A Deal in Darkness (Dark and Devilish #2)

1

WHAT DID YOU DO?

ADRIANA

T he breeze tussles with my hair as sand blows into my face, exfoliating the skin as I walk across the beach. I need the fresh air. I need the bracing wind and sudden drop in temperature like I needed the hangover I was trying to shake off.

I shouldn’t have gone out drinking last night.

I shouldn’t have come back home.

I shouldn’t have gone out without a coat, but I did—and now I have to suffer the consequences. Of all my choices.

My arms wrap around me as I pull my cardigan closed, imagining I was anywhere but here. Somewhere warm. Somewhere comfortable. Somewhere that wasn’t on the same continent as my mother.

It’s almost better that I stay out in this goddamn awful weather than have to face my mother. I’m not living up to her impossible standards and she’s making her feelings clear.

She’s upset.

She’s angry.

She’s disappointed .

I’ve done everything she asked of me, and life hasn’t worked out. I read English Literature for her. I went to Cambridge University for her. I got a first-class degree for her.

But I didn’t get a boyfriend.

And every other graduate has a job lined up. Already. Because we’re Cambridge graduates and the world should be ours. We’re supposed to be the best of the best, the people companies want to invest in.

Except, no one wants to hire me.

Next week, I’m graduating top of my class and then I’m going to be unemployed. Coming home should have bought me time to think, and I’d hoped my mother would give me some words of advice. Instead, I got scorn and a lashing from her tongue.

Any illusion I’d harbored that returning home was a good idea shattered within the first few days. It’s been two weeks, and the situation is getting bad enough that I resorted to a bottle of red wine last night.

The walk was meant to give me space to think. Time out of the house and away from another argument. But the storm clouds gathering over the sea draw closer and I’m enduring a different torment. One meted out on the vast sandy beach that stretches out, buffering the dunes from the ocean.

I’m freezing as I walk back to our cottage on the coast.

The wind howls around me as I shiver, succumbing to the cold.

“Are you fucking insane?”

I turn back, facing the man who’s shouting at me like a lunatic as he races toward me. He’s tall and his thick black hair bellows in the wind, contrasting with the pale white sand around us. It’s the same color as his skin and it only makes his dark eyes and chiseled features more striking. More handsome.

He’s a little older than me, but more refined. Wiser. More worldly. It’s as if he’s been everywhere and seen everything, gaining experience beyond his years.

“What are you doing out here?”

The man races towards me as I freeze, waiting for him to close the distance between us. He grabs my upper arms, shaking me as he demands I meet the intensity in his gaze.

“Going for a walk.” I’m mumbling like an idiot.

“Obviously. But you’re wearing nothing. Practically nothing. You should know better.”

He’s pissed.

My eyebrow arches before I stare at the sand beneath our feet, watching it shift as the wind blows across us. His grip softens and I sigh, waiting for another dressing down.

“You’re Abby’s daughter, right?”

I nod and flick my eyes back up. He’s handsome. More than that, he’s stunningly attractive. He’s everything most girls fantasize about and he’s looking at me like I’m a goddamn idiot.

“I have a place a few miles down and sometimes I move in the same circles as her. She talks about you. We’d better get you home.” He draws back and starts undoing his coat. “Preferably before your mother loses her shit.”

I groan and shrug.

He slips his jacket off and wraps it around me before I have the chance to protest.

“Enzo,” he says, turning me around.

“Adriana.”

His arm slips behind my back as he directs me to move. I slip my hands inside the jacket’s sleeves and clutch my arms against my chest, warming a little.

“You going to tell me what you’re doing out here?”

“Avoiding my mother.” I clamp my mouth shut, aware the words have slipped out before I can stop them.

Enzo laughs, and it’s deep and wicked. “She is more than a bit overbearing. What did you do?”

I glance sideways and he’s smirking.

“I didn’t get a job offer like all the other graduates.”

His eyebrows rise as his head nods in silent understanding. He’s staring at me as if he’s trying to figure something out, and I’m not sure I like the scrutiny. It’s disconcerting. Almost alarming. It’s making my heart race and putting me on edge.

“She’s definitely demanding.” He nudges me and grins, trying to lift my spirits. “What kind of job are you looking for?”

The wind howls, and I lift my shoulders, bracing against it as we cross the beach. Long, fine grass covers the dunes, bowing to the force of the wind blowing across them, and they provide little shelter from the brutal weather.

“My car’s parked over here.”

Enzo signals to the left and I follow him, tucking my head down to protect it from the cold. He quickens his pace as we head through the dunes until we reach one of the narrow roads that lead to the seaside.

An expensive, black sedan clashes with the soft beige, gold and greens around it.

I stop, remembering all those lessons about getting in cars with strange men. Enzo’s at least a foot taller than me and he’s much stronger. I’d be stupid to do anything that could make me vulnerable around him—and getting in that car doesn’t seem like a good idea.

“It’s fucking freezing,” he says, opening the passenger door and staring at me like I’ve lost my mind.

“I don’t…”

He rolls his eyes and slams the door shut. “Adriana, I won’t hurt you. Now get in the goddamn car.”

I shake my head and step back.

“Fine,” he says, thrusting the keys into my hands. “You can drive, right?”

I nod.

“Then take the keys. Let’s go. I’m freezing my fucking balls off.”

Somehow, I feel safer with the keys and I hurry around to the driver’s side, getting in before my brain catches up with itself. I’m no safer than in the passenger’s seat and Enzo’s sitting next to me, grinning from ear to ear like he has me where he wants me.

“Shall we warm ourselves up a bit?” There’s more than a hint of mischief in his voice as he asks an apparently innocent question.

I nod before I stop myself, quickly bringing my knees up against my chest. My boots are filthy and they’re getting the leather seats dirty, but if Enzo can afford a car like this, then he can afford the cleaning bill that comes with it.

His smirk widens as he turns the heating all the way up and leans back, giving me all the space he can.

“How do you know my mother?”

“We met at a social event. It was dull. We got talking. I own a place a few miles down the road. We occasionally have lunch.”

I nod like this is normal. It isn’t. My mother doesn’t have lunch, not private ones. She’ll go to fancy public events or out with friends if it serves her purpose or keeps her image up, but she doesn’t do intimate lunches. Or dinners. Or anything.

“What kind of job were you looking for?” Enzo asks again.

I shrug. “Why?”

“Perhaps I can help.”

“I read English Lit.” I sigh. “I assumed working in publishing was a sensible career choice. Apparently, it isn’t.”

He nods his head and places his hands in front of one of the heaters. “It’s a tough business. As I understand it, you need to be lucky or know someone to get your foot in the door.”

Some of my classmates certainly had friends and family who were more than willing to help them out. They’d been more than happy to rub my nose in it about how they’d got a job simply through their connections, without having to do any work at all. Presumably, they wouldn’t be doing much work after they were hired either.

“It’ll work out,” I mumble.

Enzo nods and presses a few buttons, turning on the heated seats as I take his coat off and hand it back to him. He thanks me and flings it onto the back seats.

“Would you want my help?” he says, turning back to face me with a look that pierces into my soul. His dark brown eyes lock onto mine and his question doesn’t seem as innocent as it appears. It feels loaded. Almost as if there’s a cost to him helping me. One that almost certainly won’t like.

“Can you help?”

He shrugs. “No idea. I haven’t thought about it yet. But there’s no point thinking about it if you don’t want my help.”

I drop my head onto my knees, thinking hard. A job will get me away from my mother, but I want one for so much more than that. I’ve earned it after years of studying until the small hours of the morning and it’s the first step in a career I’ve been desperate to have.

But I don’t want to be indebted.

And I’d much rather work harder and do it on my own than have it given to me.

“I think I’ll be fine,” I say, trying to be polite. “Unless you wanted to help me go over the next round of job applications.”

“Do you need someone to?”

I shake my head. “Not really. Two professors have been helping me out. It’s a bit of a mystery why I can’t even get listed for an interview. I’ve got a flat share sorted for after graduation and I’ll do a bit of bar work or waiting on tables until I get the job I want.”

Enzo nods and adjusts himself in his seat, clipping his seat belt into place. “Let’s get you home before your mother has another one of her meltdowns.”

I grin and turn the engine on, strapping in and adjusting the seat. The car is a dream to drive, and I almost regret that it takes only a few minutes before we’re pulling up outside my mother’s cottage.

“I’ll keep a lookout for anything that comes up,” Enzo says. “Type your number in my phone.”

He dips his head, and for a moment he looks boyish. Charmingly innocent. It makes me feel like there couldn’t ever be anything wrong with the world, just because he’s in it. He’s devilishly handsome, and the man knows it, oozing confidence as he uses his good looks to get what he wants.

My fingers type my phone number in and I hand him back the phone, practically drooling over the thought of him messaging me. I’ve never had much luck with men, despite my long blond hair and pale blue eyes—and maybe Enzo might be a chance to change all that.

It would at least be fun to find out.

He’s exciting and just mysterious enough to put me on edge, yet he’s nowhere close to being dangerous. He’s a risk, but a small, safe one, and I’d be willing to take the chance.

Definitely willing to take the chance.

Enzo’s gaze lingers, and I wonder if I’m not as crazy as I thought I might be until his eyes flick over my shoulder.

“Incoming.”

I turn around to see my mother marching towards us as if the car’s on fire or war is about to break out. I groan and sink in my seat, immediately regretting any decisions that led me here. Every. Single. One.

Enzo leans forward and winds the window down. “Afternoon, Abby. Adriana was out walking and I insisted on giving her a lift home. It looks like the weather’s about to turn.”

My mother stops, pulls herself upright, and darts her eyes between the two of us.

“I thought she could use the practice,” he says, cutting her off before she asks why I’m the one driving. “I get so bored with driving. Your daughter’s doing me a favor.”

My mother’s face immediately softens, and she gushes, almost swooning over the man sitting next to me. It’s bizarre to watch the cold, calculated woman my mother is becoming a giddy teenager—but it saves me from another one of her lectures.

I grin, embarrassed, as I get out of the car, waving goodbye awkwardly. Enzo gets out of the car, walks around and waits for us to get to the front door of the cottage.

“Thanks for the lift,” I yell over the wind.

“No problem, Adriana.” He’s shouting back. “I’ll be seeing you around.”