Next-Door Incubus Read online

  Next-Door IncubuS

  Destiny Diess

  Copyright © 2020 Destiny Diess.

  All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the author, except as provided by United States of America copyright law. For permission requests, write to the author, at "Attention: Permissions Coordinator," at the email address below.

  Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used factiously. Names, characters, and places are products of the author’s imagination.

  Front cover image by Lena B. Wolf.

  First printing edition 2020.

  Destiny Diess

  [email protected]

  www.destinydiess.com

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  To my family who has always supported me. To Sean and Sheba who have pushed me to publish my writing. To my Wattpad and Patreon fans who continue to flood my inbox with sweet, lovely messages. This one’s for you.

  Chapter 1

  I swayed my hips from side to side, humming to Partition as it played through my AirPods. Mom’s necklace, a small rose-gold pendant in the shape of a v, glided across my chest and swung to the beat.

  The morning sun flooded into my room through my sheer white curtains, and rays of light shined almost too conveniently on the pile of dirty clothes littered on my floor from last night. I stepped out of my shorts and tossed them into the hamper along with the rest of my clothes, then walked down the hall to the laundry room, eyes closed in utter bliss.

  My housemate Maria was out with her friends today which meant that I had the whole apartment to myself. What was better than being able to walk around half-naked, stuff my face without being judged, and hold a concert for one in the living room on a Sunday morning? Nothing, absolutely nothing.

  “Dani!”

  My eyes snapped open. Maria, two of her friends, and three insanely attractive guys sat on our leather couches in the living room. The girls were clinging onto two of the guys, their fingers curling around the guys’ biceps, heads resting in the crooks of their necks. When they saw me, everyone stared with wide, shocked eyes. Except one.

  He stared at me with a smirk on his lips and sin in his green eyes. Brown tousled hair, a grey Henley shirt that hugged his shoulders, and the scent of cinnamon and apples, he looked too perfect to be real.

  Over the hum of my music, I heard the girls explode in a fit of laughter. The basket of clothes slipped out of my sweaty palms and tumbled onto the floor. All of my underwear, my latex mini skirt that I wore for Trevon last night, and my dignity laid at their feet. I swallowed hard and pulled down the bottom of my shirt, trying to cover myself.

  I quickly backed into the hallway, and once I was out of sight, I sprinted into my room, slammed my door, and leaned my back against it.

  Oh, my God.

  Maria said she’d be out today. For the whole damn day. Why was she back here with… with whoever they were?!

  I pulled out my earbuds, drew Mom’s necklace between my fingers, and rested my head against the door. Although ridged at the top, the broken piece of the pendant felt cold and smooth against my thumb.

  Breathe, Dani. I’m sure none of them saw anything anyway.

  My gaze drifted down to my bare legs and black lacy panties. “Damn it.”

  Someone banged on my door. “Dani, it’s me. Open up!” Maria said. I tugged on some shorts, opened the door, and narrowed my eyes at Maria. She handed me my now-full laundry basket, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. Her dirty-blonde hair was pulled back into a messy bun. “Well, that was a very impressive introduction to our new neighbors.”

  “Neighbors? Those guys are our neighbors?!”

  Great, I embarrassed myself in front three guys I would see almost every day. Unless… I didn’t leave my apartment or room ever again. I could become a hermit and live my days in my room, curled up in my plush white sheets with a vanilla candle flickering deep into the night from my bedside table. Never have to be horrifically embarrassed ever again. Never have to face that man with those tempting emerald eyes.

  “Dani! Hello?” Maria waved a hand in front of my face. “Are you even listening to me?”

  No, I was trying to get myself out of this mess.

  She rolled her eyes and grabbed my wrist. “Since you’re all dressed now, let’s go introduce you to them!” She turned on her heel and started toward the door.

  “Maria, are you crazy?” I dug my heels into the hardwood. “I don’t want to meet them! Not after that!”

  “Well, you were the one who decided not to wear pants when we had company.”

  “You told me you would be out all day!”

  “Yeah, well, there was a slight change of plans as soon as we saw how hot they were. But, that’s beside the point! Come on”—she continued to drag me—“there’s one that I think you’ll like!”

  “No, no, no, no, no, no…” I tried peeling her hand off of me, yet she continued down the hall. “Maria! Stop! I don’t want to mee—”

  “Hey guys! This is my roommate, Dani.”

  The guys gave me a half-smile, then turned back to Maria’s friends who were desperately vying for their attention, eyes glazed over in a haze, breasts pressed against their chests—not something I’d expect from girls who had been going to church religiously since I’d known them. I fingered my necklace, not daring to look over at him.

  But, when his sweet scent drifted over to me, I couldn’t stop myself from looking up. He sat on the loveseat by himself, his arms—covered with black tattoos—stretched across the backrest. Inch by inch, his gaze traveled up my body. The seconds passed so slowly. I shifted. And, when his dark gaze pierced through mine, a sudden rush of pleasure coursed throughout my body.

  He stood and stepped closer to me. “Dani…” My name rolled off his lips effortlessly. “I’m Eros.”

  I stuck out my hand for him to shake, wanting to keep a distance between us. Something was screaming at me to stay away. To run. Now. But, when he grabbed my hand, I froze.

  Instead of shaking it, he brought it to his lips. They were soft and lingered for more than a moment. He was more gentleman-like than I ever expected.

  After taking a deep breath, he gazed down at me with dark—black—eyes, and I gasped. “You had quite the entrance there,” he said, his scent becoming overwhelming. My cheeks flushed, and I looked down. Great, Dani, just great. He g
razed his finger against the bottom of my chin and lifted it until my eyes were gazing into his. “Don’t be embarrassed.” He leaned over slightly, his lips grazing against my ear. “I should be the one embarrassed.”

  Cinnamon. That’s all I smelt.

  “What do you mean?” I asked, tingles running down my arms. My breath caught in the back of my throat, and Mom’s necklace chilled my skin as soon as Eros dropped his hand and brushed his knuckles against it.

  He stared at the pendant with soft eyes, as if it was a relic that had been lost for centuries, as if it was the only thing that ever mattered. But, then, he looked at me. “It’s not every day I find a woman like you.” And I felt like I was the only one that ever mattered.

  He took me in so steadily, gaze shifting from eye to eye, drifting down my face, thumb brushing against my cheek. And I just stood there, staring back, unable to speak, unable to think, unable to get myself to push him away.

  “It’s not every day a woman in her underwear runs away from me.” He stepped back and blessed me a smirk that would destroy me if I wasn’t careful. “And it’s not every day that I want to follow that woman back into her bedroom and take her right then and there.”

  My eyes widened and nervously darted around the room to see if anyone else had heard what he just said to me. Maria had her arm around one of the guys, her head falling into the crook of his neck, eyes closed, looking like she was in Heaven. The other three girls weren’t better off. Even Maria’s shyest friend—Hallie—was resting her cheek against one of their shoulders, eyes cloudy and distant.

  I parted my lips and pressed them back together. My head felt foggy, like I was in a daze, in a trance, in something, because who in their right mind would say something like that to someone that they just met. And his eyes flashing black? Those couldn’t be real. But what if they were? What if I wasn’t imagining it?

  I needed to get away, yet I couldn’t peel my eyes off of him. I wanted to feel his nose running up the side of my neck, his teeth dipping into my flesh, his hands pinning mine against my leather headboard, refusing to let me go. I pushed my knees together.

  Sinful words from a sinful man that made me think sinful thoughts. Mom always told me that the Devil disguised himself as our deepest desire.

  When I looked back at Eros, he chuckled. I tugged on Mom’s pendant. “I… uh…”

  “You want me,” he said. But his lips didn’t move, not even a little.

  Okay, I was definitely just hearing things. God, I was really going crazy.

  He brushed his fingers against my hip and stepped closer. Black specs reappeared in his eyes. His breath warmed my neck. Cinnamon. “Tell me you want me, Dani, and I’ll enact all those fantasies running through that dirty little mind of yours. Every. Last. One of them,” he murmured.

  My tongue ran over my bottom lip. “… erm…”

  The tips of his fingers snuck under the hem of my shirt and grazed against my stomach. I let out a shaky breath, not being able to distinguish the real from the fake. “I… uh… gotta go.”

  Without hesitating, I stepped away from him, staggered back, and sprinted into my room.

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

  Every time I closed my eyes, I could feel his fingertips gliding against my skin, burning into my flesh. They were tormenting me already in places he hadn’t even touched yet.

  I cocooned myself in my plush pink throw blanket, trying to put as much space between Eros and me as possible. If this was how I felt after five minutes of meeting him, how would I feel seeing him every single day? How would I feel when Maria brought them over again?

  There was only one thing that I could do now.

  Let Project Hermit commence.

  Chapter 2

  “Can you just open the door?” Trevon asked through the phone. “I left my key to your place back at home.” I gnawed on the inside of my cheek and walked to my bedroom door, hand on the handle, heart thrashing against my ribcage. “Hello?” he said, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

  “Hi… I… uh…” I pressed my ear to my cold door, listening to the light hum of the refrigerator in the kitchen. No talking. No shuffling. Maybe they weren’t here. “Give me a second.”

  After peeking my head out and gazing down the empty hallway, I tiptoed to the kitchen. Shadows from the cabinets loomed over me in the darkness, but at least it wasn’t Eros’s shadow.

  I stood on my toes and checked through the peephole. In the brightly lit hallway, Trevon had his hands stuffed in his pockets and his eyes shielded by the navy baseball cap I had given him for his birthday last year. But still I waited. I didn’t need this to be some sort of prank and have Eros appearing out of nowhere.

  When Trevon looked straight at the peephole with the most heavenly brown eyes I had ever seen, I pulled open the door, wrapped my hand around his wrist, and yanked him inside.

  “What the fu-” He stumbled forward.

  I slammed the door. “Sorry,” I said, standing on my toes and kissing him.

  “Is everything okay, babe?” He tilted his head to the side slightly, like he did when he was thinking, and eyed me. His bitter scent of beer sickened me. I licked my lips nervously, nodded my head, and pulled him into my room.

  Another door Eros would have to get through to get to me.

  Trevon tossed his hat onto my dresser. “You haven’t returned any of my calls or texts since yesterday morning.”

  “I’ve just been busy with my psych internship and… um, stuff…” Like trying to hide from Eros. Maria had him and his roommates over all day yesterday and even for breakfast this morning. I couldn’t handle it anymore. If I saw him one more time, I was going to—

  Trevon threw his shirt onto the end of my bed and crawled under the blanket, the light from the candle flickering against his brown and brawny abdomen. “I know when you’re lying.”

  The wind whistled lowly, blowing the curtains away from the window and brushing against the side of my bed. Outside, the city night was unusually quiet.

  I parted my lips to speak, then closed them. What was I going to say? That an undeniably sexy man moved in next-door and he just so happened to have the hots for me. No. No way I’d do that to Trevon. He had known me since we were kids, helped me through Mom’s death, was one of the only constant people in my life that I cherished. “I… I just haven’t been getting much sleep lately.”

  It wasn’t a lie. For the past few nights, I’d been tossing and turning. Last night was the worst; my mind kept replaying the interaction I had with Eros. Over and over. The thought—his promise—wouldn’t leave me alone. And, it was getting too damn frustrating.

  Light from my candles glimmered off of my black headboard. Trevon leaned against it, crossing one leg over the other. He grabbed my hand, pulling it away from my necklace. “If you keep doing that, you’re going to break it again.” He pulled me down next to him.

  Like I had done nearly every night for the past five years, I curled into him, resting my head on his bare chest. He laced his fingers into my hair and scratched lightly. I sighed and drew my finger across the only tattoo he had on his body—a tabono symbol—that he got on his chest after winning his first college wrestling match.

  “So, when were you going to tell me you got new neighbors?”

  “I, uh…” Don’t stutter, Dani. It’ll make you seem like you’re hiding something. “… didn’t think you’d care. They seem annoying.”

  “You met them?”

  “Just once. Maria brought them over,” I said, brushing my finger across my hand where Eros had kissed, the skin burning lightly. “How’d you know about them?”

  “I met one of them out in the hall,” he said. God, if he met Eros… “Ian? Or Evan? Nah, that’s it, it was Eros. Seems pretty chill.”

  Oh, my Lord. I licked my lips and sat up, intertwining my fingers with his. “What did he say?”

  “Nothing. I told him that you were my girlfriend though.” He trailed his hand alongside
my forearm, sending goosebumps up it, and smiled. “Just so he won’t get the urge to hit on you.”

  If he only knew that Eros had already made it perfectly clear that he wanted me.

  Trevon brushed his lips against my cheek, toying with the ends of my shirt. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he still tried though, you’re hot as hell.”

  I pushed him away playfully and blew out the candle. Okay, good, he didn’t know anything, and it would stay that way because nothing would happen between us. Nothing.

  When Trevon wrapped an arm around my waist and his breath evened out, I listened to the soft sound of his snoring. I tried to fall asleep, but light was now blaring under my door. And, even with Trevon’s arms wrapped tightly around me and his breath fanning my neck, I felt unbelievably cold.

  ~~~

  Lips brushed against my collarbone, setting it ablaze. “Oh, Dani,” Eros murmured against my skin. The room smelled of cinnamon and vanilla—a striking scent. His fingers grazed down the center of my chest and over my breast. “Your skin is so soft… tender….”

  A breathy moan escaped my lips, and I sunk into my plush sheets. He dipped his fingers between my legs and gently rubbed my red lacy underwear. “… imagine what I could do to it…”

  Moonlight filed through the sheer curtains, illuminating his sharp features. He slipped his fingers inside of me and smirked against my neck. I gripped his shoulders, digging my nails into him. “Eros,” I breathed, throwing my head back.

  His lips—quickly, hungrily, brutally—travelled down my chest and stomach, up the insides of my thighs, hovered between my panties and teased me with their heat. In one swoop, he clenched my panties in his hand and ripped them off of me, leaving me bare.

  He gazed up at me, eyes completely black. So big and bold, so absolutely terrifying yet so damn sexy.

  “Is this what you want, Dani?” he mumbled against my aching core. Slowly, he drew his fingers down the insides of my thighs.

  Images of him pressing his lips onto me, holding my legs apart until I was trembling around him, of pleasure pumping through my body flooded my mind.