Chapter Two
CADE
It was probably a good thing she hadn’t seen me break the handcuffs. Still, I’d have to find a way to explain to her how they were broken. Maybe I’d take the broken pieces with me, telling her I’d put them somewhere in her home, and she’d just lost them in the mess.
Maybe she’d buy it.
Maybe.
But meanwhile, I was left with an unconscious and naked woman in my arms, tilted back so her breasts were jutting out toward my face.
It was a herculean effort to slow my breathing and force my demon under control with the feel of her skin finally under my fingers.
She was so soft, and all I could think about was how her pussy would taste.
There are a lot of things that would be the wrong thing to do in this situation, and licking her cunt while she was unconscious was definitely one of them.
The muscles of my shoulders and back were rippling under the skin, ready to throw her to the bed and fuck her like she’d never been fucked before.
But fucking an unconscious woman did nothing for me. I’d tortured people for that sort of shit back home.
Cursing, I slowly lowered her to the bed. A small smile was on her face as she stretched and rolled, curling into a ball without waking.
“Hope you can forgive me for what I’m about to do next,” I mumbled to her passed-out form, running my fingers through my hair.
It wasn’t the same, it never was, but I needed to release the pent-up energy.
Taking my cock in my hand, I palmed the length, not bothering to start with slow, steady strokes but simply pumping it hard while the leftover chain of the cuff on my wrist jingled obscenely.
Glancing over my shoulder intermittently, I took in the curves of her thighs, her ass, and a peek of her pussy I could see between her legs.
“Fuck,” I groaned, increasing speed. Even for me, this felt low—jerking myself off in Nikki’s home with her unconscious on the bed behind me.
But I wasn’t stupid and knew well enough what would happen if I didn’t release the built-up tension.
I’d risk losing control of my demon, and it was either this, finding someone else to fuck, or shaking her awake and taking her right now.
I didn’t want anyone else. I only wanted her.
Picturing her lowering herself over me, sliding my cock into her delicious cunt, I groaned loudly, grabbed her panties, and came in them.
Finding my pants, I pulled them on and tucked the sticky panties into the pocket. Using my fingers, I snapped the cuffs off my wrists and headboard and pocketed the broken pieces.
Turning, I faced the unconscious woman on the bed, now looking more like she was asleep and less like she was passed out, her breathing soft and steady, and still with that little smile on those perfect lips.
I had the urge to lean over and kiss her, and while my brothers often gave me a hard time for being the quiet, gentle one, that move would be a tad too sentimental, even for me.
Instead, I adjusted her position on the bed, tucking her legs under the sheet and pulling it up over her shoulders. She wiggled and dug herself into the mattress and pillows as though it was a nest, and I chuckled—a really cute move for someone who was a tough cop.
“If you tell anyone I tucked you in, I’ll deny it,” I whispered to her, certain that the corners of her lips lifted even more before she rolled onto her other side.
Searching around, I turned over a few items before locating a piece of paper and a pen and scrawled out a note to her.
Angel hair,
You passed out, guess you can’t handle your booze like you claimed.
Hope you forgot about today as you wished.
Here’s my number.
Cade.
It’ll do.
Placing the note on the bedside table, I went about finding my clothes and getting dressed, stopping only to have a drink of water direct from the tap and snatch a bag of chips off the counter before leaving.
It was time for me to find the city’s local celebrity businessman, Frank.
A demon, but humans didn’t need to know that part.
Because if I couldn’t get myself under control by fucking all night, then I needed a fight.
Call me a pushover, but something didn’t feel right about going out and finding someone else to fuck. Not after Nikki. I doubted I’d find anyone else with her spirit, and nothing less would do now that I’d been so close to having her, only to have that taken away from me.
Besides, demons were territorial, and now that I wanted her and she wanted me, there’d be an almost animal drive within me until I claimed her.
Fuck.
Punching Frank’s number into my phone, I held it to my ear, waiting for him to answer as I strolled through the dark streets.
Nikki lived in an area bordering the best and worst of this city—it was almost as if you could draw a line and go from one area to another with a single step.
The higher end of the city was full of parklands and high-rises, high-end businesses, expensive luxury apartments, and retail outlets.
Bordering that was a small middle area of townhouses and restaurants, where the rich came to eat and the poor came to work.
Then you came to my domain, the darker side, one area mostly industrial, the other full of apartment buildings cramming as many people into as small a space as possible.
Not to mention the throbbing night scene, which kept the crime in the area flushed with dirty money, plenty of people looking for drugs, even more willing to make and sell them.
Nikki had said her coworker was dirty, and I wasn’t surprised. Many of the cops here were. I imagined it was difficult to stay pure when you lived in an area so polluted with corruption, it would be easy to be seduced by money and power, regardless of who was offering it.
Despite Frank living in a penthouse apartment at the other end of the city, close to where he worked at one of the largest architecture firms in the state, I headed downtown through the raging nightlife where the area was fueled by crime and illegal decadence and felt more like home.
But I didn’t miss Hell.
My inclination to get involved in criminal activity was bordering on nonexistent.
Since being on Earth, I’d managed to find steady work as a furniture mover for a boutique custom shop, producing items that seemed much too high-class for the location of the shop in this city.
Smithy paid cash, which suited me, and he liked me because I could lift the same as two men.
I could lift more, but I felt I needed to keep what he knew about my strength within reasonable and believable realms. No need to unnecessarily explain to a human what I really was.
On the other hand, Frank had chosen hard work, education, and commitment and had joined an architecture firm started by Mike—another demon, of course—and with them both together, it took off.
Frank answered seconds before I was ready to hang up the call. “Evening, Cade,” he said. He sounded out of breath, almost panting.
So I asked, “What did I interrupt? Fucking or fighting?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know, you creep?” I could practically hear the wink in his voice.
“I would actually. Nuno mentioned you attend some sort of fight club or some bullshit. I need an outlet, so tell me where to go.”
“You’re in luck, brother. I’m here now and just finished handing some little fucker’s ass to him.”
“Didn’t anyone ever tell you to pick on someone your own size?”
“Are you challenging me?”
I considered the question. Frank would certainly help work out my desire for a fight better than most demons who were only here for a visit.
Earth attracted the younger demons, those seeking a thrill and a fuck, maybe to just mess about with humans on the surface for a change to the tortured souls in Hell.
Frank was older than me and bigger. I was no lightweight, but he was built—an imposing figure that couldn’t be hidden by the expensive suits he wore.
Did I want to fight him?
Kind of, yeah.
Siblings tended to fight more than strangers between demons, some sort of built-in need to take each other down, as though there was a battle for nutrients or survival when no such fight existed.
“Yeah,” I finally said, ignoring the increase in my heart rate at the thought, adrenaline already kicking in. “I’ll fight you.”
“You say it as if I asked you on a date.”
“Don’t be so cocky. I’ll give you a run for your money.”
“Are we placing bets now too?” Frank laughed.
“Not all of us are rich bitches like you, asshole.”
He was still chuckling when he gave me the address—an abandoned warehouse near the edge of the city. I was a handful of blocks away. He added, “Don’t be jealous because I live the life even most humans could only dream of.”
“Don’t wear yourself out on the weaklings.” I sneered.
“You should hope I do.”
The phone clicked against my ear as Frank hung up.
Increasing the length of my strides, I changed direction slightly and headed toward the warehouse. A fight club seemed a ridiculous thought, but it was better demons got together and tore each other apart rather than lose control and risk hurting or killing a human.
Or several.
There were rules against that kind of thing.
On my way, I concentrated on the feel of my demon, allowing myself to relax the constant control we needed to have, and sensed my muscles ripple with excitement and the promised bloodshed.
Frank would be a challenge to take down, and knowing him, he wouldn’t give me a chance to warm up, so I needed to walk in there pumped and ready to go, preferably even launching at him before he could me.
The onlookers would place their bets if they wanted. I didn’t care.