Page 25 of Lady Killer

“Pardon me but I didn’t think that the infamous Lucian Blackwell was interested in the details of my life. I didn’t keep anything from him deliberately, and I’m telling you now under the assumption that you’ll report anything worth knowing back to him.”

Nixon stood abruptly from his chair and stalked over to the bar, muttering something under his breath about people knowing their place.

“Is there anything else we should know?” Alister had gone flat again, and I slammed into the sudden distance between us like a wall.

I’d been more honest with them than anyone else since Mami, and this was my reward.

Slipping my own mask back in place, I shifted away from Everest’s side to sit up stiffly. “That’s all,” I said, returning his coolness.

“Starbright—‍”

Ignoring him, I smoothed my skirt and stood up. “If it’s all right with you three, I have things to do.”

Everest continued talking while Nixon continued complaining, and Alister sat in silence as I walked away.

Once I was safely on the other side of the parlor doors, I slipped out my phone and typed out a message.

If the Blackwells thought I needed them to catch a killer, they were sorely mistaken.

Chapter nine

Alister

Luz waltzed out of the room clearly pissed as Everest’s phone buzzed, begrudgingly pulling his attention from her.

“Lucian.” He sighed grumpily when he saw who it was, standing up to take the call in private.

The psychopath was working hard to get back into Lucian’s good books and, as a result, had been unusually well-behaved as of late. Based on past patterns of behavior, this was likely only a precursor to a bigger messto clean up.

Luckily, he was Lucian’s problem, not mine.

Unless that mess involves Luz.

My fists tightened as I worked my neck.

I’d tried to tell myself that the only reason I didn’t want her dead was because I hadn’t fucked her yet. That my response to her was purely primal, biological even. That once I satisfied the base need to take her body, it would be an easy thing to let her go.

Only I couldn’t tolerate a lie, not even to myself, and I found myself endlessly ruminating over the evidence of my own behavior around her.

I wanted to explore every inch of my demon’s sinfully built body, to punish her for every one of her transgressions.

But it was starting to be more than that. Seeking her out had become a compulsion, one that barely curbed my newfound urges.

Mine.

As much as I revolted against the way she seemed to test my restraint by merely breathing, I wouldn’t deny myself any longer.

Everest had left the room, and I had to follow her.

I caught her in the back of the house, muttering in German.

“Lost?” I asked, stepping out of the shadows in front of her. She startled and came to a halt.

Fight, flight . . . or surrender.

I wasn’t sure which one I wanted her to pick more.

“You really have the wholecreepy stalkerthing down, don’t you?” she said after a beat.

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