I fell silent at that. Obviously, he was wrong. The angels would have still approached me, telling me everything. But if I hadn’t known Serena all my life, I probably would have run. I couldn’t imagine how it would feel to be totally unaware of supernaturals, and then find out you’d signed a deal with a demon.
Az was right. Most humans would scream and run in the opposite direction.
“There is one thing I like about you, Mia,” he finally said as he plucked a gin and tonic from the table beside the hot tub. He took a long, slow sip, meeting my eyes. Thankfully, the steaming water blanketed the flush in my cheeks.
“Oh, just the one thing?” I asked sarcastically.
He ignored me. “You don’t try to obscure your emotions. You wear guilt, but it isn’t a heavy anchor dragging you into the ground. Whatever you feel guilty about, it’s a small thing. It’s not for something as terrible as manslaughter.”
I stiffened and slammed against the back of the hot tub. Water sloshed around me as my heart hammered my ribs. “What are you talking about?”
“Mia,” he said as his piercing eyes latched onto mine. “You will never move forward as long as you pretend your past doesn’t exist.”
Blood rushed through my head, and my throat closed tight. “You looked me up.”
I should have known it would happen eventually. His ignorance of my trial and the charges against me would only last so long. He might be a demon in a million-dollar penthouse, but he still lived in this world. The one with Google, social media, and clickbait headlines. The only thing I was surprised about was that it had taken so long.
And I bet he still wanted to use me as bait. Why not, right? I was just a trash human who had caused a poor girl’s death. Hell, if I died, it would be no big loss in his eyes.
“I looked you up the night we met,” he said as he took another sip of his drink. He set it back onto the table, edged forward, and took my shaking hand in his. “Mia, calm down. I don’t think you did it.”
“Wait?” I breathed, and instantly, my hand stilled. “What?”
He put his other hand on my shoulder. Tremors tiptoed down my spine. “I wouldn’t have asked you to work for me if I thought you were capable of accidentally killing a girl and fleeing from the scene instead of calling for help. I can see it in you. You’re not guilty of that.”
All my breath whooshed out of me, leaving me lightheaded. And frankly, feeling a little weird. I must have been dreaming. No one had ever said that to me before. No one except for Serena.
“How could you possibly know that?” I asked in a whisper. I didn’t think I trusted myself to speak any louder than that. Basically, I was a glass case of emotion on the verge of shattering into the steaming water. These were words I’d always longed to hear, just…maybe not coming from a Prince of Hell who had lied to me about a demon contract.
He leaned in close, and the hand on my shoulder drifted up to my cheek. I shuddered against his touch, my breath stilling in my throat. His gaze swept across me, piercing and dark and full of a strange intoxicating intensity. My eyes dropped to his lips just as his tongue swept across the bottom one. Shivers raced down my spine.
Suddenly, I realized exactly where I was, what I was doing, and who I was with. A demon, in a hot tub, on a balcony overlooking the sparkling city lights. His wet chest glistened, and my soaked lace clung to the curves of my breasts. Heat flickered between my thighs.
Oh shit.
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.
Was he going to kiss me? And was I going to let him? No, surely not. Nothing about this was real. We were in a fake relationship so we could stop a murderous group of supernaturals who wanted to sacrifice humans to Lucifer.
Wow, that sounded totally insane.
Still, I didn’t budge an inch.
Slowly, his hand dropped away. “I’m a demon. I can read guilt. You have some, Mia, but it isn’t for that. If I were to guess, it’s because you’re protecting someone else. The person responsible for Audrey’s death never got caught because you wouldn’t speak their name aloud. You wouldn’t tell anyone who really did it. Loyalty, it is an admirable trait.”
I sucked in a breath and stood. Water streamed down my exposed stomach and thighs, but I forgot all my worries about letting him see my skin. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He gave me a sad smile. “You let the world attack you because you were covering for someone else. And I have a good guess who it was.”
Unshed tears burned my eyes, as hot as lava. “No, you’re wrong. I don’t know who did it. No one does. And if you think I want to talk to you about this, you’re an even bigger asshole than I thought.”
But I was lying. And he knew it. It really wasn’t that hard to guess. That night, my little sister had visited me at college. We’d gone to a party, she’d gotten drunk, and then she’d raced off in my car. She’d hit Audrey, killing her instantly. And then she’d fled. I never told a single soul. Not even Serena.
Disappointment flickered in Az’s eyes. “Maybe I was wrong about you.”
I climbed out of the hot tub, anger burning away whatever soothing warmth I thought I’d felt before. “Yeah. Maybe you were.”
Gritting my teeth, I stalked back into the apartment and left a trail of dripping water in my wake. Normally, I would feel bad about messing up his pristine floor, but it served him right. He’d snooped into my past. Far more than a cursory search if he’d gleamed the truth. Asmodeus knew what had really happened.
