He nodded. “Yes, I know.”
My face twisted as my stomach tightened, pain blooming there. “Ash—”
“What’s done is done, yeah? When I’m in a bad way, I have a session with Dominic. It’s okay, Angel.” His fingers traced my jaw. “I’m okay.”
“So you don’t remember where you were? Where this ‘hell’ was?”
“I knew where I was because I walked in there searching for you,” he said, scanning my face. Pain shot through my soul, nearly tearing my heart right down the middle as my mind conjured up horrible images of him in pain.
His hand disappeared. “I was in Devil’s Den.”
A chill slithered down my spine, the name changing the air between us. “What is that?”
His dark eyes fell away from me, focusing on the sink across from the tub. “It’s a city underneath a city—or it was. A few years ago, a client of ours and his team went down there after his brother and exposed it to the FBI,” he explained. He scratched his jaw, water trailing over his forearm, dripping from his elbow. In the candlelight, he looked like a fallen god, forced to seep in his own misery for all eternity. “Granted, half of the government is fucking evil, so it wasn’t really a surprise to hear that Devil’s Den had never really been shut down.”
With a pinched brow, I asked, “What do you mean?”
“There’s an expansive drug network in Devil’s Den. Red Snake has run into it a few times, but there are more players withdeeper pockets coming into play.” His brows came together, a muscle in his cheek jumping. There was more he wanted to say, but he didn’t.
“Were you drugged?”
A huffed laugh came from him, humorless and full of pain. “Most likely, yes.”
Another shiver hit me, memories, dark and wretched, poked out from the darkest part of my soul, grinning. I looked around the bathroom. I couldn’t hide in here. “I don’t want to be in here anymore.”
His reply was instant. “This doesn’t deserve space anywhere near our bed.”
My love.
Our bed.
“I’m cold,” I lied.
He studied me, his dark eyes flashing with guilt. After a few strained seconds of quiet, he nodded. “Then let’s get you warm.”
When we were both dried and dressed, I shut off the bathroom light and moved toward my bed, my body sore, my mind and spirit running on fumes. My mind was screaming at me to do my skin care, to get back into my routine of safety and peace, but I was nowhere.
“Starlight.”
Ash was leaning against the doorframe, arms folded over his chest, a pair of black sweats hanging on his hips. His hair was damp, wild and curling at the ends, and the shadow of the past was looming over him like death, waiting to strike.
And the scary part was, I was willing to go down with him.
“Yes?”
“Told you I’m not bringing that shit into our bed.”
“This is my bed.”
“You just took my cock, baby. That’s our bed until you're done with me.”
I jerked, not only at his words but his tone. “What makes you think I’ll ever be done with you?”
“The look in your eyes.”
I blinked and shook my head. “Trust me, that has nothing to do with you.”
He grunted, pushing off the frame. “You telling me that my shit is triggering for you?”
