Page 33 of Devil's Game

His jaw tensed, fury flashing in his violet orbs when they opened again, radiating a bone-chilling ferocity that could tear cities apart. “You’re right, they didn’t deserve my mercy, just like yours don’t—but that’s your decision to make.”

I nodded, silently waiting for the rage to ebb from the rigid lines of his muscles. He scanned my face, searching for something, until his eyes snagged on my mouth, the fire quickly turning into molten lust as his hands slid around my waist and his lips lowered to mine.

Electricity shot through me, lighting up my body. The kiss was all consuming; I couldn’t breathe until he devoured me whole. But his tension slowly faded with each caress of our tongues, proving I was the salve he needed to regain his sanity, his composure.

The hard glide of his piercing stroked against my tongue, only adding to the desire coursing through my veins as I remembered just how skillful he was in other places.

Heat scorched a line straight to my core, and I barely resisted the urge to climb him like a tree, the cool breeze whistling through the trees the only grip I still had on reality, the only reminder of how close we were to our prey.

The clatter and smash of ceramic broke through the haze of lust swirling around my mind, and we reluctantly broke away, hands reaching for our guns on instinct. The sound hadn’t been outside, though. No, it was from the wildly swinging arms of the bulky guard. I could only assume he’d thrown at least one of the plates, the sound echoing through the thin walls.

“Yet another reason to add to the list of why I can’t wait to watch you kill that asshole,” Spade said with a groan, nipping at my bottom lip.

Clutching him tighter, I couldn’t help the whimper that slipped out at the slice of pain mixed with pleasure. If I hadn’t been so dead set on killing these guys, I would’ve dragged him back to the car to finish what he’d started.

“You know you can talk to me, right?” I almost regretted the words as Spade’s face fell, some of that anger seeping back into his expression.

But as he exhaled, it faded, his violet eyes glittering with mischief once more. “I know, sugar. I will, I promise. I’ve just never had someone as sweet as you in my life. I don’t want the darkness to scare you away when I tell you the truth.”

A giggle slipped from my lips, and I shook my head. Spade’s darkness called to me, sang to me like a siren’s call. There was darkness in me, different, but the same in so many ways. “Nothing about you could ever scare me away.”

Any of the tension I’d felt at the sight of the diner fled as Spade grinned, his own apprehensions chased away at my reassurance. The guys were my home now, not this place, not the people within it. I didn’t owe them anything more than what we were already doing for them.

Guilt released its venomous claws on my stomach as I relaxed into his embrace.

“The masochist in me might like to put that to the test.” His hand ran a soothing line up under my leather jacket and up my back, sending a shiver of desire trailing after it.

What he said should scare me, but a thrill of excitement rushed through me instead. Because, for some reason, I had a feeling Spade would test me in the best ways. “Don’t tease me.”

Feral delight glinted in Spade’s eyes as he grinned, his gaze running over my cleavage like he was seconds away from tearing off my jacket and crop top and lifting my white pleated skirt to take me over the hood of his car. I bit down on my bottom lip, hoping the slice of pain might help me regain my focus, but it only sent a renewed current of lust straight to my core.

“Sugar, you’re really testing my limits.” Spade groaned and reluctantly stepped back, putting some much-needed space between us. A shiver of disappointment crawled up my spine, a bereft feeling panging through my chest at the loss of his comforting hand.

“Don’t give me that look.” Spade cocked an eyebrow, excitement still lighting his violet eyes. “I’ll be forced to bite that lip if you keep sticking it out for me.”

I hadn’t even realized I’d been pouting until he pointed it out. “Maybe that’s what I want.”

“You are the devil, aren’t you?” He chuckled, shaking his head, then wrapped an arm around my shoulder, turning so we could get a better view of the diner.

Pam was cowering behind the front counter, and Greg, of course, was nowhere to be found as the guards picked up every piece of furniture that hadn’t been bolted down and threw it at the walls, booths, and the windows. Surprisingly, none of the windows had broken yet, but it was only a matter of time as the burly guard from the airport hoisted a chair over his head and marched toward a windowpane.

I gritted my teeth as the metal legs smashed into the glass, sending shards careening into the parking lot. Pam’s shriek carried on the night air before she clamped a hand over her mouth, cutting the sound off abruptly, seeming to just remember they could do a lot worse to her.

“The Barones are the ones in charge,” the guard rumbled, mirth lacing his gravelly tone as he stalked toward her. “It would do you well to remember that before you try to serve one of his top men an undercooked burger.”

“Seriously?” Spade snorted, keeping his voice low. “What would he have done if it was chicken?”

My lips twitched, as I tried my best to hold back my laughter, and elbowed Spade softly for breaking my focus.

“I-I’m s-sorry,” Pam stuttered and ducked as the other man tossed a glass bottle of ketchup in her direction. The chime of it shattering rang through the parking lot, the bottle leaving a smattering of red over the wall and her grey-blonde hair.

If I hadn’t seen the bottle break myself, I’d mistake it for blood in the dim lighting.

“Please,” she whimpered, and still, Greg was silent as he hid from the men who could snap his wife’s neck like a twig.

Sorryandpleasewere two words I’d never heard leave this woman’s lips, and yet, here she was. The woman who thoughtshe could raise a hand to me, cowering and blubbering on the floor before two men I would kill in a few minutes.

In that moment, I realized something. I wanted her to see, to watch me take their lives—to truly witness what I could do now, and truthfully, what I could’ve done all along.

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