The Deity of Death (Virgins and Villains #3)

Chapter 9

9

MALIK

Two Days Later

“ A re you sure your snow-white skin can handle this much sun?” I ask, swallowing hard to kill my shaky breathing.

Melina is sprawled out on a sunbed, wearing a dark blue bikini with white tropical flowers over the breast cups and bikini bottoms. I’m quickly learning it doesn’t matter what she wears. A fancy evening dress made to attract attention, a bikini by the pool, an old, oversized shirt, or nothing at all.

My cock will always spring upright at the sight of her.

“I’m not, but it’s a lovely day, and I wasn’t going to spend it cooped up in my room.” Her attention is fixed so sternly on the horizon ahead, she hasn’t even noticed my arrival behind her. Not that it’s much of a view beyond the crystal clear pool. It’s sand as far as the eye can see, eventually blocked by dunes in the distance.

“Don’t you think I might get jealous with all these eyes gawking at you?” I say it flirtatiously, but it’s true. I only caught a few people staring while I walked over, but each one made my blood run hot.

“Who says this isn’t my way of getting back at you?” She snickers, lowering her wide-brimmed sunglasses to look at me.

“For what?” I raise a brow.

“Leaving me soaked and desperate, and then only showing up days later. I’m sure you’ve done your fair share of torturing for Omar, Malik, but I don’t take kindly to you doing it to me.” Like me, her words come out teasingly. She even throws in a wink for good measure.

Like me, her plump, pouting lips are a sign that it’s untrue.

“Yes, well?—”

She snickers at my attempts to rationalize it, but after I left her, even I couldn’t find any real reason as to why I did. The last few days have been torture. Dealing with meetings and bullshit for Omar, my mind continued to flood with thoughts of Melina. How I make her melt and crumble, the sweet nectar between her thighs, her admission of being mine.

“You’re cute when you’re struggling, you know that?” She gestures to a lounger beside her for me to sit.

“No one’s ever called me that before.” I accept the offer, but as I sit, her eyes immediately fall onto the folder in my hands.

“That’s because no one’s ever seen you the way I have,” she scoffs. “Now, what’s this? Dad didn’t tell me about any meetings set for today.”

“It’s because it’s not scheduled. It’s paperwork for us to discuss.” The mundane tasks of talking projections, quantities, and qualities would be far easier with Melina at my side. She’d give me something to drool over while I rambled on about sales figures and projections for Remington Oil, but I wouldn’t subject her to that torture.

“Thrilling.” Her head turns back to the sand.

She starts twirling a lock of hair between her fingers as the other starts sliding down her body. It finds a place between her legs, making slow, inconspicuous movements. Any onlookers wouldn’t even be able to tell she’s pleasuring herself.

“What are you doing?” I feel my pulse quickening, eyes glued to her mesmerizing motion and the soft moans breaking her silence.

“Enjoying myself,” she answers. “But I must ask since the pool is out of the way up to our rooms. How did you know where to find me, Malik?”

She glances over at me, nibbling her lower lip. Her nose crinkles from what I can only assume is mounting pleasure. I take a long pause, enjoying the moment before I speak.

“Because I’m watching you,” I finally answer.

“Naughty boy.” My answer doesn’t make her stop, even knowing that my men may very well be indulging in this voyeuristic delight.

“For your safety.” And whereas it might have been that to start, it quickly devolved into me wanting to know her every move.

“So it wasn’t to find me here? Sprawled out and half naked? That’s a pity.” With that, her hand moves away. “Doesn’t feel the same when it isn’t your fingers. You’ll have to come and take over.”

Fuck. She has a direct line to the pleasure receptors in my brain. She knows exactly what to do, what to say, to drive me nuts. But I fight off my urges, as overwhelming as they are. Had it been anyone else, I’d take her right here right now. But if the boss somehow caught wind of anything happening here, there would be severe consequences.

“And I will, but first…” I tap the folder against my knee. “Henry’s waiting.”

“So bound by duty, it’s admirable. But don’t leave me waiting too long.” Melina lifts herself out of the sunbed and wraps a towel around her body. “Let me walk you up.”

“If you insist.” I stand, only to realize there’s a massive tent in my pants. I shove one hand into my pocket and grab onto it, doing my best to make it unnoticeable.

“So, tell me about yourself, Malik,” Melina says as we start to walk.

“There isn’t much to say.” Somewhat truthful, depending on exactly what she wants to know.

“Rubbish. I can’t believe you’ve been walking this world for what, thirty-five years, and there’s nothing you can tell me about.” She rolls her eyes. “You don’t have to play the cool, mysterious badass anymore. You’ve already won me over.”

“You know about my time in the service. Know that my life is dedicated to these oil fields. There isn’t much else to it. You’ll find, apart from my day job, I’m a pretty boring man,” I say.

“No family? No friends?” She almost sounds upset at the thought.

“Family life was hard, and it was easier to cut ties with them when I joined the military.” Born poor to lousy parents who didn’t want a child, growing up wasn’t easy. As soon as I was old enough to leave, I did and never looked back. But that isn’t a story for right now. Melina doesn’t need my baggage on her shoulders.

“Speaking of which, how did you go from a soldier to being Omar’s right hand?”

“Is this an interrogation?” Her prying questions make me chuckle. I said it from the start, I’ll never lie to these people with what I’m putting them through, but some things are better left in the past.

“No.” Her eyes widen, almost fearful of what she said. “I’m just curious. I’ll let you in on a little secret. You’re nearly impossible to find anything on. Apart from a few nicknames and service medals, my dad and I don’t know a thing about you.”

A secret I already knew. They’ve seen what I allowed them to see. But her admission bolsters my trust.

We enter the lobby, and I fall silent while we pass the guests. No way I’m talking about anything like this in front of liabilities. When we’re in the elevator heading to the V.I.P. suites, I finally answer.

“I was part of a special forces unit that dealt with internal attacks. Nasir was a soldier at the time, and he got himself into hot water with a terrorist organization.” I choose my words carefully so as not to give her anything to delve deeper into. My time in the force is best left a mystery. “After a two-day struggle, I managed to rescue him. His appreciation came a month later when he brought me to dinner with his father, who offered me a position as head of security.”

Her freckled cheeks raise in another brimming smile. “So you’re like a real-life hero?”

“Sort of.” I shrug it off. The things I had to do to save him were less than heroic. There’s more blood on these hands than I could ever wash off.

“And the Pale Prophet, where does that come from?” She changes her line of questioning, noticing my lack of interest in it.

The elevator dings, and the doors slide open. We start walking to the rooms. Henry’s is across the hall from Melina’s.

“An unnatural ability to have a gun pointed at my head, yet the bullets still missed. So many have proclaimed divine intervention and God having a plan for me, but the truth is, I’m lucky as hell.” Every time I hear her say one of the monikers bestowed on me, I can’t help but smile. Some are so seemingly innocent and sweet, you’d think I was a good man.

But each name is a scar on my psyche. A curse and a burden I carry for all the years of suffering I’ve inflicted.

“You know, you are pretty lucky.” Melina’s giggle lifts my spirit. “You found me, didn’t you?”

“If anything, you happening across my path is the closest I’ve ever come to divine intervention,” I retort.

With a quick glance up and down the hall, I grab Melina’s ass and pull her into me for a quick embrace. I needed to feel her body. Her lips against mine. And the soft, cooing moan as we part.

“I’ll see you soon,” I whisper before breaking away and getting to the boring side of business with Henry.