Page 65 of Where Sinners Repent

I snatch it away and push up into his space. He can feign all the nonchalance in the world.

He can feign all the nonchalance in the world, but I love a man who plays hard-to-get.

Daddy issues and all that...

“No, it wasn’t,” I bite out. “Just admit it, Kai. You like me.”

The flare in his eyes takes me back. It’s the strongest reaction I’ve ever seen on his stony face. And when he pushes into my space, the hairs on my neck stand up.

“Don’t assume I’m capable of liking someone, Roxy,” he warns in a soft, menacing voice. “I’m only capable of pain.”

My eyes drop to his soft lips, just an inch away from mine. I could reach on my tiptoes and press mine against them. Prove him wrong. Instead, I murmur, “Liar.”

A soft growl forms in his throat, and his hand wraps around the back of my neck, a smile that is anything but kind forming on his lips.

“Just remember this, Roxy Kavanagh, when you’re crying and begging me to take it all back,” he says quietly. “Remember that you asked for this.”

Before I can think about what he’s saying, he turns me with one controlled movement, shoving me toward the studio door. His hand is firm around my neck until we’re outside, towards the motorcycle that waits for us.

He slides the helmet back over my head, and once it’s secured, that self preservation instinct finally kicks in. My feet freeze on the concrete, watching him swing his leg over the seat.

He doesn’t let me decide, reaching towards me and depositing me in the back of the bike as if I weigh nothing at all. His arms reach behind him and find my hands, pulling them around him before tearing off at high speed.

And I remind myself, just like he said, that I asked for this.

Chapter 17

Roxy

Icy air hits me from all angles, forcing me to hug tighter into the warm body in front of mine. My shivering body presses against his sturdy one. I already know I’m in way over my head when the docks come into view.

The wharfs, with all their shadows and containers, have a notoriously bad reputation, the kind you hear about, but no one in Havenport Harbour dares venture to. With it’s menacing shipping containers and dark pockets of concrete... I get it.

Of course, it’s Devil-owned.

My lip trembles, and not just from the frigid air. Maybe I should have listened to Kai when he told me that he wasn’t a good man. But something inside me can’t help but feel pulled to him.

I’ve seen evil. Me and evil have an intimate relationship, and I can spot it anywhere. I know Kai has done evil things. Yet, I don’t believe he is evil.

And maybe that just makes me fucking stupid.

We pull up next to another bike, similar to Kai’s, but instead of midnight black, it’s a deep purple, so dark it almost looks black. I already know it’s Kaleb’s.

An exhale that sounds more like a sob falls out of me, amplified by the puff of air that follows. When the motor switches off, my ears ring with the silence. Only the sound of waves lapping at the dock and a soft breeze fills the eerie space. Thick fog chokes the harbour and I can barely see through it.

Kai swings his leg off smoothly, undoing the helmet, and tugging it off.

“What are we doing h...”

My words are cut off by a rough palm clamping over my mouth. A scream builds in my chest, muffled beneath his palm. Before I can fight back, his other arm snakes around my waist, lifting me effortlessly off the bike until my back collides with his chest.

His warm breath dusts over my ear.

I thrash wildly, kicking and twisting against his hold, but my feet don’t reach the ground. He barely acknowledges my struggle. My muffled cries die against his gloved palm as he walks, his grip unwavering.

“You seem scared,” he murmurs into my ear. His grip tightens around my mouth, pressing brutally into my cheeks. “It’s about time.”

He slows. In the darkness, I barely make out a motionless form slumped against a shipping container. My eyes round in horror at the body with its grotesque, snapped neck and glazed unblinking eyes.