Chapter Eight
CADE
When Nikki answered the door, her skin was imprinted with a dappling as though someone had held her face against the carpet with their foot. I was about to ask when she rubbed her cheek, pulling away a loose thread and groaning, flushing with embarrassment, as I stifled a grin.
“Sorry, fell asleep on the couch.”
Well, that answered that question. I was about ready to break some heads if someone had hurt her like that.
The logic of who would have been in her house, stomping her face into the carpet, and for her to be so calm escaped me.
All I felt was that all-consuming possessiveness that spiked my heart rate, ready to protect my mate.
My mate?
Correction, to protect Nikki, a woman I know.
She looked a mess, and I didn’t know what to say, unable to help feeling a certain level of responsibility.
Because I knew things about her father and her family that she didn’t, and she was torturing herself trying to find out information I could get for her.
It would involve going back to Hell and questioning her father.
It also meant I’d be required to explain my extended absence to those who actually gave a damn about the place and, therefore, may not be able to return to Earth straightaway.
But questioning a human in Hell about their life on Earth in order to use that information to change something on Earth—was a big fuck no.
I’d be killed for that shit, and that wouldn’t do anyone any good.
They were dead, and they could no longer affect the lives of those who knew them.
It would be a huge mess if we tried to change anything.
I imagine the Big Man upstairs might get involved if demons started doing that shit.
That would be something, wouldn’t it? A demon vigilante, finding out who murdered those in Hell straight from the mouths of the victims and coming to Earth to take them down.
I don’t think it worked that way.
But Nikki, I couldn’t tell her any of this, not that it would have been much comfort if I did.
I couldn’t tell her that perhaps her father’s death wasn’t worth looking into and he wasn’t the man she thought he was.
I couldn’t tell her that not only had she spent three years seeking justice for someone who didn’t deserve it, but the reason I knew these things was because I was a goddamn demon.
So for now, rather than saying anything, I simply pulled her against me and tried not to take too much pleasure in how she sighed and melted into my touch.
My chin rested neatly on her head as she cuddled against me, and once again, I was struck by the sheer innocence of the move, the same as when she had held my hand.
I was a demon and didn’t deserve treatment like this.
I fucked.
I fought.
I moved on.
But Nikki’s arms were wrapped around my back, and her fingers gripped my T-shirt under my leather jacket as though I was there to rescue her.
Damn, I wish I was.
But demons don’t rescue.
We’re the bad guys and always will be.
Nothing I do can change that, and with a pang, I realized I shouldn’t even be here.
Because by getting close to Nikki now, wasn’t I filling her with false hope for something that would never be?
For something I could never be, no matter how much I didn’t fit in Hell, no matter how long I stayed on Earth, I’d always be a demon.
But she was mine for now, and I was still yet to claim her.
The warmth of her against me was distracting, the sun at my back nothing compared to the heat that radiated from her.
My desire to touch her went beyond a fuck.
Although I was dying to bury my cock in her sweet cunt, I wanted to feel her, to watch her face as she came apart under my hands and tongue.
When she had called me, the need was heavy in her voice, hidden and tangled behind a whirlwind of emotions she couldn’t express.
Would taking her physically while she was in this state be any better than taking her when she was drunk?
I’d had no qualms about that the other night, but that was before I knew what the weight of guilt felt like against my chest—an incredibly human and weak feeling.
Frank was right—I was too soft.
A growl rumbled through my chest, and I pulled her closer to me.
She chuckled, shifting a hand around and patting my chest. “Did you just growl?”
“Yes,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Why?” She moved to pull away, and I held her tighter against me. She didn’t fight but simply relaxed back into my hold, and I had to resist the urge to hold her tighter still, fully aware of how easily I could hurt her if I lost control of my strength.
“Because you’re upset.”
“Aw…” Her voice was muffled against my chest. “How sweet.”
I chuckled. “I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not.”
She huffed out a laugh. “At this point, neither can I.”
When she pulled away again, I let her, and she looked at me with such intensity I almost took her right there. I knew this visit wasn’t entirely innocent, and her body burned hot against mine, as desperate for my touch as I was to touch her. Guilt and shame flared in my stomach, and I ignored it.
Keeping my secrets from humans was nothing new, so why should it matter this time?
Because it did matter.
Because she mattered.
Because I’d never really put two and two together that the people in Hell still have families and loved ones on Earth.
Like humans eating meat, they know damn well where it comes from, but they can live in some sort of perpetual denial as long as they don’t have to see the process.
But now there’s a connection from where I used to be to where I am now and where I wanted to be.
And it was her.
But it shouldn’t be. I wished it wasn’t.
If she needed my touch to forget as much as I did, then so be it. Because given another chance to take her, I wouldn’t waste it, and I’d taste every inch of her.
Her breasts pushed against my chest, and I’m certain she was curving her back into our embrace to intentionally enhance the sensation.
She shouldn’t play these games with me. She didn’t know what beast she was stirring.
The growl started again, and I stifled it. When Nikki straightened, her hands lingered on my waist, brushing the waistband of my jeans under my T-shirt. My abs tensed as she dragged her fingers across my stomach before dropping her arms to her sides.
A muscle in my jaw twitched.
If she made a move, I wouldn’t be able to say no.
“Shall we start looking?” She swept an arm behind her as she turned slightly, and I nodded, walking past her into her townhouse.
On the way here, I’d passed some cops outside a nightclub, closed for the day, and managed to use the shadows, darkening my skin until I was almost invisible and pairing it with my natural speed to take their handcuffs.
I’d studied them as I walked to Nikki’s and hadn’t seen any hint of a serial number or anything identifiable, so hopefully, if I dropped them in her living room, she’d never know I’d shattered and subsequently stolen her original ones.
It didn’t sound like she needed any more trouble at work.
I’d kept the pieces in a drawer next to my bed. Here I was, becoming attached to inanimate objects as a reminder of someone or something.
Was I always this fucking sentimental? Or had Earth changed me?
“Where have you searched?” I asked.
Nikki shrugged. “Honestly, nowhere yet. I had intended to but fell asleep as soon as I hit the couch… guess I was more exhausted than I realized.” She stretched, and at this point, I wasn’t bothering to hide it when I checked her out.
Her T-shirt lifted with her arms to expose a taut stomach, paler than the skin on her arms and without the freckles.
She had an outie belly button, and for some reason, even that turned me on.
Damn, I was beyond the point of no return with this woman.
“Where did you leave them?”
Nikki opened her eyes after her stretch, and her cheeks flushed as I slowly dragged my gaze up her body before finally resting on her eyes. Taking a moment to answer, I pointed to the coffee table. “There, I think.”
While she nodded, she didn’t move, and we simply stared at each other.
When she bit her bottom lip, I thought of her doing the same at the graveyard and drawing blood, and I made fists at my sides, trying to contain my desire.
The sweet taste of her blood would only be made better if I followed it by lapping up her cum from her thighs.
Fuck!
Something in me stirred, my muscles shifting under my shoulders and back, and I studied her, mentally measuring the distance to the bedroom and how long it would take to grab and take her there. Seconds, if I did it at full speed.
Even that was too long.
I could take her on the couch.
Or on the floor.
Or against the wall.
My cock twitched.
If you let me, I’ll destroy you.
She moved first and started shifting magazines from the table, and it was only after she stood and stared at me, hands on hips, that I realized I had been staring at her ass.
“Did I bring you here to help or to leer at me?”
“I’ll leer, thanks.”
She laughed. “Do you want a beer?”
“Yeah, thank you.”
She moved away, and with little to no grace, I shoved my hand in my pocket, dug through the tissues I’d used to surround the cuffs and muffle the sound, and brought them out.
Tossing them quietly under the coffee table onto the carpet, I then kicked over a stack of books and hoped my face didn’t betray my guilt.
Although hiding handcuffs was the least of my repressed guilt at the moment.