AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Mike smirked. “Yeah, I didn’t think so. So what were you doing here today?”
I wanted to say something smooth likeI was waiting for you,orI wanted to see if you lived up to your reputation,and while the thought of such cheesy pick-up lines made me grin, in my head was where they stayed. “Dad offered, and it seemed rude to turn him down.”
Mike hummed. “So, in other words, you didn’t know how to politely say, ‘Actually, Dad, I’d rather stay at home and watch football, or do literally anything else than come into your corporate world.’”
I laughed. “I’m more into baseball myself.”
Mike chuckled as the elevator dinged, and an unnecessarily seductive electronic voice announced we were on the ground floor. We exited, close enough to be holding hands but avoiding touching each other while we at least tried to keep professional. I wondered if his thoughts were straying where mine were.
I couldn’t wait. “Could I take you out to dinner?”
Mike stopped as we exited the building, looking down the street toward where his office building stood before he rested his gaze on mine. He was unreadable, and I waited for a smile that didn’t come. The seconds stretched out, and he seemed to be fighting some internal battle, his eyes darting between mine. I dropped my gaze to his hand, double-checking for a wedding ring, and released a sigh when there was none. It was then there was a flicker of a smirk from Mike.
“No,” he said finally, and I took a step back from him as the disappointment washed over me. “ButIwill takeyouout to dinner.”
We stared at each other for a beat, and while I don’t know what he was thinking, I wasdefinitelythinking of peeling that shirt from his body and getting my hands on his chest, wondering what his weight would feel like on top of me. Releasing a long breath, I ran my hand through my thick, golden blond hair. “You got me,” I finally said. It sounded lame, but I was too distracted to come up with much else.
The smile from Mike was genuine, but there was concern in his eyes. With a flick of his nimble fingers, he handed me a business card. “Text me your address, and I’ll pick you up at seven.” Mike’s gaze wandered my body in the same way mine had his when he first walked into my father’s office. “I assumed you meant tonight?”
I could barely find my breath, let alone my words, as the imagery of the things I wanted to do with this man came back in full force, pushing all other logical and sound thoughts from my head to the point I’m surprised I wasn’t gaping at him like a fish out of water. Something flashed across his eyes, and I’m certain, at that moment, he knew exactly what I was thinking.
Why couldn’t I control these thoughts? Mike simply radiated power. I pocketed the business card without looking at it.
“Yeah…” I said, swallowing heavily before smiling at him. “Tonight is fine.”
MIKE
What was it about Jacob that had made me accept his offer for dinner?
Although I’d taken the power back by making it clearIwas takinghimout and not the other way around, I could have left my answer at a simpleno,and in hindsight, I should have. I was hardly celibate, but I’d also made a promise to myself not to get close enough to another human to evenconsiderbonding again. Not after Tate.
I had loved Tate. I truly did. And perhaps a part of me always would. He was kind to me, in the beginning, at least, and one of the few humans who could make me feel safe. To feel as though he would take down anyone in his way who kept him from my side. There was a fire behind his eyes, a desire to please, but also a desire to gain power and to lead. That was our downfall.
Tate was only nineteen when we met, and it wasn’t long before we bonded. I had been on Earth for only a handful of years and never considered that being with a human could feel the way it did with him. I realize now how inexperienced and foolish I was. I got swept up by him and the rush of emotions that flooded my chest, making my heart pound harder every time he was near.
I loved him, but I didn’t know who he was.
A broken man taught how to survive by the worst of humankind, cast to the side and treated as second best, nothing Tate did was ever good enough for his father. I thought we were a comfort for each other, and when we were together, none of the other issues mattered. Foolishly, I thought I was enough for Tate.
But when we bonded and my blood flowed through his veins, he gained some of my strength and enhanced senses and power. Then everything that was dark about his humanity rose to the surface, and he changed. Wereallthose aspects of him present before we bonded? Possibly. But it was impossible for me to separate the act of our bonding with him becoming a darker version of himself. It was my fault he changed, and I shouldn’t have let him get as close as he did.
I should never have let my blood touch his tongue.
He became violent afterward but never with me. I was many decades older and more powerful, and he was only a human with a few enhanced abilities, but he started testing the limits of his strength. When he attacked a young woman and told me of his plans to use his powers to kill whoever he needed to in order to take over his father’s business, dread crept through me. Tate wanted me to behappyfor him, for him embracing his own demon so thoroughly. But I wanted to escape that part of me, and the reminder of who I was inside stood in front of me every day, claiming he loved me back. But if Tate ever did love me, it was all pushed to the side when he realized the extent of his newfound powers. He was everything I hated about demons in the flesh. I hated the lust for violence, and worse than that, I hated the pleasure that was taken in it. Everything about who I was under this skin was torture to me, and I had enough reminders of my need to suppress it without the presence of Tate lying through his teeth about his feelings for me. Now, all that was moot.
I’d wanted to sever the bond.
Tate told me I wasn’t a demon at all and was weak and pathetic.
And maybe he was right.
So now, I kept my distance from humans, emotionally. Frank came to Earth to join me a few years after I severed the bond with Tate, and to this day, I hadn’t told him the full story. The scars left after the severing ran across my skin like deep rope burns that wound their way across my torso, arms, and legs, ending at my wrists and ankles. Any demon looking at me would know immediately what the scars meant, and thankfully, they all knew better than to ask.
I focused on building my business, and now we were expanding, I could move away from here.
Thankfully.
The demon population in this city was growing. Granted, it was mostly down south where crime was more prevalent, but I wanted out of here before this city became Hell on Earth, and moving to another state for my business and starting over sounded perfect.
