Page 158 of The Devil We Crave
“Not yet,” Laz says. “But I’ll save us both the time and get to it.”
His smile drops like a fucking stone.
“That girl is the daughter I never had,” he rumbles, his eyes black as they cut into mine. “If you hurt her, abuse her trust, fuckaround on her, or, hell, even justannoyher?” He lifts a shoulder. “Then you and I will be getting to know each other very,veryintimately while you hang from chains in a basement where no one will ever find you. I know you’re not stupid, and I know you know who I am. Which meansI knowyou know I’m not fucking around.”
Honestly? He’s right on all counts.
“Duly noted,” I growl.
He nods. “Let me give you some advice then, Mr. Drakos.” He cocks a brow. “Before you meet heractualfather, I would get my intentions regarding herreal clear, real fast.” He frowns. “It wouldn’t hurt to be wearing Kevlar, either. Understand?”
“Vividly.”
He pats my shoulder with a strong hand. “Nice meeting you, kid.” He pauses next to me on his way past. “Don’t make me skin you alive.”
I hangback when Wren’s parents, Bane and Lark Antonov, arrive.
Not because Bane is another super intense buddy of the sociopathic Nero De Luca. It just isn’t my place.
I watch from a distance as Yelena and her friends all exchange hugs with Wren's parents and listen as they fill them in on what’s going on.
There are tears, then more hugging, then more tears.
And apparently I’m more of a fucking softy than I’d care to admit, because the sight of Wren’s mother breaking down in that hospital hallway after hearing her daughter could have died tonight makes me think how much it would crush my own mother to have to deal with something like that.
So, I end up saying fuck it to the whole “keeping my distance” thing and bring a box of tissues over and offer them to Lark.
…Who hugs me fiercely and thanks me for driving Wren to the hospital.
Bane does the same, shaking my hand firmly and looking me dead in the eye when he tells me he’s in my debt for saving his daughter’s life. I tell him it’s no problem, and he saysbasicallythe same thing Laz just did: that he thinks I’m probably a decent guy, but that he’s got his eye on me as it pertains to Yelena. Also, that he’s not going to tell Nero…although that seems out of genuine concern for his own safety more than anything.
Sothat’sfun.
It’s nearly dawn when I drive Yelena, Arianna, Lucia, and Galina back to campus. I drop Lucia off at her dorm first, then swing by The Atheneum for Arianna and Galina.
Yelena glances at me when I drive past the fork in the road that leads to Morvaine, but doesn’t say anything.
Instead, she reaches across the console to where my non-steering hand is resting and laces her fingers with mine.
Kingsward is quiet when we walk in. Yelena looks exhausted, so I scoop her up in my arms and carry her up to my room.
I strip her despite her sleepy protests and lay her down in my bed.
Tired or not, she doesn’t get to sleep quite yet.
“Achilles…” she gasps quietly, her breath catching as I start to nip, suck, nibble, and lick my way up between her legs. Then she reaches down and cups my face, pulling me up so that we’re eye-to-eye, her legs around my waist.
“There’s something I want to ask you,” she whispers in the still, predawn light. “But I’m scared.”
“What are you afraid of?”
Her throat bobs as she looks at me. “Popping the bubble,” she murmurs, her eyes searching my face. “Waking up from a dream.”
“What if I were to tell you there is no bubble, and you’re wide awake.”
She swallows again. “I…I just?—”
I exhale quietly with a small smile. “You want definition.”
