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The monster flickered and groaned. My chest rose and fell in rough jerks as every kill flashed through my mind until the faces blurred together. As the memories of every meeting held off this estate turned my stomach to lead. As every betrayal to my blood made the suspicion of the girl in my arms grow.
All under Mickey’s orders or in an attempt to stop him.
I ground my teeth and tried to force every dark and destructive need away.
“Then tell me why.”
One of her eyebrows arched. “I have my reasons.”
“Keeping those reasons to yourself might get you killed, Jessica.”
Despite the warning, her lips parted with an exhale and her eyes darkened with need.
A need I refused to acknowledge or explore.
But in those seconds, the space around us felt like it came alive.
And then she opened her mouth.
“You’re one to talk, Nightshade.” That taunting was back. As if every word was edging on a manic laugh. “Your secrets lost you a princess.”
I jolted, the movement jerking her arm up higher and causing her to cry out. But the cry ended with a wild laugh as she tried to press back against me.
“Your secrets got you stabbed in the back,” she continued, her eyes getting brighter with excitement the angrier I got. “What was it about her anyway? What was it about Lily O’Sullivan that turned Holloway’s assassin into a man wandering around lost?”
“She wasn’t a whore.”
The words were out before I could stop them. And, God, I wished I could’ve stopped them.
I wanted to beg her to forgive me, but the words wouldn’t form.
I couldn’t figure out how to ask her forgiveness when I wanted to hate the girl pressed against me—when I wanted her to hate me. When I still couldn’t be sure she didn’t have something to do with Mickey’s investigation on the Holloway members.
Our ragged breaths and the rain hitting the window were the only sounds in the room. The sudden silence between us felt crushing as seconds slipped by.
“Fuck you, Kieran.” The insult was nothing but a breath on her lips when she finally spoke. And it felt like a knife to my chest.
“Jessica . . .”
Loud banging sounded on my door followed by Conor’s frantic voice. “Kieran. Kieran.”
I hadn’t even heard him walking down the hall.
He tried the knob, but the door didn’t give. “Open up, man.”
I stared at Jessica for another few seconds, dropped her hand, and stepped away.
Before I could tell her to hide or leave, she was backing away from the window into the darker corner of my room.
I started turning toward the door, hissing a curse when the cold air in the room hit my wet chest from where she’d been pressed up against me.
Conor tried the knob again and knocked harder. “Kieran.”
Gripping my shirt, I tore it off and threw it across the room then hurried to unlock the door.
If I hadn’t felt like such an ass, I would’ve been more impressed that I’d never heard her lock it.
I barely had the door cracked before Conor was shoving it open and barreling inside.
