few times and shook my head. It was something I tended to do as well when I was trying to think of a response. The amount of time she was taking to send her reply told me a million more words than the empty screen had.

I had an inkling of what she meant and my mind went to dark places as I waited for her to reply. If she wanted to do what I thought then she would be making a grave mistake tonight. Of course I'd make it worth her while, but nonetheless, it would be bad for her. There would be no way I would ever let her go if she gave herself to me in that way.

When she wasn't replying I decided to send her another text. A warning. Just in case our minds were in the same place. I wasn't warning her to be nice though. I was the same evil asshole she left earlier, but a part of me felt compelled to scare her a bit.

Me: If we fuck consider yourself property of Syn SinClaire...indefinitely.
6:10 p.m.

I may have let my inner demon reveal himself a bit in my text, but I considered it a sneak peek for her. So in the future, she couldn't say she didn't leave because there were no red flags.

I watched another chat bubble pop up but when it didn't disappear my brows furrowed in confusion.

Queen: And you can consider yourself property of Queen...indefinitely.

"Shit," I muttered under my breath. It was now my turn to think about what to say in response. Her text definitely was not the reply I expected to get from her.

Maybe my girl was not as innocent as I had believed.

The thought of that aroused me and left me wanting to strip away the layers of virtue that she dressed in daily. The one that her family made sure she covered herself with.

Before I could think of a reply, I got another one from the girl that just kept exceeding my expectations.

Queen: Have fun at the club. See you when you come home...
6:08 p.m.

The word "home" was repeated in my head multiple times. Jeradua was the furthest place in my mind from home. I didn't consider this palace home for many years but I was excited to come back to it tonight.

Because of her.

Before I could let myself get lost in more thoughts about her I heard what sounded like yelling. It was far away, but it didn't take much effort for me to pinpoint who and where it was from. I took a deep breath to prepare myself for what I was about to do and snapped my fingers. I materialized myself into my mother's room and sat in a chair in the corner.

She was too absorbed in her argument with my father that neither of them noticed me. "Here you go with this same bullshit Genesis!" he yelled.

"How the fuck are my feelings bullshit?!"

"You always let Julius plant these little seeds of doubt in your head, then you come and bitch about it to me!"

"I bitch?" My mother croaked. "He's right Lucifer, we have been together almost twenty years and you have never once told me you love me?" she said as a tear fell down her cheek.

"So what?!" he yelled.

I winced for him at that point. I didn't know how these things went, but that seemed like the wrong thing to say. My mother turned away from him to cover her face, but when she saw me she let out a small scream. Lucifer's head snapped in my direction and he ran his hand through his hair.

"Can you tell your mother to calm the hell down?!" He screamed as a flicker of red crossed his eyes. I knew at any point now he would go ballistic.

"No, tell your dad he's a dick!" She yelled at me.

I sighed and shook my head. I was used to being in the middle of my parent's arguments. You'd think that being with someone for twenty years would teach you how to communicate with them, but no. They were different.

Sometimes it seemed like they hated each other's guts with the way they would argue. Of course, they would always make up, but it was exhausting to me. They once stopped talking to one another for three days over toast. My mother said their argument wasn't about toast, but it was about 'how Lucifer views their roles in the relationship'. And when I asked my father, he said it was simply about... 'toast'.

They both absolutely confused me and thanks to them I would probably never have a healthy relationship. Not that I wanted one, but still, I blamed them.

"I'm not getting involved," I muttered.

My mother glanced at me and gave me a small smile and wiped her tears. As if she got her strength from me, she turned back to the devil to give him a piece of her mind.