Page 108 of Lust and Honor

“Yeah.”

I’m terrified to ask the real question. My hands are slick with anxious sweat.

“Is he… alive?”

He smirks. “No one can kill Maxim.”

I close my eyes, and with the deep breath I draw, a quiet peace settles through my veins.

***

The basement isn’t anything like the word suggests. It’s lavish, luxurious, and smells incredible. We pass through mirrored hallways until we reach a door marked Locker Room. The guard leaves me there and disappears down the corridor.

I lift my chin and step inside.

Maxim’s there, leaning his bare back against a metal locker, dressed in nothing but athletic shorts. His hands are still wrapped in blood-stained tape. There’s a gash above his temple, dried blood trailing down to his jaw. A bottle of liquor dangles from one hand, a cigarette burns between the fingers of the other.

The moment I see him alive, still breathing, a wave of relief washes over me.

He turns when I enter, his chest rising and falling with a heavy breath. He takes a long drag from his cigarette, then drops his gaze.

His voice is rough, shredded from the fight. “Wasn’t your lucky night, Ava. I’m still alive.”

I cross my arms tight over my chest, biting down on my lip in frustration. “I can see that. That’s just how the world spins, Maxim. Idiots get nine lives.”

A crooked smirk curves his lips as he pushes off the locker. He takes a swig from the bottle, then hurls it across the floor. It shatters into a thousand pieces, but he doesn’t even flinch.

He stalks toward me, arms spread wide, arrogance radiating off him. “I’ve got only one life, just like everyone else.”

He stops right in front of me, leans down until his breath scorches my skin. “But you know what makes me different?” His voice drops, dark and sure. “Even the Reaper himself wouldn’t dare come for me. No one can kill me, Ava. No one.”

His bandaged hand rises, cupping my chin gently but firmly. “Only you have that power. Only you can take my soul. Only you.”

The scent of blood clings to his skin, stinging my nose, but I don’t pull away. I can’t. My hand finds his arm, gripping tight.

“You really expect me to believe you after everything you did to me?”

His gaze flickers over the bruises on my face, and for the first time, I see something raw, grief, maybe even guilt. “Yeah, you should believe me, baby. I’m a lot of filthy things, but a liar isn’t one of them.”

“That’s what you say.” I narrow my eyes. “But you know what I think, Maxim? You’re bluffing.”

His jaw clenches so hard the veins pop along his neck. He releases me in one abrupt move and strides to one of the lockers. The cigarette hits the floor as he pulls out a handgun, then turns back toward me. He places the weapon in my palm and steps back, spreading his arms wide like a madman.

“I told you once I’d give you my life, didn’t I? Now, to make up for what I did, I’m gifting you my death. Take it all, Ava. Take everything.”

It’s the first time I’ve ever held a gun. The weight of it shocks me—so heavy it almost drags my hand down. To realize that a piece of cold metal can give me the power to decide whether someone lives or dies… it’s intoxicating and terrifying all at once.

I raise the gun, step closer until the barrel presses against his chest. He doesn’t even blink, those wild dark eyes locked on mine. I know his soul’s darker than that, but it doesn’t matter. It’s not my fault that my other half turned out to be a ruthless criminal.

“I could pull this trigger,” I whisper, “and walk away? Just like that?”

He nods. “No one would touch you. No one.”

“So your life… it’s completely mine?”

“Without a single condition, baby.”

I exhale sharply, pressing the gun harder over his heart.