Page 38 of The Demons We Hide

“What will you give me if I prove to you that the guys didn’t burn down your apartment?” I ask.

She blinks. “What?”

“What will you give me?” I repeat the question, arching an eyebrow.

She snorts, the back of her head bumping against the wall. “Nothing—because you can’t prove it.”

I wiggle my phone in front of her face, not yet showing her the screen. “Then you have nothing to lose,” I tell her. Before she can deny it yet again, I reach up with my free hand and curl my fingers around her throat. It moves against my palm, the warmth of her skin seeping into me. I dip my head closer, hovering just above her mouth.

“Make a deal with me,” I whisper. “I prove you wrong and you give me three wishes.”

Her cute little nose wrinkles. “What am I, a fucking genie?”

My lips stretch into a smile. “Maybe one of my wishes will be that you wear those sexy little see-through pants and that bra for me.”

She rolls her eyes. “You can’t prove it,” she says.

“Soconfident.” It’s a taunt and she knows it.

With a huff, she slaps her palms against my shoulders and pushes me back just enough to rip the heat of her breath away from my lips. I pout, but in the next instant, she holds out her hand. “Fine,” she snaps. “If you honestly think whatever you have will prove their innocence, then I’ll agree to your little deal.”

My chest squeezes tight and I crowd back into her, pushing her hand down as I pin her to the wall with my hips. “You swear?” I demand.

With gritted teeth, she narrows her eyes on me. “Yes.” Another hiss that I want to kiss away. Biting down on my lip, I contemplate pushing for more, but decide against it.

Instead, I hand the phone over to her and take a step back. Her eyes go to the screen and her brow puckers as she begins to read. The rush of satisfaction that comes over me as her eyes widen and she swipes down the document straight from the fire department—with the official county fire marshal signature and everything—is the same that I get when I win a football game.

“No.” She shakes her head, darting a look up to me and back to the phone screen again. I take another step back and reach over my shoulder. Gripping a fistful of the fabric of my t-shirt, I pull it off my head and toss it to the floor. The next time her eyes find mine, they drop to my bare chest.

I already know what I’ll have for my first wish.

“How the fuck did you get this?” she demands.

I shrug. “I know a guy.”

“This can’t be real. I don’t believe it.”

“It’s real,” I tell her. “If you want, I’ll take you to the fire department myself and we can talk to the guys who put it out.”

“This says that the fire was caused by a defective heating unit,” she says as if she can’t believe it.

“You can’t be all that surprised,” I tell her. “It was a piece of shit building. The Ritchies hadn’t done upkeep on them in a long time, and their maintenance department was a joke. Your door and balcony was still fucked after weeks of putting in the work request.”

“You… you must have faked this.” She pushes away from the wall and walks towards me, tossing the phone on the bed, and levels me with a suspicious look.

“I didn’t have to,” I say honestly. “Now, for my three wishes.”

Juliet crosses her arms. “Let me guess,” she snaps. “A blowjob?”

Does she really think I’m that crass? I mean, hell yeah, I’d take a blowjob from her plush lips in a heartbeat, but considering the fact that Lex was the one that dug up that information I’d used against her, and the request he’d asked of me earlier today, I’ll be taking something else. I reach for the cell phone and click away from the document.

“You can’t seriously think that’s enough to convince me that Nolan and Lex didn’t burn down my apartment.”

I turn my body so that she can’t see what I’m doing as I pass around her, clicking across the screen of my cell phone until I come across the camera app. Hitting record, I stop in front of the chipped dresser and set it down, propped against a stack of textbooks.

“I think you’re a smart woman,” I say, pivoting to face her again sans phone. Her expression is furious.

“That’s not enough evidence or proof to consider them innocent.” Each word is biting and angry. She’s a wounded animal backed into a corner, and I have every intention of petting her until she purrs just right for me.

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