Devil’s Game (The Devil’s Demons #2)

9. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Giana

“ T here,” Kellan murmured as he paused the video. He’d rewound the security footage back to when we’d left, searching for any clues the police were willing to ignore.

We’d spent the last hour cleaning up the sidewalk and the shop floor before a few of the Devil’s Demons showed up with plywood to cover the once-beautiful, wide windows.

He was able to get an installer scheduled for next week, but he had to push back the remaining appointments he’d had for this week. His clients weren’t happy, but there wasn’t much he could do, not with his second studio on lockdown because of what happened at the bar.

Spade and I drew closer, the three of us huddled around Kellan’s monitor as he pressed play again. A man walked by the shop and peeked through one of the slits in the blinds to gaze inside. As he pulled away, he pressed a phone to his ear, glancing up and down the street before jogging out of view.

“That must’ve been the lookout.” There was a lethal calm to Spade’s voice that sent a shiver of desire up my spine.

Sure enough, a blacked-out sedan pulled up a few minutes later, the car idling out front as two men jumped out from the back seat. Their movements were quick and precise as they opened the trunk and hauled Ryan’s lifeless form from the trunk.

“Wait, there.” I pointed to the screen as one of the men turned to the camera. There were a few good shots of the other guy, but this was the first time I could make out the second one’s face completely.

Kellan rewound the footage, finding the clearest image of the man.

Goose bumps ran over my skin as I pictured his sneering face, glee gleaming in his eyes as he tossed me from the safety of the airport and into the hallway I knew I wouldn’t be leaving alone. He’d delighted in seeing my last flicker of hope float away, and I’d promised myself then that I’d make them suffer.

I already got to beat the first one’s head in with a baseball bat, and now it seemed the second one was anxious to seal his fate.

“I recognize that one,” I murmured, my gaze finding Spade’s in a silent plea. He nodded, a sly grin tilting his lips.

This one is mine .

“I got this,” he assured, swiping his thumb over my bottom lip before slanting his mouth over mine.

The kiss wasn’t soft and comforting—no, it was rough and unhinged, scorching a line of need straight to my core. It was a claim and a silent, lethal promise that he’d find these men, and I’d be able to unleash the pent-up violence threatening to burst from my skin.

“So fucking sweet,” Spade murmured against my lips before pulling away. My breath came in a shuddered gasp as he sucked his thumb into his mouth, savoring every last taste of my lips.

My heart thundered as heat raced along my skin, threatening to burn me whole if I didn’t have more.

“Spade,” I breathed, reaching for his jacket, but he danced out of my reach, his eyes crinkling as he gave me a wry grin.

“I want to get you a present first.” He winked and practically skipped out of the shop. He whistled an eerie tune as the door closed behind him, the shop now dark with all the windows boarded up.

Kellan chuckled softly, his arms wrapping around me from behind as he softly nuzzled his face into the crook of my neck.

“Sorry.” I sighed, relaxing back into his embrace. “Was that weird?”

“No, Gi. That was hot.” Kellan’s lips brushed against my neck, sending a jolt of lust surging through my body. He kissed a line up to my earlobe before gently nipping the soft flesh.

A needy whimper slipped from my lips, and I could feel the curl of his lips on my skin in response.

“It’s different,” he breathed, his breath curling around me in a soft caress. “I only thought I was ever going to share you with Merrick, so it feels the same yet different since Spade has become like a brother to me. But, most importantly, I’ve learned that I love seeing you come apart, watching you so filled with pleasure that those barriers drop, and I get to see my little devil claiming what she needs.”

“Kellan.” I moaned as he sucked on the sensitive part of my throat, an intoxicating pleasure wrapping around my body and threatening to pull me under.

His hands tensed on my waist, as though he wanted to move, to explore my curves, but he was holding himself back.

“I want to take you right here, Giana, to learn every inch of your body the way I should’ve been worshipping it for the last six years.”

My breaths came in ragged pants as he dipped his fingers under the waistband of my jeans, skimming my stomach in a teasing caress that only had me craving more.

“But I don’t want what happened today to cloud the memory.”

He eased his hand away, his lips leaving my skin at the reminder of what had lain on the floor mere feet from us a few hours ago.

“At least one of us is thinking straight.” I sighed, leaning my head back against his chest, willing the frantic beat of my heart to ease.

“Barely,” he huffed in amusement, placing a kiss on the top of my head. “We should get home.”

My chest warmed at the reminder that, despite Tommaso trying to dig his clutches into me again, I had a home, I had a family, and I had three men who would stand with me to the bitter end.

I’d stayed away to keep them safe, but we were different people now—able and willing to fight together to keep the town safe and put a stop to the horrors the Barones had put this town through for decades. I was worthy of safety, I was worthy of my revenge, and I was worthy of these men, and it was about time I started acting like it.

I leaned back into the leather seat, my head rolling to the side to look out the window. My world was so completely different than it had been only a few weeks ago, when Tommaso brought me back to East Haven. The dread that had darkened my heart had transformed into a glimmering light of hope, chasing away the fear that had clung to me like a storm cloud.

We rolled to a stop at a red light, my attention drawn to the Greg’s Diner sign, barely illuminated by the flickering ancient bulbs barely holding on to their last life. The windows were coated in a thick dust, dotted with white splatter that you couldn’t pay me enough to examine up close.

“The last time I really looked at this place was when I came to town.” My voice was quiet as I voiced the thoughts I normally kept locked inside—my only key to survival had been to bury anything Tommaso could use against me. “He threatened to go in, even after he’d nearly put bullets in their heads after Pam hit me.”

Kellan placed a comforting hand on my thigh, drawing my gaze to him. He didn’t look back at me with pity, only kindness and the reminder that I never had to endure that again.

“We’ve been keeping an eye out for them—when you were gone.” He sighed, jaw tightening. “I almost wanted to leave them to fend for themselves after we rolled out phase one of the plan because of what she did to you, but we didn’t.”

His sable eyes were open, silently asking for direction. I knew they would pull back if I wanted them to, even if it dragged my parents even further under Angelo’s thumb.

“I used to blame the Barones. I used to think that everything would be perfect if they didn’t have that added pressure on them. If, someday, I could make enough money for them, that they’d be able to leave and start fresh.” My lips twitched at just how naive I’d been. “I lost that hope when she put her hands on me.”

Kellan’s hand tightened on my leg, a rare spark of anger flashing in his eyes as he glanced at the diner, like he was seriously considering pulling in there and paying Greg and Pam back for all they’d done.

“I don’t want them in our lives, but there are plenty of people like them out in the world, and I wouldn’t stop you from protecting them any more than I would Greg and Pam.” I placed a hand on his, letting my touch comfort him like he’d done for me so many times before.

His features softened, his thumb rubbing tender circles over my thigh as he pressed on the gas, taking us far away from the parents I never wanted to think about again.

“What about your parents and Merrick’s mom? Are they safe with the Barones’ attention on us?” I frowned, knowing they’d already taken precautions, but I had to make sure.

“They’re safe.” He nodded, shifting our hands so they twined together. “Once we knew that we were going up against the Barones, we got them out of here, but even we don’t know where they went.”

I clutched his hand tighter as his lips pulled down. “You’ll see them soon.”

They’d always been far closer with their parents than I was with Greg and Pam. They were good people, who made the best out of a bad situation and didn’t let it affect who they were at their cores.

“We have a way to get in touch with them in an emergency, but I don’t want to take a chance . . .” He trailed off, not needing to finish the thought.

This was only going to end with Tommaso and Angelo six-feet-under; there was no other possibility I’d let either of us consider.

My gaze drifted back to the window as we sank into a comfortable silence, the buildings clearing as we made our way to the outskirts of town. The road was one we’d driven countless times before as we escaped to the only place where we could be ourselves, the place where we first became a family. We’d shared so much there, and as we approached the driveway to the old fire station, my lips were moving before I even registered the words rolling off my tongue.

“Can we stop?”

“Are you sure?” Kellan’s brows furrowed, a note of worry in his gaze.

“I haven’t been back yet.” Excitement bubbled up in my chest as he pulled into the parking lot, and I scanned every inch of the building and the worn grey pavement for any differences.

Weeds burst through the cracks in the driveway, like nature was attempting to take back the land and swallow the building whole. Other than a few vines of ivy climbing up the sides of the building, it was almost exactly as I remembered it.

“When was the last time you were here?”

He gave me a chagrined look as he drove to the back of the building and put the car in park. “About a year ago.”

Some of the lightness in my chest drifted away at his guilty expression. “When?”

“Merrick caught a glimpse of Tommaso when he came to meet with his father, and he sort of lost it.”

I sighed a breath of relief. “At least he hadn’t blown up at him.”

“Yeah, well, this might’ve been the place where we took out a lot of our anger over the years.” He winced, his sable eyes brimming with his apology.

“I need to see it.” My stomach sank as I glanced to the back door and the basement window right beside it, memories of that night seven years ago when Merrick and I had first discovered this place flitting through my mind.

These walls held so many memories, ones I’d clung to in New York for the first few years until they became too painful to dredge up. But I could only imagine what that physical reminder would’ve done to me if they’d been the ones to leave.

Kellan’s expression was somber as he nodded and turned off the car. He squared his shoulders, as though he was preparing for war.

“We don’t have to if it’s too much.”

“You should see it.” Kellan wrapped his hand around mine, squeezing it reassuringly, yet his smile didn’t reach his eyes. “It just—it might not look the same as the last time you saw it.”

M y stomach clenched, every step taking me closer to what felt like my execution. But it wasn’t. It would never be like that for us. There was nothing these men could do that would scare me away.

But I almost wasn’t prepared for the pain that sliced into me as Kellan opened the door to the firehouse and I witnessed the utter destruction they had wreaked. It was as though each smash of their sledgehammer, pound of their fist, or crash of the wooden furniture had been an expression of the agony throbbing in their hearts, begging to be unleashed.

I had done this to them.

Holes littered the once pristine drywall, pipes and wiring exposed beneath them. They’d exposed the building we called home to its bones, as if destroying it would release them from the shackles my supposed betrayal and the memories that lived within them. Wood splinters littered the dust-covered floor, illustrating whatever furniture they hadn’t brought to the house with them had been shattered to smithereens beneath the weight of their pain.

“Say something.” Kellan’s voice pulled me from my shock. The simple words were a plea, and the gut-wrenching sorrow laced in them nearly brought me to my knees.

“I—I understand.” It was all I could say. I had no place to judge, yet I couldn’t deny the sting that reverberated through my chest.

This was a depiction of all the pain and grief I’d caused them—no, that Tommaso had brought upon us all.

“Giana,” Kellan whispered as he placed a steadying hand on my shoulder, his grip helping me stay grounded.

Leaning into his warmth, I sucked in a shuddering breath as my back pressed against his hard chest. I committed every detail of the sight before me to memory, as though it was as intricate as one of his pieces of art, painting the story of love, loss, and betrayal better than words could ever convey.

“I want to spend every day for the rest of our lives making this up to you,” I said breathily, the image of the room still ingrained in my vision, even when my eyes fluttered closed.

“G—”

“I know,” I cut him off, not needing his words of reassurance right now. Instead, I focused on the fire that blazed in my chest, pushing me closer and closer to that place I needed to be to end this once and for all.

“We couldn’t bring ourselves to touch downstairs.”

Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes, and I drew in a deep breath, grateful he wasn’t in front of me right now, or else I wouldn’t be able to hold them back.

“I want to see.” I didn’t want to move, though, to break this connection between us.

But when I took a step forward, I wasn’t alone. Kellan kept pace with me, his steps an echo of my own as he maintained his grip on my shoulder, his warmth still a comforting cocoon around me.

My hand shook as I slowly turned the handle, but Kellan’s fingers slipped over mine, and we turned it the rest of the way as one. We kept a step between us as we descended the stairs, warmth seeping in to fill the cracks as I took in the basement we once thought of as home. Of course, some of the furniture was missing, now taking upon a new life in their house, but it was otherwise nearly untouched.

White sheets were draped over the two couches, protecting the worn leather from dust. I could imagine what they’d been thinking. That they could keep a piece of me with them, could pretend that nothing had changed if they kept this place intact.

“We wanted to destroy this place after graduation, when you left with him.” Kellan’s grip on my shoulder tightened, seeming to need the reminder that I was real, that I was here with him. “But neither of us could bear to take the first swing—which is probably why we destroyed nearly everything upstairs.”

I slipped from his grip and caught his hand in my own, the desire to stare into his sable depths bubbling up in my chest.

“I will never judge anything either of you did, Kellan.” His eyes searched mine, trying to find any hint of hurt on my face, but it was gone, now replaced with a steely determination that had only been growing since earlier today. “I will never know what it was like for you both.”

“Just like I’ll never know the pain you went through, but I will listen and do my best to feel it as deeply as if it was my own.” The vehemence in his tone sent a shiver of longing down my spine. I would never get enough of this man, never be able to show him how thoroughly he owned me, mind, body, and soul—but I could try.

I closed the distance between us in one step, my hands instantly smoothing over the planes of his chest, needing the warmth of his skin on my palms. He hissed in a breath, his eyes shuttering closed, as though the simple touch would send him over the edge.

“I love you, Kellan,” I breathed, a weight lifting off my chest at the admission. “I never stopped loving you, not for one second.”

“Giana.” My name sounded like a prayer on his lips, like he had found salvation in my love. “Even when I thought I hated you, I hated myself more because I couldn’t stop loving you. Ripping you from my heart would be like tearing the damn thing to shreds and hoping it would still beat the same.”

His lips were on mine before I could take another breath, his mouth consuming me like I was the air he desperately needed to fill his lungs. My hands had been a soft caress before, but with lust scorching through my veins, they turned ravenous, desperately clutching the hem of his T-shirt to tear it off him.

Kellan slipped my jacket off my shoulders, our hands and mouths desperate as we stripped each other bare, body and soul, until nothing was left to separate us. His tattooed skin was soft beneath my fingertips as I pushed against his hard pecs, easing him back until the backs of his calves pressed into the covered couch.

“Giana,” he protested, his brows furrowing. I knew what he was about to say, knew that he’d insist on taking care of me, but I wanted to be the one in charge this time. The one to comfort him and show him exactly how much I’d missed him.

I used the opportunity to reach around him and pull the sheet off the couch, drawing his attention long enough for me to gently push him back onto the worn leather cushions.

“Shh.” I pressed my finger against his lips before he could argue. “You look after everyone, let me take care of you this time.”

Kellan’s eyes searched mine, a frown pulling his lips down, but I could see the heat there, the desire burning just beneath the surface as he nodded.

He leaned back into the plush cushions, and I sank to my knees, running my hands over his corded thighs until I positioned myself between them. I ran my mouth over the inside of them, sucking and kissing along the sensitive skin, urged on as he sucked in a tortured gasp. I slid a palm up his other leg and loosed a chuckle as his hips jerked in anticipation, like he couldn’t help but urge me along.

Deciding to put him out of his misery, I gave him one last teasing kiss as I pressed my palm over his thick length, but I paused as my thumb drifted over something metallic on the underside of his shaft.

“It’s a frenum piercing,” he explained, his lips quirking into a smile as I dragged my gaze away from his cock. “I got it around the time we knew we were going to get you out of there, and I have to admit, I’ve thought about this moment more than a few times.”

“Does it . . .” I trailed off, not even sure what I was about to ask. Feel good? Hurt?

Fuck, my mind was so clouded with lust right now, I couldn’t even piece together a simple sentence.

“I guess you’ll just have to find out for yourself.” He lifted a brow in challenge, clearly wanting me to relent and give in to the desire coursing through my body right now.

I ran my hand over his length again in answer. His groan only urged me on as I lowered my lips onto him and swept my tongue over his head.

“Fuck, Giana. You’re going to kill me.”

I huffed out a breath of amusement and took him deeper, loving the moans of pleasure spilling from his mouth as I stroked the rest of his shaft.

“You’re so fucking beautiful.” Kellan’s hands feathered through my hair, pulling it away from my face, so he could watch me.

My eyes flicked up to meet his as my mouth bobbed up and down his thick cock, his heavy-lidded gaze sending a jolt of desire straight to my core.

“Touch yourself, baby,” he pleaded. “I need you dripping and ready for me, little devil, because I’m about ready to pull you up here and show you exactly what that piercing can do.”

It was too much. His plea burrowed its way into my head until it was all I could think about. My body seemed to scream for release, for some sort of friction, and who was I to argue?

Keeping a steady pace on his cock, I slipped one hand to the apex of my thighs, to where my body begged for release, and slid my fingers over my soaked core. I whimpered as I circled my clit, my hips arching into my touch. The sound sent a vibration through Kellan’s cock, and he groaned, shallowly jerking up into my mouth like he craved more.

“I need to fucking taste you,” he nearly growled, his hands fisting tighter in my hair.

The jolt of pain quickly turned into pleasure as I rubbed my sensitive nub. I needed more—pain or pleasure, I wasn’t sure. I fucking needed everything this man was willing to give me. I’d readily take it all and beg for more.

I sucked him harder, channeling my need for him into my movements as I rolled my tongue teasingly over his tip. The pressure was apparently his breaking point, since, in the next second, his grip on my hair eased.

“I need to be inside you, Giana.” He rubbed his hands over my shoulders and down my arms in a tender caress. “I’m not going to last much longer if you keep going.”

I pulled my lips from his length, sucking him into my mouth one last time before my lips popped off him. Before I could say a word, his grip shifted as he tugged me up off the floor to straddle his lap. I hastily reached for his bicep, about to hold on to steady myself, when he grasped my fingers and brought them to his lips.

“Next time, I’m going to have you coming on my tongue, little devil.” Kellan moaned as he sucked every drop of my arousal from my fingertips. A shiver of desire curled up my spine, and I nearly melted into him as he licked and sucked, showing me just how skillful he was with his mouth and tongue.

“Next time,” I agreed, my breaths coming in ragged pants as he twined his fingers through mine, his sable gaze promising that and so much more. I stroked a hand up his shaft, and he pulsed in my grip, his teeth gritting as he clearly wrestled with his control.

He gripped my hips at the same moment I positioned him at my entrance and teasingly ran his head over my clit. A jolt of pleasure racked through me, threatening to send me toppling over.

“No more teasing, Giana.” He winced, a pained expression creasing his face, like he might just combust if he wasn’t inside me this instant.

The thought broke away the final strands of my self-control, and I sank down onto his cock, slowly letting myself adjust to his size until he filled me completely.

“You have no idea how many nights I imagined this, having you wrapped around my cock, taking all of me and begging for more.” Kellan’s voice was a thick rasp as the last of his walls crumbled between us.

“Show me,” I breathed as I rocked my hips, loving the friction of his thick length along my tight walls, and the piercing only added to the sensation.

“I will, baby. I’ll show you everything I’ve been saving for you, every single thing I’ve wanted to do to your body since the last time I had you beneath me.”

I sucked in a breath as he thrust up into me, ecstasy rushing through my body as we connected. Each jerk of our hips coming together sent me closer and closer to hurtling over that cliff.

“But first, I want to see the look on your face as you come around my cock.” Kellan’s hand slipped from mine and slid between us as he captured my mouth with his. His tongue delved between my lips, stroking my own in time with his thrusts as he rubbed his thumb over my clit. I desperately clung to him, my hands on his thick biceps the only thing keeping me upright as desire crashed through me, threatening to sweep me up in its current.

My core clenched around him as he circled my clit, and with the next drive of his hips, I was fluttering around him, my body lost in my climax as pleasure flooded my veins. He pulled away as I came, his lips swollen from our kiss, soaking in every moan and gasp that slipped from my mouth as I shuddered. I’d swear he was memorizing every single detail, and if I wasn’t so lost in bliss, I would have taken the time to smile.

He didn’t give me a chance, though. Kellan fucked me through my orgasm and sent my desire winding straight back up that cliff, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I was falling straight over it again.

A whimper slipped from my lips as he slid his hand from between us, and his movements slowed. “I want to show you something, but I need to have you on your hands and knees, little devil.”

He didn’t have to say another word as I let him guide me onto the couch, the warm, languid heat of lust still fogging over my mind.

“You’re such a good girl for me, but for the world, you’re a little devil, ready to tear them to shreds,” he murmured as he shifted behind me, running a hand tenderly up my spine. “I don’t know how I ever survived without you, Giana.”

“I don’t know how I lived a second without you.”

I barely got the words out before he pressed his length to my entrance, slowly sinking in until he filled every inch of my soaked core. He fit perfectly, like a missing piece of a puzzle I’d been trying to complete for so long. I’d gotten used to it being broken, but now, with the three men who filled my life, my soul, my heart so completely, I knew I’d never feel incomplete again.

“We’ll never have to be apart again,” he promised as he slid out, his piercing hitting that spot that made my toes curl.

My breaths came in ragged pants as he pumped in and out of me, showing me exactly what that piercing could do. As pleasure flooded my limbs, my arms shook, the languid heat threatening to tumble down into the worn leather couch.

Kellan dug his fingers into the globes of my ass, that spark of pain only heightening my pleasure as I pushed back into him, my needy core desperate for every thrust, every touch.

“I can feel how close you are,” he said through gritted teeth, as though he, too, was barely holding himself back. “Did you like that?”

“Yes,” I panted. “Please.” My mind was so lost to the pleasure he was wrenching from my body, I wasn’t even sure what I was asking for.

“I want to see my handprint on this perfect ass. Do you want that, baby?” His voice was practically a purr, the vibrations sliding up my spine as the thought sent a jolt of pleasure straight to my core. He cursed under his breath, clearly feeling how much I like the sound of that, yet I knew he’d need me to say it.

“Yes, Kellan. Please.”

The words were barely out of my mouth when his hand came down on my ass cheek. There was a sharp sting that he quickly soothed away, the vibration of the slap going straight to my pussy and heightening the pleasure coursing through me from his punishing thrusts.

“You’re so fucking perfect, Gi. You’re mine, and you’ll never leave again.” His words were strangled, like they’d desperately clawed their way from his throat. “Say it.”

“I’ll never leave you again.” The promise slipped from my lips without a second thought. They came straight from my heart, because the only thing that could steal me from these men now was death itself.

“Good girl,” he purred, his hand coming down again, and my core clenched around him.

He soothed the sting as he pumped into me even harder. The friction of him inside me, coupled with the pressure of his piercing, nearly turned my vision black. Now, with the added pleasure from his smack, I knew it was only seconds before he was about to have me coming again.

Somehow reading my mind—or just my body—he wrapped his arm around my hip, fingers rubbing my clit. “Come for me, baby.”

I never wanted this to stop—I wanted our bodies to come together like this forever—but with him circling my clit, chasing me toward that finish line, it was too much, too enticing to resist. My body came apart around his, and I could tell by his ragged pants and desperate thrusts that he was close too.

“Kellan.” I moaned his name as he worked me through my climax, my body urging him on, begging him to come with me. His hand gripped my hips as he pushed into me one final time, his length plunging deeper than before as his release spilled into me. His fingers didn’t stop, though, as he pushed me into another orgasm, our bodies shuddering together as we both stilled.

“Giana,” he breathed, my name every bit the prayer it had been earlier as he held me to him.

He slowly eased out of me, and I whimpered in protest, but before I could say anything, he had me wrapped in his arms, his muscles cocooning me safely within his embrace.

“I love you.” My heart thundered as I leaned my head against his chest, nestling in like there was nowhere else we had to be. And, at this moment, there wasn’t anywhere else I’d rather be than wrapped firmly in his arms.

He gripped me tightly, like he never wanted to let go, and I was sure he’d kill anyone who dared try to pull me away from him. “I never stopped loving you, little devil, and there’s no force strong enough in this world to ever tear us apart.”

We needed this, we needed this connection to break down those final walls, and it was only fitting that it happened in the same place where we first crossed over that line between friendship and more.

“This place has really seen us through everything.” I sighed, glancing around at the darkened room as the final rays of sunlight blinked out behind the horizon.

“It has.” He placed a kiss on my forehead. “Thankfully, these walls will only have happy memories to fill them from here on out.”

I nodded my agreement, barely clinging to consciousness as my eyes closed. Contentment and comfort surrounded me like a blanket as we lay there, nestled together. I could stay in his embrace for the rest of my life and be completely at ease, if it wasn’t for the two other men waiting at home who owned equal pieces of my heart and the flicker of vengeance still warming my chest.

The four of us together were an unstoppable force, one I knew the Barones weren’t ready for.