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He smirks fiendishly. “If I recall, little phoenix, you have a skill for interrogation.”
I nearly whimper at his mention of what I’d done in the warehouse. That wasn’t me either, yet thinking about it simmers my blood in my veins.
“I can’t do that again. It’s not—it’s not me,” I tell him shakily.
He closes his knife, and I let out a full breath. “No bother. I’ll do it myself. Once I’m done with Detective Dickhead,” he announces.
He turns and grabs his gun, replacing it behind his back as he heads for the door.
My mouth gapes for words as I already feel his loss tugging at my insides.
“Gage?” I finally manage as he opens the door.
He turns, blue eyes locking on me.
“Will you stay? I mean, I know you’re busy, people to torture, and all that. But I’m...” How do I tell him I’m scared to close my eyes? Scared to be alone when more memories find me in the dark.
He looks out toward Ryker’s house momentarily before closing the door and locking it up tight.
“Only for a little while, little one. I am a monster, after all. We do our best work at night.”
* * *
For a while,we’re both silent. The ceiling fan is doing its thing, knocking side to side, and lulling the stress of the last few hours away.
“Are you okay?” Gage whispers through the dark, and a warmth wraps around my heart. How the man who thinks himself a monster cares more than anyone ever has, I’ll never know. But I lean into it, and smile.
“Yes, I am. It took a lot of years and therapy to get where I am today. I won’t gatekeep. But I think I’ll be alright.”
“Even when we find out the truth?”
We.
That he stepped into this mess, realized he’s involved in it, and still has stuck around to get the answers I need, makes a stupid grin lift my lips.
“I think so. I already know what happened, physically. I just need to put a face to my attacker. I thought I knew it.”
“And you still might.” He turns towards me. “Please, Carina, even if you do it for me, at my insistence, don’t let him back into the house. And for fuck’s sake, move the hide-a-key.”
A giggle makes its way out before I can help it. “I’m sorry. I know it was stupid of me to have him over. I just wanted to know so bad. And he seemed like he really had something to tell me. My need for answers outweighed my wits. I won’t let it happen again. And I already hid the key and changed the locks.”
This makes him grumble. “Oh, did you, now?”
The reverberation of his low tone skitters through me, like a wave of excitement laced with poison.
“I did.”
“And whom is it you’re trying to keep out, little one?”
At first, I’d hated his pet name for me, but now, it makes the hairs on body dance upward, begging for his attention.
“You,” I admit on a whisper, my hands coming up to the covers over my breasts, clenching tightly.
“Forgive me if I’m a little annoyed by that,” he says, leaning forward and skimming his lips over the shell of my ear.
“I needed to know I was in control of who walked into my home,” I pant, blood pulsing in my ears as a dark chuckle rustles through it.
I whimper, and the laugh deepens.
