Chapter 13
I was unraveling.
“Do not be fooled by humanity.”
Had it been a dream? Or did Lucifer whisk me away to a ruined castle and literally sweep me off of my feet before returning me to my bed? Was I Belle in the Beast’s dusty library?
After thirty years living in the demon version of la-la-land, my past was beginning a catastrophic fall from the atmosphere, and I wasn’t sure I would survive the impact.
The fat drops of rain pattering the ground turned into an onslaught of sleet. I’d left home in a hurry and hadn’t taken the wintry St. Louis weather into consideration. My ripped Def Leppard crop top left my belly bare, and the tears in my acid-washed jeans made the denim useless against the cold.
I’d needed to get out of there. I woke up and all I could smell, all I could feel, was him.
“You are more than a curiosity, dearest Dany.”
What did that even mean? Fucks sake, he’d been so dissappointed with me.
Mad, even, because I hadn’t killed Callen yet.
And then, what? My skin heated against the weather as I recalled the way he’d dressed me in a see-through gown and swept me across the gothic castle, caressing my body with care and my heart with such abandon.
“You are calamity.”
What would loving the Devil even be like? Sharing a life with the guy who shows up in my bedroom and rewires my brain. Could I do that without turning into the part of me that craves the bloodlust? More importantly though–could he love me if I didn’t want to be that girl anymore?
Could Lucifer love the Dany who wanted the white picket fence? The Dany who woke up every morning and didn’t hate what she saw in the mirror?
Could he love the girl, and not the weapon?
“Judas save me,” I groaned into my hands, pace quickening with the rapid beat of my heart. “He can’t love you, you idiot. He’s Satan for Christ’s sake–”
“Dany?”
A car was slow rolling behind me. One I hadn’t even realized was following me. Illuminated by the console lights was Joe’s handsome face etched with concern.
“Joe,” I answered, sounding breathless even to my own ears. I swallowed down turmoil and, with as much bravado as I could manage, said “You know, I’m starting to think you’re stalking me.”
“That’s funny, because I was getting the impression that you sought me out and put yourself in these positions so that I’d have to talk to you.”
“As if I needed damsel plots to gain your attention, Batman. Look at me,” I said, gesturing up and down my sodden body. “I’m a soaking wet stripper.”
Joe pulled over to the curb and parked the car. “Can I perhaps offer one soaking wet stripper a ride?”
At first, I wanted to say no. The word was geared up and ready to fly.
Then, the sleet fell heavier, reminding me of Lucifer’s frost with each icy sting and the ugly truth surfaced: I didn’t want company, but I didn’t want to be alone with…
me. Because tonight, I couldn’t fucking stand the girl in every passing reflection.
I stopped walking, pursed my lips, and peered into the open passenger window. “I said stripper, not prostitute.”
His answering smile was kind and patient, and the softness in his eyes spoke louder than words.
Get in the car. Let me take care of you.
“Fine. I’ll get in the car. I’m charging you by the hour though.”
“Deal.” His answer was immediate, followed by a smooth exit from the driver door. Joe came around the SUV in the pouring rain, removed his rain jacket, and wrapped it around my shoulder.
“You don’t have to–”
“Yes, I do.” Joe flipped the hood over my head, and all of a sudden I was hugged by his clean scent. It was so at odds to the woodsmoke that followed Lucifer like a shadow.
We stared at each other, both caught in some inexplicable moment that felt impossible to shake. Water dripped from the fallen strands of his hair. The street lights reflected off the piercing green of his eyes and all of a sudden I could imagine his soul staring straight into my own.
I wondered what sort of darkness he found there, and if he would hate me as much as I did if he truly saw it.
He was the first to break, eyes swiveling with a smile followed by the quick unlatching of the passenger door of his SUV. “Your chariot, Catwoman.”
It took a few seconds to shake it off. “Catwoman, eh?” I teased as I slid onto the leather seat. It was warm under my ass, heating all the way up to the middle of my back and chasing the chill away. “Damn, Bruce,” I sighed. “You really know how to treat a middle class stripper.”
“I know how to treat a lady.”
My head fell back as I snorted a half-hearted laugh. “My pussy doesn’t make me a lady.” Joe didn’t have a reply to my smartass, but I could see the small pinch of a smile curving his lip.
“Were you headed home?” he asked after a minute of silence.
“After a pit stop, yeah.”
“Where?”
“Noodz,” I answered matter-of-factly.
“Erm… Come again?”
“Hole-in-the-wall ramen joint at the end of the grub strip.”
“That is not what I thought you were going to say.”
“I know. Batman would never walk into a place called Noodz. It wouldn’t look great for his mightier than thou image.”
“Is that what you think of me?”
With more honesty than I’d intended, I answered, “I don’t know what to think of you yet.
” I studied his profile without shame as he drove.
Stubble he hadn’t had the last time we met darkened his jaw, and his chestnut locks were swept astray.
He looked exhausted. “It’s really not your duty to chauffeur me.
I was born with a ‘don’t fuck with me’ label on my forehead. ”
I regretted the words before they even fell out of my mouth, but that didn’t stop me from saying them. Perhaps it was a test to gauge whether or not saving me was something he felt obligated to do. Could he see that I couldn’t even save myself?
Joe scoffed, his smile a touch too cynical for my liking.
“Our first encounter was you pushed against the wall surrounded by rapists. I could hardly, in good conscience, let you walk home in the dark. Besides,” he added as I inhaled sharply to protest. “I don’t mind.
I was headed home, and your place is on the way. ”
“I see.”
“More than that, though,” he continued, his voice more gentle and a touch shy. “If it’s not too soon to say, I… I enjoy your company, Dany.”
The colors of the city drifted through my peripheral. They all dimmed, fading away to grey with each quiet admission.
“There’s something about your ragged edges that lights a fire to the straight line I’ve lived my whole life.
” Tension flexed in his temple, cutting the line of his jaw in deeply masculine angles that sent my heart tripping.
The steering wheel creaked from his white knuckled grip as he swerved into a darkened, narrow alley.
The SUV clicked into park before Joe swiveled in his seat. His features were no longer soft. The intensity with which he stared at me covered my skin in goosebumps. It was like a switch flipped in his demeanor. Gone was the gentleman, and in his place was a man capable of savagery.
“I can’t get you out of my head, Dany. You’re driving me fucking crazy, day in and day out. My thoughts are consumed by your snarky mouth and the devilry I know it’s capable of.”
A heated flush crept up my neck, deepening with every erratic pulse through my veins. The tension grew like a wild fire between us. Fog covered every window making sure we were really and truly alone in this space.
“I’ve tried to be a gentleman. Told myself that you were nearly abused in that alley and I had no business asking for anything other than what you were willing to give. I don’t know what it is about you–“ he stopped short, and I found myself hanging on the very air he breathed.
When I was human, I was deserving of someone like Joe. His chivalry would have been the perfect compliment to my Suzy Homemaker Dreams.
I wasn’t that Dany anymore, though.
Death had claimed my soul, stealing away all of the sunshine and humanity I’d been made of before. This Dany was willing to drag Joe to hell alongside her.
“You know that Catwoman was the villain, don’t you?” I said through a breathy whisper. “That she and Bruce could never be together because she was everything he stood against. A dark, forbidden love. Star-crossed.”
“And yet he never ceased to tempt the dark.”