Duke had not given shit up during the day … and except for a roommate who appeared to have a pot problem, and this nice woman he was taking care of upstairs? There didn’t seem to be anything dramatic going on with the guy.
Further, Devina wasn’t lurking around this house. No minions, either.
And Adrian had just texted to let him know that Sissy was reading in her bed, and the angel was counting the lint in his navel.
Too quiet. Waaaaay too quiet, considering they were what, seventy-two hours into this round? Or had it been four days? He didn’t f**king know.
Frankly, he could have used a good fight. Maybe something with a lot of hand-to-hand.
He hated having time to think—with every blink of his eyes, he saw Nigel on that chaise longue, that silver blood everywhere, those eyes staring up sightless of whatever happened to be above Heaven. And then there was Colin.
Jim knew what that white rage felt like—and looked like. Adrian had felt it, too, when Eddie had been killed. Jim himself had known it after his mother had been taken from him.
Less stability was exactly what they did not need—
Sitting up, he twisted around to the front door.
“Speak of the devil,” he muttered as he got up and walked through the locked panels.
Devina was standing out on the lawn, right underneath the streetlamp, the glow around her an unholy one, rather than anything thrown by that light. She was dressed in skintight black jeans and a tight black top that was low-cut enough to flash the lacy cups of her bloodred bra—no coat to warm her against the chill, but then, she was a reptile like that. As usual, her heels were tall enough to make it look like she was standing on her tiptoes, and her hair was all curled around her shoulders.
So yup, SOP all around. Except there was one thing that was completely and totally off: no bravado. No swagger. No anger. She was as quiet and still as a dagger left on a table.
“Out for a stroll,” he said dryly.
“You got anything you want to tell me?”
“How much time you got.”
Down at the end of the street, a car turned in, its headlights flashing brightly on the approach. Neither one of them was visible to the human eye, though, so there was no slowdown, no gawking at the bombshell “woman” in the pool of illumination.
Luckily for the contingency of humans, they just sped right by, getting out of range.
“Nothing?” she prompted.
Jim narrowed his eyes. “Not that you’d want to hear.”
“I know about Nigel.”
No reaction. He refused to show any reaction at all. Maybe the Maker had told her? “Do you.”
“That puts them at a disadvantage, you know.” She waited as if expecting something, anything to come back at her. “They’re vulnerable.”
“‘They’ as in who?”
“Don’t be a f**king ass**le, Jim.”
He shrugged, but she did have a point. The pair of them were kind of beyond any coy routine. “And you’re telling me this because…?”
“I thought you’d want to know. Assuming you don’t already.”
“No offense, Devina, but I find it impossible to believe you’re trying to help me.”
“Everything’s changed now.”
“Because Nigel bit it? I’m not sure he’s that important, frankly—but the point’s moot.”
She shook her head. “You don’t get it, Jim. You’re the one they’re going to have replace him.”
Years of training and experience were the only reason his expression didn’t change. But shit, that had certainly never dawned on him.
“Not in my job description,” he drawled, like he didn’t give a shit.
“Wait for it. Whether or not you win the war—”
“When I win it—”
“That’s your future now, Jim, and you’re not going to have a choice. You’re going to be conscripted.”
“Oh, come on, Devina, you’re so full of shit—”
“How do you think those four got their jobs? You think they were born up there? Don’t be naive, Jim. Your fate’s been sealed.”
He stared at her for a long time, connecting the dots and not liking the map that came into focus. “And you’re telling me this why?”
Even though he knew. He just wanted to see if she’d admit it.
Devina’s voice was the most level he’d ever heard it: “You need to think long and hard about where you’re at. You’re going to be in a jail for eternity. You’re going to be Nigel.”
“And you really think I’m going to believe you. About anything.”
It was satisfying to see her wince as the barb hit home. “I knew you were going to say that,” she whispered thinly. Except then she seemed to recover. “But that doesn’t change what is fact.There is a way out, however.”
“And what’s that?”
There was a long pause. “We quit. You and I refuse to play the game anymore.”
Chapter Forty-five
As Duke drove into his woman again and again, his body was on the best kind of autopilot, no thoughts contaminating the sex, no emotions clouding the purity of the pleasure. The tight hold on his c**k was transmuted through every inch of him, each thrust and retreat echoing outward under his skin, everything magnified.
It had never been like this with anyone for him. Not even Nicole back in the old days—
The orgasm slammed into him, locking his hips tight into the cradle of Cait’s pelvis, the rhythmic pulses of her own release milking him, making his head spin. Collapsing against her, he turned his face into her sweet, soft neck and breathed heavily.
So impatient for her. Every time it seemed like it was the first.
And he was still hungry.
But they weren’t taking the chance with doing a double again. Reaching between them, he held on to the base of the condom as he slowly retracted.
“Where’s your bathroom?” He had paid no attention to anything when they’d come up.
“Over there.”
Rolling off, he went in the direction she was pointing, going through a narrow doorway, locating the light switch by patting the wall. His eyes blinked hard as he was momentarily blinded, but then he took care of things, flushing what they’d used, cupping his hands under some cold water and taking a drink.
It was not a surprise that everything had its place, all the towels hanging precisely on the rail of the sliding shower door, the single toothbrush standing up straight in its holder, no brushes or makeup cluttering the counter around the sink.