“And not once have I been so concerned over a girl who I wasn’t sleeping with that I’d gladly have sat this game out despite the fact it would ruin my entire future.”
The words fall heavy.
They land harder.
I try to hide my surprise, refusing to frown or blink or knit my brows together. But the confession makes me feel unsteady. Off balance.
“Why?” A broken whisper from my lips.
He shakes his head once, his dark eyes locked on mine. “That’s the question, isn’t it, North?” He doesn’t look away. “Tonight, I want to find an answer.”
We keep going in the dark, and Castle Darling looms ahead of us in the night, a shadow darker than the rest.
When Faust locksthe door behind him and the sound of the security system snapping into place pierces the darkened entryway of his Gothic home, I stand in the shadows and hold my breath. My coat is still on, boots too, and while I dropped my leather weekender on the bench seats, I don’t move to take anything off.
There’s a scent in here that isn’t Faust’s.
It isn’t food, and it isn’t a candle or disgusting air freshener. It’s not the oldness of the castle, the cloistered secrets draped in centuries.
It’s familiar, somehow, and I inhale deep, trying to parse it. Nolan always says I have a wicked sense of smell, and he’s not wrong.
The little hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, and I hear Faust move toward me in the dark. He reaches around me for the lapel of my coat, to pull it off my body, and I allow it, even as I don’t move.
His fingers skim my sides, and when the wool leaves my body, I shiver. Behind me, he hangs up the coat, then he’s standing at my back, looming over me. We’re so close I feel his body heat, but at first, he doesn’t touch me.
Until the recollection clicks into place and I stagger back a step, right into his hard body.
He wraps one arm around my waist, tugging me closer, and he loops my hair behind an ear with his free hand, the touch sending shivers down my spine.
“He’s here,” I whisper, dizziness clouding my mind. It feels as if my blood sugar has bottomed out with my mild panic.
Are they setting me up?
Did Faust lure me here to hurt me?
Has it been this way all along, Sylvan playing bad cop while Faust pretended to be the nice guy? Perfect foils of one another to commit perfect crimes?
Faust’s hand claims the back of my neck. “And how do you know that, North?”
I swallow hard, staring into the darkness. I don’t hear anything beyond my own pulse, and I don’t see anything in the gloom. But he’s here. I know he is.
The question is…why?
“Why did you bring me here?” My voice doesn’t shake but I feel as if I am speaking over my own pulse. “What are you going to do to me?”
Faust’s fingers dig into the back of my neck. Not painful; almost like he’s finding pressure points to soothe me.
I am not soothed. But I don’t fight back either.
“What is it you want us to do to you?” he whispers, his breath brushing my ear as he leans down close. He sounds calm. Controlled. But there’s still a hint of coldness in his words. He hasn’t broken down his walls for me. Why would he? He brought me to the dragon’s den to toy with me. Not for a heart-to-heart.
“Faust.” I don’t let my fear show as I lift my chin and his hold around my waist tightens. “Tell me where he is, and why he’s here.”
Faust doesn’t move an inch, save to speak. “I think he’ll need to be the one to tell you that.”
“Wherethe fuckis he?” This time, I jerk away from Faust.
And surprising me, he doesn’t let me go. Instead, his hand slides from the back of my neck to my throat. He splays his fingers, and although he isn’t hurting me, the force shocks me.
