“Yes.”
Yeah, Angie had never been one to take the sensible route.
28
North watched as Jared grabbed some blankets from the cupboard and laid them out on the couches in the media room. There were bowls of chips and popcorn.
There was also soda, juice, and water.
Not to mention the pizza sitting on the coffee table.
Angie had gone to her room to put some more comfortable clothes on.
“Fuck, I hated hearing her scream like that.” Jared straightened and stared right at North. “I know I’m a monster and I don’t have a problem with anyone else seeing me that way.”
Yeah, North understood that. It was what had attracted him to Jared. Sure, he’d secretly forced his way into Jared’s life. But he hadn’t been forced to fall for him.
To want him.
Jared’s monster called to his own. Jared kept his monster on a tight rein, hidden underneath layers of civility and reasonableness, only surfacing when truly necessary.
Whereas North lived with his monster just below the surface. Always there. Always ready to strike when needed.
Every time he looked in the mirror, his monster looked back at him, waiting for North to loosen the reins.
But he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t let him loose.
Then he would become a true demon. And he didn’t know how far he would go or who he would harm.
“But I can’t stand for her to see me like that. While she’s strong in a lot of ways, she’s fragile in others. The way she looked at me earlier . . . like I was going to hurt her. And then when she bent over and her top rode up to reveal her back . . . did you see them?”
The scars.
Yeah, he’d seen the fucking scars and they had made him feel murderous.
That fucker, Fergus.
North didn’t regret a lot in life. But he deeply regretted not taking that fucker out straight away.
He’d have made it nice and painful.
Oh well, he might get another chance to inflict pain when he met that monster in hell.
“I did. They were impossible to miss.”
“He did that to her,” Jared said starkly.
“I know.”
Jared strode over, his desire and hunger in his face as he cupped a hand around the front of North’s throat, pushing him back until he hit the wall. Then his hand tightened on North’s throat, restricting his breathing
Fuck, that was hot.
She was meant to be stay here with Jared, taking care of him after North left for good.
All of his fucking work was unraveling. Because she couldn’t handle a small kidnapping without falling apart.
And North couldn’t explain his full reasoning for taking her.
