This man wasn’t missing the fingers on his left hand because he had been involved in a workplace accident… It was becausethe man standing across from me hadcut them off while he was still alive.
My own hands began to quiver, and I swallowed, staring across the table at the devastatingly attractive but horrifyinglydangerousman standing across from me.
He flipped up his Ray-Bans so I could see his eyes, and he frowned.
“Hey,” he said softly, his tone full of something that sounded a lot like concern. “What’s wrong, ginger snap?”
He reached across the table and gently took my trembling hand. He rubbed his gloved finger over my knuckles, and I couldn’t tell if it was soothing or disturbing.
“You were going to do this to me,” I breathed, and the uncontrollable quivering intensified.
His brown eyes flooded with remorse, and he slipped around the table to my side. I jerked away from him, but he snatched up my wrists and spun me around to face him.
“Listen to me. I am not going to kill you. I only kill assholes who hurt kids… and whoever my boss puts on his list, but even if he told me to kill you, I wouldn’t, Ryan.”
I tried to pull away again, not liking the way my body was reacting to his proximity.
“I don’t know that!” I exclaimed. “I can’t trust that you’re not going to turn around and murder me one day. I don’t know you at all, and what I do know about you is fucking terrifying.”
He pinched my chin between his gloved fingers and jerked my head back to face him. I found myself suddenly wishing we weren’t wearing masks. I wanted to feel his breath on my lips again like I had earlier in the hallway.
As soon as the thought crossed my mind, my stomach roiled with guilt.
I couldn’t be thinking like this… I wasn’tgay.I had agirlfriend.My body was just reacting inappropriately to how afraid I was like it always did.
“You’re right, Ryan. You don’t know anything about me. There’s a lot more to me than what I’ve shown you. Give me a chance. You might like my other parts.” He said the words like he was teasing, but the burn in his gaze told me he was being serious. He legitimately wanted me to give him a chance… A chance forwhatexactly, I wasn’t sure.
A friendship?
An illegal business arrangement where I disposed of his bodies for him?
What did this guy fuckingwant?
“Not sure how I’m supposed to trust the literaldevil,” I snapped.
Suddenly, all the warmth and playfulness disappeared from Cal’s eyes. It was almost like he wasn’t human anymore. Even with his bandana covering his face, I knew I had seriously fucked up.
Abruptly, his fingers were no longer caressing my chin but wrapped around my throat.
“Thefuckdid you just call me?” he snarled, cocking a fist back. I brought up an arm to block his punch just in time to catch it with my forearm. Pain exploded all the way to my elbow, and I tried to jerk away from him, but he still had me by the throat.
Almost effortlessly, he tossed me against the preparation table. I slammed into it so hard that the corpse of Caleb’s father slid off and tumbled to the floor with a sickeningthud.
“Cal, stop!” I growled, pushing up from the table and balancing on the balls of my feet. He was coming at me full tilt, and I ducked to avoid another punch. On my way up, I cut a jab directly to his ribs, and he grunted but didn’t stop coming for me.
“You think I’m the devil, mortuary boy?” he snarled, and a chill crept down my spine. I almost sobbed in frustration as my dick immediately hardened at the terrifying look in his eyes.
He swung at me again, and this time, I wasn’t fast enough; he connected with my cheek so hard it sent me spinning into the table. I braced my palms on the cold stainless steel top and prepared to push myself back up, only to find he had plastered himself to my back.
Cal laced his fingers through my hair and slammed my face down into the surface so hard I shouted in surprise.
He had me bent over and at his mercy. Pressing his mouth against my hair, he allowed his soft lips to tickle the sensitive skin on my ear. His bandana had slipped down, and I shivered as his hot breath caressed the side of my neck.
“I’m not the devil, Ryan Fairview. I’m your fuckinggod,and you willbegme for forgiveness,” he hissed. Then he bit the wrist of his latex glove on his free hand and ripped it off with asnap.
My head was spinning from being hit in the face so hard. I barely registered it as he snaked his now bare hand around my hips and deftly undid the button to my jeans.
“What the fuck!” I thrashed beneath him, but he pressed his body into me harder, ramming my hip bones into the sharp edge of the table. The blood drained from my face as the sound of my zipper pulling open filled the room.
