Page 23 of The Beast Who Begged Me

Dami walks a pace behind us, my dark, brooding shadow. His hands stay in the pockets of the new pants I know he thinks are cut too close, and his mouth is a straight line. He looks like he’s casing the joint, noting exits, blind spots, and the security cameras Finch oh-so-helpfully points out.

The formal dining room is the last stop. It’s a dark chamber of polished mahogany, with an old crystal chandelier overhead that throws muted light across the damask tablecloth. The chairs are heavy, upholstered in deep red leather that looks like dried blood. The room smells of beeswax.

“The formal dining area,” Finch says with a little flourish.

“And is this where my grandfather was murdered?” I ask casually.

Finch’s head flicks to me the way a cat’s turns toward an interesting noise. “You don’t waste much time, do you, Cal?”

“I just thought I should know the history,” I say with a small shrug. “Since I’m going to be sleeping in the same house as his killers.”

Dami makes a sound, a sharp inhale. I feel his glare on the back of my neck. He thinks I’m playing too fast, too reckless.

But I’m not here to make friends.

“Yes, Cal,” Finch says. “This is where Louis Clemenza attacked my husband and found out just how unwise that was.”

And what are you going to do about it? is his unspoken taunt.

It’s not quite the story he told me when it was just the two of us, no witnesses, nothing on the record. Alone with me, he claimed the killing. But in front of Dami, I get the more oblique version.

It changes nothing. I’ll smile at Finch’s table. I’ll eat Rosa’s cooking beside him and let him call me Cal and plan to be my great friend.

I’ll do whatever it takes to learn my enemy—and how to take him down.

“Thank you for the tour,” is all I say. “I’m a little tired now. I’ll go lie down.” I turn and leave without looking back, not waiting for Finch to lead us out. I know Dami will follow me. And I’m not surprised when he catches my arm as soon as we’re upstairs, pulling me into an alcove off the landing.

“What the hell are you doing?” he demands in a furious whisper.

“I told you,” I say, pulling my arm free. “I’m here to learn.”

“You’re going to get yourself killed.”

“I’m in danger wherever I go. At least here the killers are open about it.” I look around. “Shall we keep arguing in plain hearing of everyone, or should we go back to the bedroom to do it in front of the microphones instead?”

His eyes lift to heaven. “You’re impossible.”

“Then you’d better hurry up and find an alternative.”

He pulls me closer and puts his mouth to my ear. “That’s the plan,” he murmurs. “In fact, I’m going out right now to meet with the renovation crew. So can I trust you to go rest and not get yourself murdered by our generous hosts in the next two hours?”

A renovation crew. He lost the argument about coming here yesterday afternoon, and he already has plans for my grandfather’s townhouse.

“I suppose I can manage that.” I look up at him from beneath my lashes. “But remember, Dami—you owe me.”

I’ve been thinking about it all day in the back of my mind, the bargain we made in the hospital. The promise I extracted from him.

“Oh, I remember,” he says. And then he kisses me, right there in the hallway. It’s a bruising, claiming kiss that makes my head spin. His other hand rests on my throat, and I moan a little into his mouth.

“So go rest,” he says when he pulls away. “Because when I get back, you’re going to get what you’re owed until you can’t remember your own name, let alone your goddamn grandfather’s. Are we clear?”

“Crystal,” I breathe out.

Only it doesn’t quite work out that way. Because when I lie down in the bed my enemies so kindly provided for me, I fall into such a deep sleep that the next time I open my eyes, it’s the dead of night, and Dami is sleeping next to me, his arm curled possessively around me.

I smile for a moment. He came back, found me asleep, and chose my rest over the thing I begged him for. Over the thing he wanted so badly it cracked his voice in half yesterday.

The beast who bought me is developing a bedside manner.