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I raised my head, expecting his emotionless mask to be in place, but he surprised me by holding up his jacket for me. Ten minutes ago, I would have been flattered by the offer, eager to wrap myself in the worn leather that undoubtedly smelled as good as the man who owned it. But in light of his most recent rejection—the one that hurt the most, I might add—I shrugged before turning and giving him my back again.
“I’ve got Keegan’s,” I muttered as I moved to grab the coat I’d left on the locker room bench.
Lucifer’s chuckle took me by surprise, as did the way he curled one arm around my waist until he’d succeeded in pinning my back to his front. Then he pressed a tender kiss behind my ear. “You just came all over my stomach, nymph. Do you really think I’m going to let you walk out of here wearing another man’s jacket?”
His fingers played across my ribs, the movement hitching up the fabric and nearly exposing my pussy, which was growing wetter by the moment.
I leaned into him, feeling breathy and weak all over again. “You’re a really complicated gangster.”
I looked up to see the crooked smile on Lucifer’s face, and time stood still. After he’d showered off all the blood, his latest round of cuts and bruises didn’t look as dire.
His slow grin rearranged the planes and angles of his face. In a beat, Lucifer had gone from ruggedly handsome to downright gorgeous.
His gaze fell to where I’d trapped my lower lip between my teeth.
“This is cozy.” Keegan’s drawl drew both our gazes, but Lucifer’s hold on me only tightened.
Keegan stood just inside the closed locker room door, his arms hanging loose at his sides, his stance wide. His boyish grin was in place, but something about his posture and presence put Lucifer on alert. Suddenly, he was tucking my arms into his jacket like I was a toddler incapable of doing it myself. Then he reached into his duffel bag and pulled out his Glock and a smaller pistol before stowing the bag and the rest of its contents inside a padlocked storage locker.
Lucifer’s hand wrapped around my wrist as he talked to Keegan. “What do we have?”
Keegan’s eyes landed on me briefly before looking back at Lucifer. “There’s a hooker outside—a real one. The kind who expects to be paid and shit. Says she needs to speak to you.”
I stiffened, and Lucifer ran the pad of his thumb over the back of my hand. “Did you get a name?”
“Didn’t think to.”
Lucifer’s jaw tensed. “What does she look like?”
“Seriously?” I tugged out of his grip before he had a chance to snatch me again.
“Willa,” he said, his tone calm but firm.
“Lucifer,” I mocked in return.
Keegan snickered, then continued to ramble on as though I wasn’t about to storm through the arena all by my lonesome to hail a cab. “Dark hair, hazel eyes, all legs ... said she’ll meet you by the back exit in fifteen. I’ll stay with the baby butcher while you go—”
Lucifer and I leveled Keegan with the same deadly stare.
Keegan held his hands up. “What? I was going to say while you go check this sketchy sitch out. Something’s not right, man. I don’t trust this chick.”
“I’ll handle it.” Lucifer cupped my chin and dragged his thumb across my bottom lip, almost possessively. “I know who she is,” he told Keegan without taking his eyes from mine. He slid his grip down my arm, but instead of taking my wrist, he took my hand. “Willa’s going with me. Don’t forget your fucking jacket.”
As we passed Keegan, he gave me a conspiratorial wink behind Lucifer’s back, but I wasn’t in the mood. Lucifer was taking me to meet a prostitute—one he knew based on description alone. How delightful.
Lucifer kept me close to his side as we navigated the back hallway of the arena before leaving through an exit-only door. We stepped into the night, the frigid winter air chilling me to the bone on contact. I shivered against him, and he pulled me into an embrace. To any passerby, we would have looked like a couple.
As reckless and dangerous as that thought was, I let myself believe in the fantasy for a moment.
Lucifer’s hand slid up my spine. It cupped the back of my head, angling me so he could give me the full force of his gaze. “I’ll start the car. You can wait in there for me. This will only take a minute.”
If looks could kill, I would have added another notch to my tally.
He searched my face. “Why do you look like you want to smack the shit out of me right now?”
“Do you honestly think I’m going to wait in your car while you meet with a prostitute in The Dot?”
He smiled, just a tiny one, and that’s when I noticed how tired Lucifer looked. I had no idea how my devil had spent his day, but so far, his night had consisted of butchering one man and beating another to death.
