Without saying another word, we stormed to our car. I started it and got us out of there as fast as I could. There was something very wrong with this place, very, very wrong. My instincts werescreaming at me to get the fuck away from there. They never lie, especially when they're this strong. Since that moment all those years ago, I had never felt my instincts flare like this. It was a clear sign, and I didn’t want to ignore it.
I broke all speed limits. When I stopped feeling the remnants of that awful gut feeling, I pulled over. Looking over at Di, I saw him visibly shaking and playing with his ring. Fuck, he didn’t look good.
“Di. Look at me.”
Gently, I touched his jaw and turned his face to me. His eyes were unfocused. He wasn’t here with me. My heart shuddered, and panic rose. Something happened back in that damn house to disturb him so much. What exactly? I wasn’t sure, but if I saw that demon again, I’d kill him on sight.
“Di, listen to my voice.” When there was no reaction, I added desperately, “Please.”
It happened slowly, but he turned to me, and I could see a little bit of my Di there, though his eyes were still glassy.
I couldn't take it anymore. Unbuckling both my belt and his, I grabbed the back of his neck and pulled our bodies together. I embraced him with both arms and gently caressed his hair.
“You’re safe. Everything is okay. You’re safe.”
I tried to calm him down, holding him tight and not letting go for a second. Saying soothing words, I tried to think of something that would bring him back to me. My heart was frantic, my pulse skyrocketing, and my insides were a raging inferno of anger and worry.
“We’re safe.” When he heard this, he took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. Abruptly, his arms came around me, and he hugged me back, burying his face in the crook of my neck. I could feel him returning to me, so I repeated the words I'd said last. “We’re safe.”
With my heart breaking and my focus on Di, I made a promise to myself. I'd be damned if I let something like this happen to him again.
Was I overprotective? No. They hadn't seen anything yet. I lurked in the shadows all this time. But I was done with that. My obsession with Di was beyond healthy, and I knew it. My protective instincts were on a whole other deranged level. I'd suppressed it all to the best of my ability for years. No more. Diablos Hughes might never be mine in the way I yearned for, but he was mine to protect.
Chapter eighteen
Diablos
Dagon’s arms were clasped tightly around me, holding me in place. Even if I tried to move, I wouldn’t be able to. He was stronger than he looked.
I replayed everything that happened in the creepy house. I remembered Joshua’s eyes lingering over Dagon’s body when he thought I wasn’t watching him. I shuddered at the memory.
There was something else in his calculating, creepy-as-fuck eyes. He was not on our side. He was trying to do something. I was sure of that, and I was scared out of my mind that he would hurt Dagon. The horror almost froze me when I saw that gleam in his angelic-fake human eyes as he watched us.
“We’re fine.” Dagon’s words broke through the haze and fear inside me.
Fuck. Until he said it, I didn’t realize how much I needed to hear those words. I needed to hear thathewas okay. He kept repeating the words, and I held onto them. They were like a beacon of light in what felt like an endless abyss.
“Breathe for me, sweetheart, just like that. We’re safe. Both of us are safe.”
Whatever I'd been holding in cracked. The tears started before I could decide whether to let them.
What would I have done if Joshua had hurt Dagon?
Sobs rocked my body. I was shivering, but I kept holding onto Dagon – both to his words and his body. After who knew how long, my breathing finally steadied. My head throbbed like monkeys with drums competing against each other in the middle of a rock concert.
I tried to pull away, but Dagon grabbed my waist with one hand and cupped my face with the other.
“Di?”
“Yeah?” I croaked.
Dagon's breaths stalled for a second, then relaxed in the next. Pulling away slowly, he scanned my face. What I saw when I looked back at him punched me straight in the gut. His eyes were wild with concern. He was scanning me as if he'd lost me once and feared it could happen again.
“How are you?”
“I’m fine.”
“Don’t,” he whispered. “How are you?”
