Sugar Coated (A Bitter Pill #2)

Chapter Ten – Kieran

When I woke up in the hospital, the hour was late. No sunlight shined in through the window on the other side of the room, so my eyes didn’t take long to adjust. My body ached in a way it hadn’t in, well, ever, and it pained me to sit up, but I managed to do so without making a sound. I quickly noticed I was hooked up to multiple machines, all taking my vitals.

My mind was fuzzy. My stomach had a low, dull pain, and I struggled to remember what had landed me here in the hospital, why I was here and not, you know, in my own bed.

And then it hit me like a truck. Or like a bullet. I supposed the latter was more apropos.

I’d gotten shot saving Laina. It must’ve done more damage than I thought, for me to be here, but I’d take it as long as it meant I’d saved Laina from sharing a similar fate. I should get back to the house and make sure she was all right.

I hit the button for the nurse as I swung my legs off the side of the bed. My clothes and belongings sat on a little end table just out of reach. I ripped everything off me—and out of me—before stumbling to the nightstand and digging through my clothes to find my phone.

The damned thing was deader than dead, and my body felt like a semi-truck had run over it a few times for good measure. I could honestly say I’d never felt this crappy in my entire life, and considering some of the things I’d done, that was saying a lot.

Most people took the smiles and the jokes at face-value. When you were a jokester, that’s who you became in all aspects, and people rarely thought you were hiding something more. To be frank, I was hiding an awful lot. A hell of a lot, some might say. Every single closet of mine was stuffed full of secrets, lies, and yes, even bodies.

There was one body I could never add to it, though, and that’s why I needed to get the hell out of here right now.

I had already changed into my clothes, blood-stains and all, by the time a nurse walked into the dim room. The light in the hallway shed enough for her to see me standing there, holding my dead phone.

Her eyes widened when she spotted me standing on my own. “You shouldn’t be up—”

“I need to go. Do you, uh, have a charger I could use first, though? Just a quickie, I promise.”

“Uh.” It was obvious she wasn’t expecting me to say any of that. She was a younger nurse; if I had to guess, she had a charger somewhere here, or she knew which one of her coworkers did. “I should let Dr. Newitt know you’re awake.”

“Sure, sure. Let the doc know, then swing by with the discharge papers and a charger, please. It’s late. I don’t want to wake the fam, you know? I’d rather surprise them at home.”

“You were shot. The police need to know you’re awake—”

“If you know anything about me, you already know my brother-in-law is the mayor, and my shooting was televised. Everyone who’s important already knows about the attempted murder, so can we just skip all this and get me out of here, please?” On a normal day, I could smile and charm my way out of anything. It had become quite a useful skill, one that was put to good use over the years.

I wasn’t fully myself right now, and it showed on my powers of persuasion.

The nurse compromised with me. She found me a charger, but she also made me speak with the doctor. The doctor thankfully came with discharge papers, although she highly suggested I change my mind and remain at the hospital for observation, but if I really wanted to leave, she could write me a prescription for pain meds and a round of antibiotics to take while I finish healing up, just in case.

The whole conversation involved a lot of me standing my ground; the hospital couldn’t force me to stay, and once it was made clear I was in no way, shape, or form going to be convinced to remain, the doctor gave me those papers to fill out, and then I was on my way. Whole thing took way too long, if you asked me.

After I charged my phone, I got an Uber . Thankfully, the driver either didn’t see the blood on my clothes or he didn’t care, as long as he was getting paid. I told him I’d give him a better tip if we got to our destination quicker, and he accepted the challenge.

Hmm. I didn’t want to wake anyone up at home. Maybe I’d tiptoe to my bedroom and come down for breakfast in the morning and act like nothing was out of the ordinary. Yeah, that’s what I’d do. No welcome home party for me.

All in all, I was in pretty good spirits, considering everything that happened. I couldn’t wait to see Laina. Not that I planned on rubbing me saving her life in her face or anything, but it would be nice to get a thank-you and a hug.

A hug in private would be even better, because then I could hold her how I really wanted to hold her. Smell her hair and drown myself in her. You know, nothing too unusual.

The thought of Laina made me unlock my phone and go into a certain app I tried not to use too often. Some might call it spying, but I called it being safe. After Laina snuck out to that party a few years ago, I’d installed some spyware on her devices, just to be sure she didn’t do anything stupid again.

And I just liked knowing where she was.

Imagine my surprise when I opened the app and saw she was not at home on this Friday night. She was going somewhere. If she was going out with Mike, I was going to lose it.

What the hell could Mike offer her? Nothing. Nothing I couldn’t. Where that guy was concerned, that thing called jealousy reared its ugly head time and time again—and don’t get me started on Fang.

I was a man of no broken promises, so when we reached the house, I generously tipped the driver before getting out. In the dark, the house looked ominous, and as I walked up the driveway, I stopped beyond the camera’s view.

Mike’s car was still here, parked near the four-car garage. If he was still here, then where the hell was Laina going, and who was she with?

There was not a single part of me that could forget it and go into the house. I had to follow her, to find her, to make sure she wasn’t being stupid, as someone her age often was. So, I pulled out my phone, disabled the cameras, and went in through the side door to the garage, where my car was.

My stomach warned me not to do too much; my body wasn’t fully healed, but I ignored the dull throb in my abdomen as I got my keys and unlocked the trunk. A black bag sat, pushed all the way up, so as to not draw too much suspicion if anyone ever opened it. I tugged it toward me and unzipped it.

The contents were the same contents as always: a clean change of clothes, all black, and some gloves—but the one thing that drew my attention was the mask buried beneath the clothes. My devil’s mask. It wasn’t a cartoony mask; it was older, all gray. More old-fashioned-looking than anything you could walk into a store and buy today around Halloween. I’d found it in the trash when I was a kid, and it had stayed with me ever since.

I dug it out and stared down at it, my resolve hardening. I’d told myself I wouldn’t wear it again after leaving Laina the key to her chain, but I couldn’t follow her without it. Tonight, I needed it, just like I needed these clothes.

I changed as fast as I could and brought my mask with me to the driver’s seat. I was out of the house after that, on my way to Laina, wherever she was.

When her location stopped moving, I got my final destination. I parked my car down the street from that blinking dot—this must have been Kelly’s doing, if I had to guess. Looked like a party at one of the houses near the college campus. Laina would never go to one of these things by herself, so she had to be with Kelly.

Kelly. That girl was a bad influence on her. I didn’t like her. No, the only bad influence on Laina should be little old me.

After slipping on my gloves, I grabbed my mask and got out; I must’ve moved too fast in the process of standing, because my stomach screamed at me. Now would’ve been a good time for those pain meds the doctor prescribed, but I hadn’t exactly had lots of free time to make a run to the pharmacy. At this hour, everywhere would be closed, anyway.

The pain could wait. Everything could wait. I had to find Laina and make sure she wasn’t doing anything stupid.

The party was definitely packed. The house was full, the front door sitting wide open. Everyone was already deep in their drinks, too busy socializing and playing various drinking games outside to pay attention to me as I stalked around the house and peered into all of the windows I could.

I went the wrong way, checking windows, clockwise when I should’ve started counter-clockwise. I finally spotted Laina in the living room area, where a bunch of people her age were drinking, talking, and yes, even dancing. She was alone, by herself even though I spotted Kelly not too far from her, holding onto a cup of something, her pink and blue hair on display for the whole world to see, not to mention those pink contacts.

The relief I felt was short-lived, however, because mere moments after I spotted her, a random guy approached her from behind. She turned around to face him, said something to him, looking quite shy. He smiled at her, and I could tell just by that smile he thought he hit a goldmine.

But she wasn’t free for anyone to have a piece of. She was mine. She’d been mine for years now.

I’d kept her safe, fed her, given her new clothes. I’d made sure she was surrounded by pink. When she’d said she felt like she was going mad with her thoughts, I’d brought her down a TV. And then, when things had finally calmed down, I’d left her a key.

I never thought… when I’d first seen her at the hospital, beat-up and missing most of two fingers on her left hand, I’d been shocked. I’d never laid a hand on her—despite how badly I’d wanted to—and she made herself known to the world as a fighter, someone who fought tooth and nail with her kidnapper to escape.

A lie. A miracle if you were anybody else, but I’d always known it was a lie, and I let her have it.

The devil mask was never meant to be worn again. I was never supposed to contact her as her kidnapper again, but when I saw the way Fang had looked at her, like he wanted to devour her whole, something in me snapped. I had to make myself known once more, tell her that her Devil was still alive and well—and watching.

My jealous tendencies shined through every now and then, what could I say? It was hard sometimes to act like the man I should’ve been instead of the man I was. Sometimes Laina made it impossible for me to act sane.

She drove me crazy. She made me lose my mind, and that was why, tonight, as I stood there outside of the window, watching as the stranger made flirty moves with her, I knew I had to act. Whatever her goal was here tonight, she would not accomplish it. I wouldn’t let her.

Something was said, and the guy turned away from Laina. Laina chugged the drink, got a thumbs-up from Kelly, and then went to follow the stranger. I hurried around the house, slipped my mask on, and stood just beyond the front door, where I could see the stairwell. I saw the guy round it and head up, and she was right on his heel.

And then, it was like the universe sought to remind her of our connection. She tossed a glance outside, a quick one, haphazard with her peripherals, but she saw me. She had to, because her feet immediately halted. I sidestepped, knowing she was about to turn around and get a second look—I couldn’t let her see me. Not yet.

I wanted to see how far she would go, and if she went too far, I’d have to punish her.

I waited a few moments more, until I was sure she turned back and continued heading up the stairs, and I stepped inside the house. I got a few questioning glances from nearby college students, but no one said a word to me. They shrugged off my mask as something weird before returning to their conversations and their drinks.

Laina and the rando were out of sight, so I made my way up the stairs, my hands in a constant battle between flexing and relaxing. I checked every room I passed; most doors were closed, but not locked. It seemed many didn’t give a shit about privacy, only hooking up.

My search for her on the second floor turned up empty, so I went up another flight to the third. Room by room, I glanced in, and if the door was locked, I listened for a few moments, waited until I heard voices—or moans.

I knew what Laina sounded like. The one time I’d lost control of myself, I made her unravel, and I drank up every sound she made.

As fate would have it, it was the last room I came to, the last room I lingered outside of, trying to eavesdrop, that was my ultimate destination. Unfortunately, I didn’t hear a single sound in the room, which led me to think Laina was in the process of doing something she shouldn’t.

Steeling my resolve, I grabbed the door handle and pushed inside of the room, and what I saw infuriated me in ways nothing else could: Laina and the stranger were on the bed, their legs entwined. Clothes were still on, but that was a tiny mercy since they were clearly kissing.

I wasn’t quiet about coming in, so a moment later, the stranger tossed an annoyed look over his shoulder and said, “Dude. The room’s taken. Go somewhere else.”

Righteous fury filled me, and I imagined taking the boy—because that’s what he was: a worthless, nameless boy who didn’t deserve to know what those lips felt like—by the throat and squeezing the life out of him.

He frowned at me. “It’s not fucking Halloween, man. Take that mask and go fuck off.” He was more annoyed at my intrusion now, but if he honestly believed his angry words would get me to leave, he had another thing coming.

The stranger rolled off Laina, and as he approached me, ready to throw me out of his room, she was able to see me at last, and when she did, those pink eyes of hers widened and she sucked in hard.

I let my gaze flick between Laina and the stranger as my chest rose and fell with rough breaths. If this asshole wanted to throw hands, I’d gladly oblige. After everything I’d done, there was no way in hell I’d ever let someone like him have her.

Finally, she found her voice, “Jeb. Don’t.”

The stranger glanced at her. “You know this asshole?”

Laina got to her feet, sliding off the bed. “Yes. He’s—” There was a pause, as if she didn’t know how to describe me. No, I supposed she wouldn’t know. “He’s my ex. Can you give us a minute?”

“Your ex? What the actual fuck is going on? I need a drink. This is giving me whiplash.” The guy stepped around me to leave the room, though his glare never left me as he went.

I watched him go, and once he was gone, I turned my masked face to look at her. I slowly cocked my head and glared. Without hesitating, I kicked the door closed behind me to give us a bit of privacy, and then I took a step toward her. Every move I made was deliberate and measured.

She eyed me warily. “How do I know it’s really you?” Hope laced with her question. And doubt.

There was so much I could’ve said, so much I wanted to say, but in the end all I did was lift a gloved hand to the mouth of my mask, my hand still in the shape of a fist. I lifted one finger from the first, the same gesture I always gave her when she tried to ask me too many questions.

Shh.

It was all I needed to do to show her I was the same man who’d kept her these last two years, the same man who’d taken care of her when the world would’ve had her killed.

I saved her life, and she didn’t even know it.

“Where have you been?” she asked, her voice firm but so very out of breath. She took a tiny step toward me, her pink gaze accusatory. “I needed you.”

That statement made me lift my eyebrows in response, not that she could see them. I turned my head and glanced at the door, to remind her she’d been so very close to giving her body to someone else. I frowned at her beneath the mask when I returned my stare to her.

I couldn’t believe it, but she actually showed me some attitude: “You don’t get to police what I do or who I do it with when you won’t even talk to me. I haven’t even heard your voice. I don’t know what you look like under there. You could be sixty years old for all I know—”

Laina was close enough now that I could reach for her, so I did.

One of my hands lifted in a flash, and I grabbed her by the jaw to stop her from saying anything more. My gloved fingers curled up around my jaw, digging into her cheeks in the process. I was careful not to be too rough, but I’d be a liar if I said I was gentle.

This mask… it brought out another side of me, a side I normally kept hidden away from the world.

I closed the distance between us by stepping toward her as I angled her head back. No doubt she could feel how pissed I was, how full of rage seeing her with that random guy made me. She egged on the devil, so she’d get his horns.

And then I crossed a line I’d never crossed before, not while I wore this mask. I spoke the words I knew to be true in my heart, something that had been true for years now, and she was only now beginning to realize it, “You’re mine.” The words reverberated in the air, muffled by the mask, but it was a cold, hard fact.

Laina shivered, but she said nothing. How could she argue with me when every single cell in that body of hers belonged to me?

I was enraged. I was so full of anger I could hardly think straight. Combine that with the power of the mask and the lie it held, and tonight would be the night when I finally took what was mine.

She thought she could give herself to someone else? A goddamned stranger? No. Oh, no. I’d show her that was not something she could so freely give.

The mere thought of finally having her, of, after all this time, taking what belonged to me, was more than enough to get me hard in a matter of seconds. My cock and I were on the same wavelength when it came to this girl, more than eager to be of service.

Yes, tonight was the night.

Still gripping her jaw, I walked her backward, toward the bed, and I only let go of her jaw so I could spin her around and force her top half down over the edge of the bed. She was bent over in front of me, the curve of her ass a beckoning sight, and the sigh that left me right then was full of hunger and pent-up desire.

I ran my hand down her spine, sluggish in curling it around her hip and giving her a hard squeeze.

She wore leggings, and if I had to guess, nothing under them. No panties, so it’d be easy to get a quick fuck in. She came to this party to get fucked by a stranger, and the mere thought was enough to send me over the edge.

Her body was not hers to give. It was mine, and fuck it, I wasn’t going to hold back any longer.

Laina gasped when my other hand went to yank down her leggings, exposing her ass to me in the process. Both gloved hands of mine went straight to that ass, getting a good feel of its supple curves. What I wouldn’t give to feel her ass without gloves between us, but I wasn’t ready for that. Right now, I wasn’t Kieran, the slightly weird but still, in my humble opinion, loveable goofball.

I was the devil, someone so far removed from Kieran it was laughable.

I was her Devil.

By the time I pulled my hands off her to undo my pants and pull my length out, I was hard as a rock and aching to be inside of her. I’d like nothing more than to stare deep into her eyes as I filled her up, but this wasn’t going to be the sweet unification of two souls.

No, this was going to be a rough fuck. A carnal claiming.

Cock in hand, I moved closer to her and ran the tip along the curve of her ass until it found its destination: that sweet pussy.

Now wasn’t the time for hesitation. I pushed into her with a single thrust and filled her with one pump of my hips. She cried out, a sound of shock and pleasure, and her fingers tightened on the sheets below.

She felt fucking spectacular, just as amazing as I knew she would. I’d dreamed for so long of taking her like this, of laying her bare and fucking her raw, claiming every part of her body as mine. Tonight our time would be cut short; it wouldn’t last, but it was a night I would remember until the day I died.

Hopefully I had a little while longer, yet.

I leaned down and wrapped a hand around the back of her neck, to keep her still, to steady her against the bed as I fucked her from behind. If it was uncomfortable for her, she didn’t say a word. She’d be a good girl for me and take whatever I gave her.

A groan left me, the tumultuous moment of finding myself inside her sweet cunt now passed, and then I began to fuck her.

Laina moaned a sweet sound as her inner core tightened around my length. She surrendered to me, and based on that sound, she liked the way it felt. She was just as eager to have me claim her as I was to do the claiming.

Without the mask, I would’ve been gentle, would’ve been sweet. The touches and thrusts would have been softer. As it was, I was an animal behind the mask, and I fucked her as an animal would: hard and unyielding, fast and rough. So rough the bed shook beneath her as I pumped into her from behind.

She was my destiny. My fate. Mine in every way, and I needed her to know it. I fucked her long and hard, and the adrenaline rushing through my blood made it easy to overlook the growing pain in my stomach—the bullet wound that hadn’t yet completely healed.

Laina was as good as putty beneath me, taking every thrust, every pump like she was born to. Her body shuddered beneath me, muscles spasming on her body as an orgasm rushed through her. She cried out loudly, and as she made her pleasure known, her pussy walls clamped and tightened around my cock while I pumped away.

It was the hottest thing ever, and I couldn’t fight the way my own body reacted to hers. I groaned a deep, guttural sound and fucked her even harder, so hard a part of me worried the bed might break. Fuck. I wanted to lose it, too. She felt too good, her unraveling too much like a drug to me.

My body lurched forward as the pleasure took hold of me, too. My cock twitched inside of her as a growl of satisfaction escaped my chest. I came down upon her with short, quick thrusts into her core as I emptied my cock inside of her, spilling my seed into her as every muscle in my body sizzled with bliss.

I wanted more. I wanted to fuck her again, to go at her like an animal all night, to take that mouth of hers like I’d just taken her pussy, but now that the pleasure was slowly wearing off, the pain in my stomach surged. With a quick glance down, I was pretty sure I spotted a small circle of wetness growing over the wound—a circle that was only growing as the seconds ticked by.

Shit. I tore it open while I was fucking her.

So, as much as I wanted to linger, I couldn’t. I pulled out of her with a jerk, and I hurriedly put my length away. Still hard, a bit of blood on me, but I’d clean myself up later. Right now, I needed to get the hell out of here. I’d made my point, and now I needed to stitch myself back up before I found myself in the hospital once again.

I said not a single word more as I hurried to the door, yanking it open and rushing out without so much as glancing back at her—if I did, I worried I wouldn’t have the strength to leave, and if I didn’t leave right now, she’d see the blood on my stomach and put two and two together.

I wasn’t ready for her to know the entire truth. Not yet. Someday, but that day was not today.

“Wait!”

Laina called out for me, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. I rushed down the stairs, made it to the front door, and I pushed outside while holding a hand against my stomach to try to stop the bleeding. I moved as fast as I could on the sidewalk, my goal my vehicle down the street. Hopefully I made it there before she came out and saw me; if I wasn’t fast enough, the jig would be up.

Thankfully, my car wasn’t near any streetlights, so I was able to duck inside it and recline back in the driver’s seat without much illumination. I tore off my mask and threw it on the passenger’s seat, slow to lift my shirt and glance down at the re-opened wound on my abdomen.

Fuckity-fuck-fuck. It was like getting shot all over again.

I was breathing hard. Nothing other than some new stitches and some pain meds would help me right now. I needed to go to a twenty-four-hour store. Had to be one nearby, since this was a college area.

Seconds from starting my car, I was about to leave when I spotted Laina leaving the house. I was down the street a ways, so I could barely see her, but I was pretty sure she stopped to talk to the group hanging around the front porch. Probably asking about me. Or, well, the man in the mask.

Everyone at that party was too lost in their own lives, in their drinks. I doubted anyone really paid much attention to the world around them. The only one who might have been able to recall me was, for obvious reasons, that asshole she nearly gave herself to.

Laina stepped away from the group, onto the small walkway that connected the house’s front porch with the sidewalk. I watched her reach the sidewalk and glance all around. Even now, she wanted to find me.

I closed my eyes, just for a few moments. Would it really be so bad if she unmasked me tonight? She knew she was mine. She didn’t fight me at all. Would she be able to reconcile my identity with the masked man who’d kept her locked away for two years?

Call me weak. Call me pathetic. Call me whatever you want, but I didn’t want her to see me like this, not while I wasn’t at my best. Someday, I would tell her the whole truth, but not tonight, so I remained motionless in my car, a hand against my wound, waiting for her to return to the party.

Except, as I slowly opened my eyes, I saw she didn’t go back to the party. In fact, I found I wasn’t the only one watching her—a van had pulled up near where she was, and multiple men with ski masks over their heads leaped out and grabbed her. They pulled her into the van and drove off before I could jump into action myself. The pain in my stomach was a reminder that I was not at my top performance.

Shit.

The van drove off, going God knew where. Fortunately for Laina, I was on the van’s tail, though I made sure to keep a respectable distance between our vehicles, so as to not arouse suspicion from the group of kidnappers. I might not be able to fight, but I sure as shit could drive. The pain could wait. Right now, Laina was my top priority.

Across the city, the van drove to an area where the houses were old and a bit run-down, a place where nothing was new and broken-down cars littered the driveways and yards. The perfect place to hold a captive; I would know.

I turned off my car’s lights as I turned onto the same street the van had. I pulled to a stop a few houses down, watching as the van parked on a driveway and the masked men carried an unconscious Laina to the house under the cover of darkness.

Whatever jealous rage had filled me at the party was replaced by a different sort of fury, the kind that could only be quenched with blood. I didn’t often fly into murderous rages, but this situation definitely called for it.

Only… fuck. I couldn’t go in there. There might’ve been more men in the house. With the current state my body was in, I was no match for a group of assailants—but I couldn’t just leave her in their hands, either. I had to save her, but how?

A groan left me as I leaned over the center console and went for the glove box. Beneath the insurance registration and some other stray papers, I had a burner phone and a charger for it, tucked away. I plugged it in, got it booted up, and sent a text to the one person I knew would come save her.

I might not have liked the man too much, but when he saw the text, when he realized Laina was indeed gone, he’d come. I was certain he’d faced worse odds in the past.

Mike would save Laina when I couldn’t.

And he had. I’d watched from my darkened vehicle, waiting, hoping that he would get there in time to save her. Fang had even shown up, and together they’d saved her when I couldn’t. They’d played heroes while I had been forced to sit in my dark car and wait—and then, after Laina was saved, I’d taken care of myself—had to do it before the sun rose, because I had to drop my car off in the garage and turn the cameras in the house back on.

I couldn’t go home right away. No, I had to give it a bit of time, so that’s what I did.

Fast forward to now, to the stupid charity dinner that wasn’t fooling anyone, and it was finally time. I didn’t anticipate it happening quite like this, but I couldn’t deny that nagging feeling inside of me any longer. I had to tell her the truth.

The full truth, not just about me being the man behind the mask, but the entire thing.

Something in her eyes shifted when I touched her, like her mind was instantly set aflame, and when I lifted a finger to my mouth and made the same shushing gesture I always made when I wore the mask, it finally clicked. She knew.

She knew and then she ran out of the room.

I watched her go, and then, almost immediately after, Mike and Fang slipped out of the room as well, undoubtedly to find her and make sure she was all right. I had to wrestle with myself over that, over them. Of course I was grateful that they were able to save her when I couldn’t, but that did not make it any easier to know she cared for them in ways I wanted her to care only for me.

But, I supposed, it would be best if we were all on the same page, so I would give them a few minutes before I found them, wherever they went. Until then, I smiled and chatted, played the part my sister wanted me to.

It was what I was good at, until Laina.

That girl… she really screwed everything up for me. Until her, I had been content with my lot in life, doing what I was told, being the attack dog, so to speak. It was just Tessa and me, no other siblings. As the younger brother, I always did what I could to keep my sister safe, and as the eldest sibling, she guided every choice I ever made.

Except one.

I waited a while before I excused myself, and I ignored the subtle glare my sister gave me as I stepped away from the conversation. On my way out, I grabbed a glass of champagne from one of the waiters and downed it in one sip. Now would be the time for something a little stronger, but I had to take what I could get.

It didn’t take me long to find where they were: the closest restroom, although here they called it a powder room. How uppity. While my sister had always been in search of money and the power that came with it, I never saw much of a point. The rich were all smiles to the world, but behind closed doors they were some of the sickest fucks you’d ever meet. Psychos and sociopaths in suits and name-brand dresses.

I set the empty glass down and cracked my neck as I stared hard at the restroom door. If I had to guess, I’d say I’d walk in there and get the opposite of a warm reception. I’d be on the receiving end of Mike’s fury, at the very least. Maybe a bit of Fang’s.

But I didn’t care about them. I only cared about Laina, and I knew in my soul she wouldn’t let them hurt me.

After all, I was her Devil.

I pushed inside the restroom, coming upon a seating area. Laina was seated with Fang kneeling before her. Mike, on the other hand, had his pistol in one hand, and he was the first to react to my intrusion.

In the blink of an eye, he cocked his pistol, grabbed me by the throat, and set the barrel of the gun against my temple, the only sound leaving him that of a furious growl. In this instance, he was every bit the guard dog he was told to be, his hazel stare radiating nothing but hatred.

I didn’t give him much of a reaction. The only thing I did was blink at him and give him a grin. “I assume she told you, then.”

“You sick son of a bitch,” he growled out, his hand tightening around my neck so hard it was becoming difficult to breathe. Mike had the height and the muscle mass to overpower just about anyone, so even if I was at my best, fighting would be pointless.

My talents were elsewhere, not in brute strength.

Laina got to her feet. “Mike, stop!” Fang was slow to rise with her, though his silver gaze merely watched the scene before him unfold; he probably didn’t care what happened either way.

It was more than clear Mike didn’t want to stop. If he had his way, he’d put a bullet in me, or perhaps beat the shit out of me. Alas, with her looking on and giving him the command, he did just that: he stopped. He lowered the gun and relaxed his hold on my neck, and then he let me go.

He shoved me back when he let me go, causing me to slam against the door pretty hard, but he let me go.

He did not, I noticed, put away his gun.

As I recoiled from the sudden shove, I muttered, “Ow. That’s probably going to bruise, just so you know.”

Normally Mike rolled his eyes at my sarcasm, but here he was all glares. All glares and protective stances between me and Laina, making it clear he didn’t want me to get too close to her.

I met her natural, blue-eyed stare. “I think we need to talk.” And then, because there were two men in between us, I added under my breath, “All of us.” If the situation was a little different, I might laugh at the big guy’s aggressive stance, but given everything… I couldn’t be upset.

He’d saved her when I couldn’t. Him and Fang. I owed them a debt as much as Laina herself did. Without them… I didn’t want to think about what could’ve happened.

Mike, the man who was typically the silent and stoic type, growled out, “I think that’s an understatement, Kieran. Or do you prefer Devil?”

“Look,” I said, “I get it. I totally understand why you’re a little miffed at me, and I’ll be the first to admit that maybe I have made a few mistakes along the way. I’m not perfect, but who is?” I flashed them a smile, although it was mainly meant for her.

Laina stepped around Fang and Mike, much to the latter’s chagrin. “Why did you do it? Why did you kidnap me and keep me for two years? Why… why let me go?”

My eyes fell to her left hand, to her missing fingers. “I could ask you similar questions. Why mutilate yourself?” A sigh left me. “I didn’t keep you for so long just so you could return to the world in pieces.”

“Kieran.” The way she said my name made it sound like a prayer on her tongue, though that prayer was cut short by what she said next: “For once, stop dancing around it. Just say it. Tell me the truth.”

I had to stick my hands in my suit jacket’s pockets, because if I didn’t, I was liable to touch her—and I didn’t think Mike would like that too much. He had to calm down a bit, first. Maybe after hearing what I had to say, he would aim his anger somewhere else.

“When I told you this wasn’t how I pictured any of it happening, you have to know I meant it,” I told her, trusting that she would believe me in what I was about to say. “Ever since I woke up, I had doubts, but… I don’t know. I guess I just assumed, like we all did, the shooter was aiming at you.” A bitter laugh left me. “I should’ve known it was for me. She’s been pissed at me ever since you came back.”

Laina’s brows furrowed. “Who?”

“You weren’t supposed to come back. Hell, you were supposed to be dead. I never went against her before—I always did what she told me to. Even when I was a kid, I was her attack dog.”

When those beautiful baby blues widened, I knew she’d realized who I was talking about.

I couldn’t resist; even though my hands were in my pockets, I had to step closer to her as I whispered, “But when she told me her plan, I couldn’t go along with it. I also couldn’t say no. She wanted you to disappear and never come back. She wanted you dead—”

“Wait,” Mike cut in. “We’re talking about Tessa ?”

Glancing at him, I quipped, “Slow on the uptake, huh?” My sarcastic comment earned me another growl, but I did get a smirk from Fang. All right, maybe the silver-toothed freak wasn’t too bad after all.

With a shake of her head, she said, “So, Tessa wanted you to kill me? Why?”

“Isn’t it obvious? She wanted your father to win the mayor’s seat. A candidate with a missing, presumed dead, daughter makes an awfully compelling case, doesn’t it? She heard about his ambitions through the grapevine, and she got us both in close.”

Fang asked me, “But why?”

“Oh, you know, all the stupid, typical, cliched reasons: money, power, everything that comes with it. We didn’t grow up poor, but most of our childhood we scraped by. Mom left before Tessa turned eighteen, and our father put in more hours at work. It left us to fend for ourselves. We relied on each other. We did everything for the other. I never went against her… until she told me to get rid of you.”

The look Laina gave me right then might’ve broken my heart, if I had a heart that could break. She had every right to feel betrayed by me, but at the same time, she had to see that I saved her life. “Why didn’t you, then? Why didn’t you just kill me like she wanted you to? Why go through the trouble to keep me locked up for two years?”

“Because—” I gave her a serious look. “—even before I took you, you were mine. I watched over you, made sure you didn’t do anything too stupid. And when you did do something stupid, I dragged you back home. You were mine from the first moment I laid eyes on you… only I couldn’t have you.”

I shook my head once before I went on, “I think, in a way, Tessa knew it, too. She knew my loyalty had shifted, and she wanted to put me to the test. She told me to get rid of you, but she left the details of it up to me. It… wasn’t the first time she told me to get rid of someone.”

“So you faked it,” Fang said. “Until you let her go.”

“Yeah. A part of me hoped that by letting you go after your father was mayor, she’d forgive the transgression. Clearly, she has not.” I pulled a single hand out of my pocket and rested it above my abdomen, where I’d been shot. “She’s always had ambitions, but I never thought she’d try to have me killed.”

Laina stared at me for a few seconds, and then she glanced to the others and asked, “Can you wait for me in the hall? I want a moment alone with him.”

Just based on his stance, I’d say Mike didn’t want to oblige, but she sent a follow-up pout in his direction, and he melted instantly. He stuffed his pistol away and grumbled something under his breath before stepping out.

Fang was directly behind him, although he stopped near Laina and whispered, “Whatever you decide, I’m behind you, one hundred percent, Princess.”

Soon enough it was just Laina and me in the restroom, both of us staring at the other, waiting. I imagined it was hard on her, rationalizing it, putting me together with her Devil. We had that one moment, after she threatened to tell her father something inappropriate happened between us, where I’d snapped and given her something to tattle about—and then there was the party, when I’d donned my mask, taken her body, and made her mine.

The two were separate incidents, and until now she’d thought they were separate people.

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you show your face to me before? I—”

I took a tiny step toward her, leaving less than six inches between us. “If I never would’ve worn a mask, you would’ve thought differently of me. With the mask, I was able to free you and watch over you without you knowing. To get to where I wanted to be, there was no other way.”

“Maybe you’re right,” she relented, “but still, after you let me out, you could’ve said something. Instead, you made me feel like a fool, pining after my Devil when all along, he was right there. You were right there.”

A grin spread across my face. “Pining, really? You pined after me? How many nights did you spend thinking of your mysterious masked devil, hmm? Ballpark figure’s fine, and just to sate my curiosity, how many times did you touch yourself while—”

“Stop it,” she huffed. “Now’s not the time for jokes.”

“I’m not joking. I am curious.”

“Why stay away from me, then? Why not tell me after the party? Or, hell, even during? Why keep up the charade?”

“I wasn’t ready. I was just pissed that you thought you could go off to a party and sleep with a random guy when you already belong to me. And then I fucked you so hard I opened up my stitches, so I had to get out of there before you had the chance to realize it was me. I didn’t know you’d get kidnapped right off the goddamned sidewalk.”

Her face blushed furiously at my bluntness.

“I am grateful for Mike and Fang, as much as I hate to admit it. If it wasn’t for them, you might not be here right now.”

The way she gazed up at me made me feel some kind of way. “I just can’t believe it’s you. I feel so stupid. God.” And then something switched inside her, and she eyed me up like I was a stranger to her. “You’re a good liar, and no, before you ask, that’s not a compliment.”

“Isn’t it, though? I saved your life. If I would’ve told her no two years ago, she would’ve hired someone else to do it, and they wouldn’t have known you. They weren’t in love with you. They would’ve killed you with no second thoughts. Me being a good liar helped keep you alive.”

“Love?” she echoed faintly, her breath catching. “You… you love me?”

“Of course I do. I loved you even when I couldn’t have you, and I love you more now.” I brought both hands to her face, cupping her cheeks and angling her head back as my body swallowed up the six inches remaining between us. We stood so close, I could feel her chest press against mine when she inhaled, could feel her hot breath on my face when she exhaled.

So close, and yet not close enough. Unless I was inside her, it would never be close enough.

“Everything I’ve done,” I murmured, “it was all for you. To keep you safe. To make you mine. I don’t belong to anybody but you now.” I lowered my face to hers, my lips brushing against hers with every word I whispered, “You alone hold my leash, my rage, my heart. Just as you’re mine, I’m yours.”

Laina’s lips parted. “Kieran, I—” Her body melted into mine, her face still gripped on both sides with my hands. “—how can I be so mad at you and, at the same time, want you so bad? What’s wrong with me?”

“Nothing,” I told her earnestly. “Nothing at all is wrong with you. I deserve every ounce of your rage for lying to you, but know I will never apologize for doing what I had to in order to keep you safe. I’d do it a thousand times over.”

She had nothing else to say, but that could also be due to the fact that I didn’t let her speak; my mouth pressed down upon hers, kissing her in a way I wished I could’ve kissed her before. Slow and steady but strong and urgent at the same time, the kind of kiss where your entire soul was laid bare for the other.

No more secrets.

Laina could have refused the kiss, could have not kissed me back, but she didn’t. Her mouth was supple and pliant beneath mine, eager and accepting of the kiss and, by extension, the truth. Kissing her and having her return the passion was like coming home. Her lips and the way they melded against mine were a reminder that I chose right.

I wanted nothing more than to push her backward, force her down onto the nearby lounge chair, and reacquaint myself with every inch of that body—but now wasn’t the best time. As it was, with all four of us missing from the pre-dinner party, we were almost certain to arouse suspicion if my sister thought too long about it.

So, best not.

Though it proved to be a challenge for me, I tore my mouth off hers and let my hands fall away from her face. I breathed hard, as did she, and we stared at each other for a few seconds before I whispered, “We should get back to the party. You three go on ahead. I’ll hang back a bit so we’re not seen coming in together.”

“Okay,” she said. “But we’ll pick this up later. I’m not finished with you.” Whether she meant the kissing or being mad at me, it didn’t matter. I’d gladly take either.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” With a smirk, I watched as she held her head up high and walked around me, leaving me alone in the women’s restroom shortly after that. My lips still tingled from the touch of hers, and something told me I’d be reliving that kiss the rest of the night.

Our first kiss, even though it wasn’t. Our first kiss where everything was out in the open, where neither of us were hiding secrets from the other. There was more to say, of course, about everything, but for now, it was enough.

I waited a few minutes, and then I braved the party, rejoining it like I hadn’t missed a thing.