15. Never
This guy. If it wasn’t for that searing kiss and the heat coming off him, I would have hauled off and hit him for the way he grabbed me. Rough and possessive, like his lips were the answer to any question I needed to ask.
They were an answer to something, all right. They were dangerous, dripping with irresistible charm, and laced with just the right dose of alpha energy.
When that energy rolled over me, seeping into my skin through his touch, I straight melted.
That’s right. I was done for. Gonzo. Totally lost in the moment.
Common sense would have had me at least pulling back and sucking in enough air to tell him to back the fuck off until we figured out what we came into my bedroom to figure out. And what I’d learned in the thirty seconds since he’d grabbed me like a neanderthal and kissed me stupid was that I didn’t care.
The idea of losing or even sharing a part of myself was terrifying, but honestly, it was nothing compared to the knowledge that I’d been carrying around an actual physical piece of Hook. On a flimsy ass chain. Around my neck. Like a friggin’ idiot.
I yanked my head away, dragging hot air into my lungs. “Wait,” I breathed.
He didn’t let go, but he pulled his head back, looking down at me with those fiery rings around his irises glowing bright, despite the sunlight bleeding through the sheers. “Do you understand now?”
Did I? Part of me belonged to Hook. Yeah, I guess I did get it.
Was I okay with it?
“Sort of,” I whispered.
“Perhaps I should try again.” His voice dipped low, his eyes dropping to my kiss-swollen lips.
Um, yes please?
No, dummy.When had I become so susceptible to lust? It was making me stupid.
I wedged my arms between us and pushed back. He let me go, but I knew deep in my bones that every inch of space I gained was there because he was allowing it. Because he was a good man who wouldn’t force himself on me, even if he was exceptionally bossy sometimes.
“Give me a minute.” I backed up another step, but that was as far as my body would carry me.
We stared at each other in silence, me trying to get my traitorous body under control and him watching. The man was a predator just waiting for a sign of weakness. And boy howdy, was I weak when it came to him. Weak in the knees and weak as fuck in the rusty old brain box.
“Your minute is up,” he said. No smirk. No smile. Desire still colored his eyes, but he’d gone dead serious.
I nodded. “And what were we talking about again?” It was the only thing I could think to say to buy myself time.
The corner of his lips lifted on one side, and he cocked his head ever-so-slightly. “You and me, Never.” He reached out and snagged my hand, pulling it to his chest. “Quid pro quo.”
The phrase hit me like a blow. Right in the fucking feels.
“Something for something.” Unease snaked through my middle. “Is that why you asked me to give myself to you? Because you gave me back the pendant?”
He shook his head, gripping my wrist so I could feel the beat of his heart against my palm. It radiated up my arm, to my shoulder and chest, until it felt as though my pulse was trying to keep pace with his. It was intense and a little overwhelming.
“I asked because I wanted you. I want you. And I would have asked whether you’d possessed the pendant or not.” He lifted my hand, sliding his thumb along the back as he pulled it to his lips. His kiss on my knuckles was ridiculously gentle given the way he’d just ravaged me with his mouth, but I swear to the gods, I felt it in my damned toes. “It is an apt phrase all the same.”
Because he gave me back the pendant when I needed it, and I gave myself to him when he asked.
When he let go of my hand and stepped back, I had to fight the urge to follow. My brain demanded space, but everything else inside me wanted the opposite.
“What happens now?”
Hook tipped his head toward the bed. “Sit.”
“You mean, sit, please?”
He leveled me with one of his classically powerful looks that left me feeling just a wee bit unsteady on my feet before my saucy side kicked in and shored me back up.
“Sit, please,” he practically growled. I sank down onto the mattress, and the moment I was down, he reminded me of the reason we’d come into the relative privacy of my room. “Now, would you be so kind as to tell me why you felt the need to hurl the pendant at me?” He paused, drawing in a heavy breath. “Please.”
I almost choked when he ground out the last word because there was nothing about it that suggested it was a request. My humor, however, evaporated when I thought of my answer. I owed him the truth, no matter how badly I wanted snark and smart ass my way out of it.
“It was the last straw,” I admitted, shaking my head. “You’ve got to understand, I’ve managed to fuck up so many things recently. Chief among them being letting that bitch’s shadow take over my little brother’s body. I absolutely cannot be responsible for anything else. And certainly not an actual piece of the man I...” I caught myself before I said the word burning the tip of my tongue.
Did I love him? Did I even really know what that meant?
I mean, yeah, I knew what it meant to love my brother. Even Lily, though things there were different now. Romantic love though? What we had was entirely too new for all the strings attached to those four letters.
I could admit that I felt something. Okay, a lot. More than any reasonable person would after a few days with a guy and a few weeks apart.
Did that make it real?
Did it make it any less real?
As I was working through my conflicting thoughts, Hook watched, stoic, giving nothing away. It left me uneasy, and when my hand went to my chest out of habit, reaching for the very thing I’d throw back in his face, I didn’t know what the hell to think.
It wasn’t like he missed the movement. His amber eyes traced the path of my fingers, narrowing slightly before I realized what I was doing and tried to play off the slip like I was just reaching up to scratch my neck.
He knew.
His chin lifted a touch. “Despite your current lack of confidence in yourself—a trait that does not suit you, by the way—I would feel better if you kept it.”
“And what happens when I lose it? Or if the shadow gets its grubby little hands on it? How will you feel about entrusting me with it then?”
“You won’t let that happen,” he said flatly, as though there was no point in arguing.
But I wanted to argue. No, I needed to argue. “What would happen if the shadow snatched it away? Worst-case scenario.”
Hook moved in front of me, dropping to one knee before he reached up and cupped my cheek in one of his big hands. He pulled me into a kiss that pressed pause on the rest of the world. For a few blissful moments, all I knew was his unique mix of energy, like I was caught in a storm that only existed in my room.
He pulled back just far enough to look me in the eye. “You won’t let that happen,” he repeated quietly, with a confidence that almost had me believing him. Right up until I felt the weight of the pendant resting against my chest once again.
I stared down, not fully understanding how he’d managed to slip the chain around my neck and fasten it without me noticing. “You’re crazy. You know that, right?”
“You wouldn’t be the first to accuse me of such, love.”
My heart twisted painfully before it swelled at the sound of that ridiculous four-letter pet name. A vision of the Grinch slipped into my mind, the page in the story when his heart grows three sizes.
I wonder if this is how he felt.
The thought brought a bittersweet smile to lips because the cartoon movie version of the story, the one from the sixties, was a tradition in my house. Matty and I would load up on hot chocolate and eggnog and all our favorite cavity-inducing goodies and curl up on the couch to watch that every Christmas eve.
I met Hook’s steady gaze, now colored with curiosity, though he didn’t ask the question that was so clearly swimming in his thoughts. “I need to save my brother.”
“I know.”
“I can’t let that thing take him from me,” I whispered, hating the tendril of panic that began rising inside me again.
He planted a firm, reassuring hand on my thigh a half second before a loud knock nearly cracked my bedroom door. “Never, you need to see this.” Leo’s voice was barely muffled by the flimsy barrier, so it was all too easy to pick up the urgency in his words.
Hook rocked back and stood in a motion so fluid I would swear the man was made of silk. He held out his hand, and I took it without thinking, letting him pull me to my feet.
It wasn’t that I needed the help. I wanted it. Whatever else was going on inside me, I wanted to be close to him and feel the heat of his body.
I had tried like hell to let the man go, but the truth was I’d missed him fiercely. At least now I knew why holding that damned pendant always seemed to make me feel better. I gave his hand a gentle squeeze, hoping the move said what I couldn’t, and let go.
“It’s open,” I called, forcing myself to turn my attention to the door.
It swung open and Leo was there holding up my phone. “This thing is going crazy.”
I moved across the room and took it from him, swiping through the sea of notifications. I’d set search alerts for everything related to Matty and the shadow that I could think of. Then I’d taken it a step further, asking his friends to let me know if they heard from him.
What I saw turned my blood cold. “Another attack,” I said. “At a bridal shop? That doesn’t make any sense.” Aside from the fact that it was on King Street. Right in the heart of Charleston’s historic district.
Historic and occult went hand-in-hand.
I did a quick search, but all the great and powerful interwebs showed me was a luxury boutique bridal shop that claimed to have been in business for close to eighty years.
“Either of you have any idea why the demon might attack a bridal shop?” I asked, holding up my phone so they could see the image of the storefront on my screen.
The two men gave me nearly identical shrugs in response.
“What has the creature been targeting up to this point?” Hook asked.
“Mostly occult-related shops and businesses,” I said, turning my phone back so I could swipe left and right on the map.
That was when I saw it. A sliver of a black door caught at the edge of the frame, almost as if someone had deliberately tried to keep that doorway hidden from the digital world.
“We need to get downtown,” I said, heading for the hallway.
Hook caught me by the arm. “What we need is a plan for dealing with the shadow if it’s still in the area.”
From the way my phone was still lighting up with notifications, there was a solid chance whatever was going down was still happening.
I shrugged out of his grip as gently as I could. “Then we plan on the move.”
“Downtown?” Leo asked. “So, we’re taking your car?” If the cringe he tried to hide was any indication, he was not a fan of that idea at all.
“Suck it up.” I brushed past him. “It’s that or the bus.”
In the living room, Lily was already pulling on her shoes. I knew the pup version of Lily was a big fan of comfort. What I didn’t expect was for that mentality to transfer into Converse shoes and no socks.
“I take it you heard,” I said.
She inclined her head. “Downtown.”
Seriously, I adored this woman. She didn’t waste words or energy if she didn’t need to. That didn’t mean she was lazy by any means. She’d been out looking for Matty with me every moment that I was, and I suspected she’d snuck out on her own a few times while I was sleeping. Or healing.
I glanced back over my shoulder, expecting Hook and Leo to be gathering their stuff, but they were still in my room. I turned my head, straining to hear what they were discussing. Unfortunately, supernaturally good hearing wasn’t on my list of abilities.
“Can you hear what they’re saying?” I asked quietly.
Lily gave me a quick nod, but nothing else.
“Well?” I gave her my best ‘what gives’ gesture.
“It’s between them.” She stood, snatching my keys out of the bowl by the door and tossing them to me. Then she turned her head, keeping her eyes on me, and called, “Wrap it up, boys, or we’re leaving without you.”