“Come here,” I demanded, the hairs on my neck standing up.
Something had happened. Her neck twisted, and she looked at me, her bottom, red painted lip trembling. In a flash, I leaned over, undoing her seatbelt before dragging her to sit on my lap, her legs resting on the seat. My hand cupped her face as I looked up at her, wondering if bringing her to Boston was the right move.
The look in her eyes mirrored the one she had when she woke up chained to a wall. I swallowed the knives in my throat, all thoughts of victory vanishing.
“Baby—”
She stopped me, her lips meeting mine. One thing I had learned about my angel was that she liked kissing me—and I, her—but every kiss she gives me seemed like her last. Those soft lips molded against mine as her arms wrapped around my neck. A low groan left me as my arms snapped around her waist, holding her to me. Her tongue invaded my mouth with a gentle force that rocked my dark soul, and the whimper that followed was a flickering light.
I let her kiss me, relishing in the fact that she even wanted to—after everything I had done.
There was a knock on the window, and she jumped, pulling away from me. We were back at The Ritz, Nick stood outside the door, his back to the window.
He was one of the first to pledge loyalty to me, and I allowed him to drive us. After years of being alone, I found it hard to trust men. Nick knew this but was stuck by my side in the shadows. He was a drifter, a convicted felon, out for good behavior.
I told him the men who pledged loyalty to me quickly needed a bullet in the shoulder, because they didn’t know the meaning of loyalty.
But I would teach them.
“Col?” Hands cupped my face, and the angel in my lap came back into focus. Slowly, I brought my finger up to her head, brushing a lock of her blonde hair out of her face.
“Yes, angel?” I asked softly. “What did you need to tell me?”
“I—”
A second knock sounded against the window causing my jaw to tense. Though I respected Nick, I had no issues snapping his neck this evening. He opened the door, his eyes meeting mine.
“Sir, perhaps you would like to go inside?”
I squinted my eyes at him, a silent conversation happening between us. Ears and eyes were nearby.
Romano’s men.
“Let’s go inside.”
Once we were back in our hotel room, I shot a quick text to Nick, giving him his instructions for the night as my angel walked into the bedroom. After locking the door and I followed Karina.
“Is Romano here?” she asked, leaning against the windows to stare out in the night.
“His cousins,” I answered, not bothering to lie to her anymore. She came to the city with me, killed for me, questioned Roman for me. This morning, I returned when the hour was still early, and she was sound asleep in the middle of the bed. I pulled a chair up and watched her, like I had done almost every night for the last few months. When she woke, I feared she would break, the darkness I had exposed her to catching up to her.
But she didn’t.
She wanted to be with me.
“The brothers who were at your house?” she breathed, her eyes going wide.
Dumb and Dumber…Ray had sent them to St. Louis to make sure the hit on Aiden Connors was fulfilled. At the end of our little trip, I had learned that they wanted my angel. Anger boiled in my blood, my demon howling for death as my jaw clenched.
The need to resurrect the brothers just to kill them again was strong. Sadly, I wasn’t into witchcraft.
“You don’t have to worry about them anymore,” I barked, my words coming out harsher than I'd intended as I began to close the distance between us.
“Are you sure?” she asked, fear present in her eyes as her voice shook with uncertainty.
Bloodlust took over. I snapped, closing the distance between us, my lip curling up in a snarl.
“Do you want the truth, Karina?” I quipped as I crowded her against a wall by the window, bracing both of my hands beside her perfect head. Her blue eyes were filled with tears, and I hated the ache in my chest they caused.I hated it.“I killed them, slaughtered them like the animals they were,” I spat, leaning down in her space. She flinched at my words. It was small, but I caught it, but the pounding in my ears zeroed in on my rage.
