I didn’t know why Stefano had let me win, but I didn’t intend to stay long enough to ask.
I raked the pot toward me with steady hands and an expression I hoped was unreadable. Inside, I was counting the seconds until I could get out of this room.
And get Zephyr the hell out with me.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-FIVE
Beck
If I hadn’t been as transparent as glass before my win, what happened after would have cleared things right the fuck up. With my winnings gathered and chips cashed out, I approached Stefano to collect my final prize.
I tried not to look frantic, angry, or anything but resolute as Stefano ducked out from under the loop of Zephyr’s arms, then offered his lithe body up with ease.
“I’ll walk with you,” he said as though I should let him carry my trophy, like I would allow his hands on my incubus for another second.
“I’ve got him,” I replied in a growl.
Stefano hesitated before passing Zephyr into my grasp, and I snatched him up. Zephyr whined as he was jostled, and I now saw that his wrists were bound with a man’s necktie. The knot was so tight that his hands had begun to lose their color. I would cut the tie the moment we got to thecar, but I had to maintain a shade of indifference in the current company.
His cherry vanilla smell curled in my nostrils, though it was muddied by the notes of Stefano’s cologne. The rich musk, combined with Zephyr’s aroma, was so powerful it started my heart kicking double time. Old love and new tangled together, and I lingered for a moment with Zephyr hugged against my chest and Stefano hovering close. Too close.
Scowling, I shook off the knowledge that I too had a list of wishes, and Stefano Rossetti was far too near the top. Pity I couldn’t make deals with myself. I would have gladly signed away my feelings for him. Bartered to be free of our shared past. Or at least forget it.
Heavily laden with the stares of everyone in the room, I took my leave.
Colette was on me the moment we hit the hallway, her stiletto heels clipping along as she closed the space between us. In the elevator, she shifted. Protective muscle melted into mother hen as she shrugged out of her suit jacket and tucked it over Zephyr’s bare chest like a blanket.
“Tiens bon, mon petit,” she said, adjusting the collar with a tenderness that made something cinch behind my ribs. “Ça va aller.”
He stirred, first squeezing his eyes shut harder then forcing them open with what seemed like a mammoth effort. When he focused on me, his reactive flinch tore a hole in my heart.
“B-Beck?” His arms strained against the binding tie, and he winced again. “I’m sorry.” The furrow between his brows cut in deeply, and his words slurred together in a stream. “I did-didn’t mean… wasn’t trying to hurt you. I didn’t know. I don’t knowme. Myself. An-and I…” He gulped down a sob before whispering timidly, “Beck, did you… did you come for me?”
I nodded before I could speak. “Yes,” I said, but it wasn’t enough. “Of course I did.”
His lips trembled, then his voice came again, a frayed thread. “You… you’re not… through with me?”
Fuck.
Ihadsaid that.
I’d thrown those words like a dagger, then left it lodged in him. For days.
My eyes dropped to the floor of the elevator car, and I shook my head. “No, Beauty. I’m not.”
He sagged. From relief or exhaustion, I couldn’t tell, but it shattered me all the same.
I wouldn’t be through with him in forty-eight hours either, but I tried not to think about that. Not yet. I needed to focus on the immediate: getting him home, then getting him fed so he didn’t look so much like a corpse. The husk of what I knew he could be.
On the ground floor, I moved like I was a thief rather than a victor, stealing away with something that should never have been given. People were neither property nor prizes. My incubus deserved better, and I would give that to him as soon as I found a way.
Colette kept up, using her body to shield Zephyr from gawking stares as we hurried toward the exit. She’d taken one of his hands at some point and now held it. Their connection felt important. Necessary.
She reminded him of his mother.
We made it outside and did not slow, trekking swiftly back to where we’d parked the limo. I kept my head down and my pace steady, arms cinched tightly around Zephyr’s body as we cut across the plaza. He was breathing shallowand even against my chest, slack with sleep or shock or both.
