Page 111 of The Demons We Hide

She blinks. I can’t help it, though. Being inside her is always on my mind. Ever since that first time when I watched her grind herself against my cock and ride herself to orgasm without ever letting myself taste that little piece of heaven. She should get used to it because I know for damn sure that I’ll likely feel the same in fifty or even seventy years. I want to crawl into her skin, mold our bodies together until there is no separation and she doesn’t remember a time when I wasn’t a part of her.

My phone buzzes in my pocket with an incoming call. I withdraw it and after a quick glance at the caller ID, I answer it. “Lex.”

“I’m nearly to your location,” Nolan states. “What’s the status?”

“I’ve got Juliet,” I reply. “Gio’s rounding up thevermin.” The last word comes out coated in disgust, and I wrap a hand around the back of Juliet’s nape and pull her against my chest as I peer around the tree and towards the field of broken and abandoned train cars.

“I’ve got help enroute.”

“We don’t need it,” I tell him. “They won’t make it out of this alive.”

Juliet tips her head back, but she doesn’t pull away from me—not even when I make it clear to Nolan that I have no intention of walking away tonight. There will be blood tonight. Hers on my face, theirs on my fucking hands.

Nolan’s voice is tight when he replies. “There’s more, Lex. I…” His words end on a frustrated growl and I can hear the rumble of a car engine—more than one in the distance. “We need to talk, after all this,” Nolan finally says. “You and me.”

“Fine.After.”

A light shines into the darkness over the train cars and then flickers. Once. Twice. Three times.

“I’m here,” Nolan says.

“Good, Gio’s ready.”

“Juliet?”

I look down to the woman in question at Nolan’s request. “What’ll it be, baby?” I ask her. “Are you staying here or coming?”

“I thought you wanted me to stay here,” she says.

I did—still do, honestly. I know I might lose control with the men who took her from us, fromme.

There are demons inside me and they crave freedom. They want to maim, to kill, to defend, and protect. But I fear that those demons of mine will scare her away, that this darkness of mine will be the last thing she sees before she disappears from my sight forever. My fingers clench against her nape as if I’m instinctively trying to lock her in place.

“I want eyes on you at all times,” I tell her. It’s the truth. “But I don’t want you to fear me.”

Full, pouty pink lips part, and Juliet leans her head back. “I don’t fear you, Lex.”

But she could. It would only take one step into my secret room for her to know the truth. All of this trust she’s giving me now could all vanish in an instant if she knew who I really am. The pictures. The stolen trinkets. The… secrets I’ve kept for and from her. I swallow roughly around a dry throat.

“You come with me, and you won’t be able to walk away—not from me and not from them,” I warn her.

“Because I’ll watch you kill them?”

“Yes.” And so much more. I’m going to torture those men. Slowly. Painfully. I’m going to rip them apart piece by piece and enjoy every single second.

“I think I can handle it, Lex,” she says, rising onto her toes as she stretches her face towards mine. I freeze for a moment before automatically dipping my head as her lips graze my jawline. My cock hardens inside my pants.Fuck.“I’m pretty sure I can handle you.”

She has no idea what she’s in for, but I have no intention of letting her go even if she regrets her choice later. My phone buzzes again and the light in the sky flickers, flashing over the tops of the trees before disappearing into the clouds above.

“Come on.” I don’t give myself any more time to second guess myself, I haul Juliet after me and instead of leading her away from the yard of abandoned train cars, I lead her towards it.

* * *

JULIET

I remain quiet as instead of away from the train car graveyard, Lex leads me towards it. My hand is tucked against his. The sound of a sobbing man gets louder and I know we’re getting close. My fingers clench around Lex’s palm as the first words other than ours lift into the night and reach towards us.

“—don’t know, we were just h-hired t-to—” The hard smack of something hitting flesh is followed by a loud crack and a scream.

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