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“It’s not who you are or what you do.” She flung her arm out toward the bar and cried, “It’s this job. It’s going to destroy you, and you can’t see that.”
“Jessica . . .” I watched her helplessly as her eyes filled with tears that never fell. “What . . . what do you know that I don’t?”
“Nothing,” she said immediately. “I can just see it in a way you can’t.”
I needed to figure out if she was keeping something from me. If there actually was something she knew that I didn’t.
But everything I came up with seemed impossible.
“This has gone past losing Lily,” I said, my tone grave. “This is retribution for betrayals.”
A soft laugh fell from her mouth. Her eyes rolled as she turned to look away. “I won’t be here for it.”
That weight suddenly dropped on my chest. The same feeling that everything was suddenly wrong pulled at me.
And she was still standing right in front of me.
Maybe because I believed her. If sh
e left now, she’d make it impossible for me to find her again.
“Don’t.” The word was out of my mouth the instant she took a step to leave.
She rocked back, her body bowing.
“Stay.”
She looked over her shoulder, her expression void of any emotion. After an eternity of waiting, she gave a subtle nod. “Tonight.”
Then I planned to use the rest of the night to give her every reason to stay tomorrow.
A giggle caught in my throat and my legs tensed. The need to pull them up and away from what he was doing was nearly as great as my need to pull him closer—to feel his body against mine.
But he was holding a blade, and I wasn’t stupid enough to push him.
I didn’t want to die. Not at that moment anyway.
We’d spent the night and morning holed up in Kieran’s room—much like the day before. And we hadn’t done anything other than kiss.
I couldn’t imagine anything better than kissing Kieran.
I couldn’t imagine ever wanting to escape his darkness. Because mine didn’t seem so dark when I was with him.
But he was still planning to go to The Jack tonight. And, as I told him, I wouldn’t watch him destroy himself. The clock counting down on our time together today had been growing louder with each second that passed.
Now, it was nearly impossible to ignore.
Tick. Tock.
Tick. Tock.
“Don’t move,” Kieran repeated for the third time, a devilish smirk on his face as he continued spinning one of his blades up my thigh.
The man could kill someone without a thought with the weapon in his hand. He could throw it with pinpoint accuracy without looking—as he’d proven the day before. And at the moment, he was showing me how much control he had over it in other ways.
Every one of his blades and knives were sharp enough to draw blood without pressure. But I didn’t have so much as a mark on my legs as he tortured me.
Another giggle worked through me and fell from my lips. I twisted on the bed, unable to hold it back anymore.
