“Then let me find out.” With a lick of his lips, he tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. “You gonna eat your words, baby?”
Head swimming, Amelia’s heart nearly pounded out of her chest. The pulse at Emory’s neck fluttered just the same. It was madness, a foray with fire, and they’d both go down in flames.
Amelia tipped her chin and uncrossed her legs. “Are you?”
“Sit on my face and let’s find out,” he fired back with a wicked grin and stared between her bare thighs. “I hear I’m great at eating pussy.”
Amelia opened her mouth. She meant to refuse, to tell him he was disgusting and awful and she’dneverlet him go down on her or anywhere for that matter. Nothing came, though. No clever comeback or staunch refusal; just Emory’s husky laugh, so evidently amused at leaving her speechless.
A woman breezed into the alcove on a rhythmic click of heels. Mouth agape, her amber eyes bounced between Amelia and Emory.
“What the fuck happened? She looks like hell.” The woman gently squeezed Amelia’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, honey, but you do.”
Slim and tall, the woman looked to be in her mid-twenties. Her jet-black hair—pin-straight and glossy—fell to mid-back, and heavy, blunt bangs framed her heart-shaped face done up with winged eyeliner and red lipstick.
“Damon,” she said and pointed a red-manicured finger at Emory. “I told you not to trust that psycho. You’re too goddamn stubborn for your own good, Em.”
Liam chuckled, and Emory didn’t argue but pushed from his seat and collected his gun.
“Take her upstairs. I’ll come get her after shadow walk.”
Emory loomed over Amelia but waited to speak until she acknowledged him. If that were the condition, they’d be there all night. With a massive hand, he roughly gripped her chin and tipped her head to meet his stare.
“We’re not done,” he said on a smoldering hush. “In the meantime, you’d better decide what your life is worth to you.”
Emory released her and disappeared beyond the curtain. Though out of sight, his presence and warning were still very much felt.
ELEVEN
AMELIA
The woman took the steps in a hurry, bouncing up them like a bright-eyed school child. Amelia gripped the rail and refused to match the rhythm. In the middle of the staircase, she stood at a crossroads with the devil she knew down below and the one she hadn’t met up above.
“I’m Mirabelle,” the woman said and loitered on the top step. “Sorry you were with the boys for so long. If I’d known, I would’ve gotten you sooner.”
In a polite gesture, she extended a palm, but Amelia refused that too and let the sleeves of Brian’s sweater swallow her hands.
“I’m Am?—”
“Amelia. I know. He told me.”
Mirabelle’s red lips curled in a sly smile as she pushed through the door at the top of the stairs. It deposited them at the end of a long hall adorned with framed photographs and exposed wood beams up above.
Amelia trailed after Mirabelle and eyed the images they passed—black and white pictures of uniformed men, women with victory-rolled hair, leather-bound youths.This is someone’s home,she realized.
Mirabelle cut through a parlor tastefully appointed with woven rugs, furniture carved from dark wood, and a roundedstucco fireplace. Pocket doors opened to a foyer equal in its warmth and splendor. Its eggshell walls offset vibrant Spanish tiles lining the risers of a staircase that spiraled to a second and then third floor.
Up above, a stained-glass ceiling gleamed in jewel tones. It depicted wildflowers, vines, and vaguely humanoid figures rising toward a central sunburst as if ascending to the heavens.
Through the foyer’s arched windows, the sun expired in pink and gold. The same time yesterday, Amelia had stood in her father’s office.The hell he must be going through.
Mirabelle marched up the stairs to the second floor and down another hall. Her swaying hips kept beat to the tune she hummed. Amelia didn’t know what to make of her or how she fit into Emory’s strange underworld.
Somewhere the filter between mind and mouth dissolved, so she asked, “Are you his wife?”
Mirabelle stopped at a door halfway down the hall. “Why do you ask?”
“I don’t know. I guess how you talked to him.”
